ESSAY :: Cross-Cultural Communication.

 In business, successful communication is the key to success, and being able to relate to a customer is the best form of communication. This is why cross-cultural communication is so important as the business world continues to globalize itself. Unfortunately, “A lack of awareness about the culturally prescribed rules and norms of communication behaviors can cause public relations projects to fail, or worse, backfire.”  

My research is focused on the problems associated with cross-cultural communication and how awareness of culture, language, tradition, and business practices can increase the advantages to globalization. This report will be field specific in the International Beverage industry with my interviews focusing on the communication relationships between H.P. Bulmers, Ireland, which recently decided to move into the United States. I choose this focus due to interest in working in this industry after college, and because I plan to study abroad in Galway, Ireland in the future. I plan to outline the major issues that companies must address when dealing with different countries, and then I will create an action plan to help companies solve their communication issues. 

The advent of the global economy is changing the fundamental nature of our governments, businesses, organizations and populations. In short, we are no longer constrained by state boundaries but have all become part of an interdependent international network. One of the key changes this has triggered is the need to communicate effectively with different people in different languages and from different cultures. It is now recognized that linguistic and cultural knowledge are two of the most vital areas of knowledge that organizations must come to acquire if they are to integrate, progress and succeed in the marketplace. Cross-cultural communication is a must. 
Communication is an important factor in successful business operations, and technology has decreased the amount of barriers that have previously prevented successful exchanges. The development of the telephone, Internet, and facsimile has reduced the barriers of distance and time to increase businesses and the individual’s ability to access to international products and services. This has lead to the ideas of the globalisation within the market place.

However, with such a global market, new communication barriers are becoming a challenge for Australian businesses; a major challenge for these businesses that are going global is cross cultural communication or intercultural communication. Meeting the cross cultural communication challenge has now become a matter of economic survival for businesses