Using the Internet as a global medium for communication has enabled companies of all sizes to quickly develop a presence in many markets around the world; in fact, it has enabled them to go global. However, their global reach cannot alone translate into global business. Those companies are learning that they have to adapt their e-commerce and their enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications to regional idiosyncracies beyond translation or content management issues: Even asking for a name or e-mail address can incur resistance in many countries where people do not like to give out personal information.59 While communication over the Internet is clearly not as personal as face-to-face cross-cultural communication, those transactions must still be regionalized and personalized to adjust to differences in language, culture, local laws, and business models, as well as differences in the level of development in the local telecommunications infrastructure. And yet, if the Internet is a global medium for communication, why do so many U.S. companies treat the Web as a U.S.-centric phenomenon? Giving preference to some geographic regions, languages, and cultures is a short-sighted business decision that will result in diminished brand equity, market share, profits and
global leadership.6 In fact, with an annual predicted growth rate of 70 percent in non-English language sites and usage, this would put English-language sites in the minority somewhere around 2002_2003.61
It seems essential, then, that a global online strategy must also be multilocal. The impersonal nature of the Web must somehow be adapted to local cultures in order to establish relationships and create customer loyalty Effective technological communication requires even more cultural sensitivity than face-to-face communication, because of the inability to assess reactions and get feedback, or even to retain contact in many cases. It is still people, after all, who respond to and interact with other people through the medium of the Internet, and those people interpret and respond according to their own languages and cultures as well as local business practices and expectations. In Europe,-for example, there are significant differences in business cultures and e-business technology, which have slowed e-business progress there. However, some companies are making progress in pan-European integration services, such as leEurope, which aims to cross language, currency and cultural barriers. leEurope is building a set of services to help companies tie their back-end e-business systems together across European boundaries through a series of mergers involving regional e-business integrators in more than a dozen countries.
One global company which has successfully added a multilocal on-line strategy to its long-established bricks and mortar facilities is Manheim Auctions, Inc., featured in the accompanying E-Biz Box.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-GOING : Communication article from Comparative Management Catagory INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY-GOING
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