Cultural adaptation of websites: a comparative study of portuguese and dutch corporate websites

Master Thesis Presented at Instituto de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto for obtaining the Master’s degree in Digital Marketing under the supervision of Professor José de Freitas Santos

The impact of national cultures on international marketing strategy and subsidiary performance of portuguese SME’s

The dynamic of the international business and its multidimensional nature requires the understanding of the complexities of different contexts dictated by cultural differences between countries. The purpose of this paper is to study, in depth howsmall and medium-sized companies develop their international marketing mix strategy in their overseas subsidiaries. We use the theoretical construct of Hofstede (1980, 1991) in the dimensions of Power Distance (PD), Uncertainty Avoidance (UA), Individualism (IND), Masculinity (MASC) and Long-Term Orientation (LTO) to assess the cross cultural differences between countries and the business practices to analyze the adaptation or standardization of the international marketing mix strategy of foreign Portuguese subsidiaries. Ourstudy uses an exploratoryand qualitative methodology. We conducted semi-structured interviews in order to achieve a good understanding ofinternational marketing mix strategy of four companies from different sectors. Our results show that the national cultural differences have great influence in the marketing strategy of the subsidiary. The business practices adjustments in the subsidiary company that proved to be necessary conditions for their performance are conducted by the products augmented offerings concerning the characteristics of the product, design and brand name in order to meet the requirements and specificities of the host country of the subsidiary.

The way to succeed in mexican business realations

The article is based on the research project titled “Intercultural Dimension in Corporate Culture of Multinational Companies” and it deals mainly with cultural stereotypes that influence business relations. The article takes a famous research of Geert Hofstede and extends it on Czech-Mexican business reality. The article is therefore dedicated to Czech businessmen who are interested in having good relations with Mexico and avoiding mistakes that could prevent them from doing so. The first part of the article covers Hofstede´s dimensions and compares them with other studies. The comments include topics such as social hierarchy in Mexico, Mexican collectivism and life values, approach to pragmatism of both Czech and Mexican nations and also how these nations tend to indulgency. The second part of the article is aimed at the image of Czech Republic in the foreign markets and includes the feedback on Czech work behaviour from Latinoamericans who have previously worked with Czechs.