Author: Nupur Gupta(2011-2013 batch)
Cross cultural sensitivity is the quality of being aware and accepting of other cultures. This is important because what seems acceptable in some countries can be rude or derogatory in others. A person who is culturally sensitive is aware that there could be differences between their culture and another person’s, and that these differences could affect their relationship and the way they communicate with each other. A culturally sensitive person would understand other countries’ traditions and ways of life, or attempt to learn and apply new understandings.
Cross cultural sensitivity is seen as an essential skill in today's world. Cross cultural awareness is important when dealing in international relations or trade. It can mean the difference between a brand succeeding or failing in international market. Some cross cultural barriers are body language, etiquette, establishing trust, religious beliefs and social habits.
The success or failure of a company, venture, merger or acquisition essentially depends upon people. If these people are not cross-culturally aware then misunderstandings, offence and a breakdown in communication can occur. The need for greater cross-cultural awareness is heightened in our global economies. Cross-cultural differences can lead to cross cultural blunders. Having a poor understanding of the influence of cross cultural differences in areas such as management, PR, advertising and negotiations can eventually lead to blunders that can have damaging consequences.
A company having understanding of cultures in other countries can manipulate marketing strategies accordingly and use them effectively. For example- the main slogan of coke is open happiness. But happiness is defined differently in different cultures. So it targets that and has different types of advertisements for different countries/cultures
Examples showing the importance of Cross Cultural Sensitivity and awareness are:
An American Company that manufactures golf balls packaged the balls in packs of four. They were successful and began selling internationally. However they were not so successful in Japan, where the number four holds the meaning of death.
When a soft drink was introduced into Arab countries, the Arabs didn’t buy it because the label had six-pointed stars on it and they interpreted it as pro-Israeli. When they printed another label in ten languages, the Arabs wouldn’t buy again because one of them was Hebrew.
Recognising the importance of cross cultural sensitization will help the company to understand the needs, preferences of customer for a product. A company won’t sell a product that would not be accepted by the people on cultural grounds. For e.g.-. if a package food company tries to sell beef in India, it might not be as successful as expected because cow is considered the sacred animal to Indians.
Communicating and working across cultures often presents huge risks for international businesses. Understanding culture of other country can help prevent wasted time, lost revenue and damaging misunderstandings which occur as a result of a lack of knowledge and understanding of the target culture. Understanding how people think and why they behave the way they do will help employees work more effectively, which in turn, will give the organisation a competitive edge over other organisations who lack this intercultural competence.
Cross culture sensitivity helps the company to understand the implications of cultural difference on business, understand how they are perceived by their international counterparts, communicate effectively across cultures and build successful cross cultural relationships.
We can impart the idea of cross cultural sensitivity to the employees by cross culture awareness training. This training offers participants with two types of training- One looks at a specific country or culture and how to do business with them. Cultural awareness training can make an important impact on any business or organisation wanting to maximize their potential internationally. With staff that can deal sensitively and effectively with clients, customers and colleagues from other cultures a business becomes more competitive and more profitable.
Thus, the idea of cross cultural sensitivity is inevitable in international business. For a company to be successful in international business, it should help the employees to be culturally sensitive. If different cultures are accepted by people of different parts of the world, then it leads to successful and profitable venture.
Author:
Ratin Duggal (2011-2013 batch)
When I hear social activists and NGO workers shout slogans and hog media attention to get corporate honchos to participate in CSR activities it makes me feel amused.
I understand that we all should give back to society once we reach a level where we can make a difference, but is it our duty? Is it the duty of corporate bigwigs to organise CSR activities, just to get these social activists off their back and the government from imposing taxes?
Charity as defined by the Oxford dictionary is “generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless”.
The key word here is generous. I would also like to mention here that an act can be generous only if it has the right intentions and starts off as a selfless act.
Many Businessmen feel pushed into making charities and indulging in CSR initiatives. The reason business exists is because the proprietors want to make money. It can be for many other reasons too, but certainly not to give away your money. Acts of generosity should only be invoked by something inside and not something external.
The Business of Business is Business. Business exists only so that it can generate more business. The hunger can never quite be satiated, but is it a sin not to be satisfied?
I agree that there are many scrupulous practices out there which show businesses as selfish operations with no concern for gullible customers. The customers too are very shrewd and if they are never questioned on their morality, then why are businesses?
It is an unsaid truth that most businesses run for profits alone and the brand building around it is to protect the customer from getting hurt by the true intentions of a business.
Yes, the corporates owe society but no more than society owes them. They create job opportunities, promote development and invoke aspirations in the public.
Society and businesses exist together because they need each other and not because they want to. So yes, there is no harm in pushing businesses to help in the betterment of society by giving aid, but it also isn’t wrong when businesses retaliate and refuse to give up their hard earned incomes.
The business of business is business and not charity, but to get businesses to contribute is society’s business.
Two students from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) have been selected for the National Finals of Nissan Student Brand Manager (NSBM) program to be held at Mumbai next month. The final round of selection for North Zone was held at the IIFT campus with the jury consisting of eminent personalities from the Advertising and the Automobile fields such as Mr. Prahlad Kakkar, Ad Guru, Genesis Films, Mr. Harish Bijoor, CEO of Harish Bijoor Consults Inc, Mr. Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor of Autocar India Magazine.
Expressed Mr KT Chacko, Director, IIFT, “IIFT congratulates the winners and wishes them all the success in their endeavors. IIFT is glad to provide this platform for the selection and enable its own and other students to come up with effective and novel marketing ideas."
The other finalists include students from the Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIMB) and IBS, Dehradun.
Said Rathin Rawal, one of the finalists from IIFT, batch 2010 – 12 "I am thrilled. Having worked in the automobile sector, this event naturally generated interest in me. Presenting my ideas before stalwarts like Prahlad Kakkar and the possible opportunity of executing them in real life kept me motivated. The fact that it was held on my home turf - IIFT has been an added advantage."
This is the second year of the initiative by Nissan and this program invited applications from 150 colleges spanning across 15 cities in India. The company aims to target 1,200 entries for appointing 20 NSBM?s and the tenure of the program will be for a period of a six months starting from July to Dec’2011.
NSBM program is aimed at presenting a unique challenge to the students to create a niche for them and raise the standards of excellence for their future. The participants will get an opportunity to channelize their creative minds.
The 20-selected Student Brand Managers from across India are planned to play a key role in bringing brand Nissan closer to both - the student community and the public in general through innovative marketing initiatives. After undergoing training, the students will work closely with company officials on a variety of initiatives. Also each NSBM can get a “Nissan Micra” based on their requirements which will further help them to understand marketing activities of an automobile brand.
Author: Akshay Gupta (2011-2013 batch)
Here came 1st July 2011, my 1st day at IIFT, Delhi. With great expectations and hopes in my mind and with enormous energy I entered the campus of IIFT, Delhi the “IIFT Bhawan” located in the greens of the Aravallis.
The moment I entered the place I fell in love with this place all over again.. No this by no means is my second stint at IIFT..:), but because it reminded me of my school life.. I am not getting emotional by any chance, but I say so as it reminded of the greens of the Aravallis as it’s just a stones throw away distance from IIFT.
The day as it should start in any Indian B-School with the lightning of the knowledge lamp and an address by the honorable director of the institute, followed by load of people from the program director to the faculty, the students body president and so on.. Every minute that was passing by was making us realize the kind of effort and focus this course required from each one of us and it started to give me the feel of being an IIFTian and yes I felt it.. I am an IIFT 2011-13 batch student..!!!
It was on the first day that I got a chance to interact with each and every one of my batch mates, I found a lot many people who from the first look seemed to be fun loving and as cheerful and on the other hand there were few who from there first look had started to scare the hell out of me.. and these people were those extremely serious kind of people.. with loads of knowledge on their head and who made me realize on the very instance about where I am and what I have for competition…:(.
The highlight of the day started at 6.00Pm when the 2010-12 batch seniors started to pour into the auditorium. These were those guys who had been with us all throughout the GDPI and the selection process, hats off to these guys… I knew at the back of my mind that now the real “Fun” is going to start.. yes this was the IIFT flagship PDP sessions, the sessions which would give me a hang of the “B-School culture”, the culture of sleepless nights, of working in groups, the feeling of “loving” your blazers and tie at 45 *Celsius temp.. and it was indeed as I had expected..:( .
The first day gave me a hang of what I will be experiencing in these 2 years of my life. The rocked totally, it drained all the energy out of me that I had been saving for so long.. But, still I was liking.. As that’s the way it happens at IIFT.. Go IIFT go….!!!
They have not only bagged enviable profiles, lived their lives joyfully here but also stood out warriors when the time came to test their managerial acumen, the IIFT batch of 2009-2011 have mercilessly conquered the B-school competitions. They excelled in competitions focusing on Marketing, Finance, Strategy, Consulting, Quizzes, B-plans, Operations or a combination of them! Grabbed the first position at The Mahindra War Room 2010, the biggest B-school competition in India, were the runners up in Reckitt Benckiser case study held at FMS, winners of Masuk Prasar held at IIFT in association with Tata Motors, the list goes on and on.
To have a glimpse of some of the major achievements of the batch, please click on the following link:
You people will definitely be an inspiration for 2010-2012 batch and many more batches to come. Kudos to you and all the very best for the future!
I
n one of the first forays by a government institute into the multi-billion dollar foreign education market,the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) will set up its first overseas campus in Kampala,Uganda.The business education and foreign trade institute will partner with Uganda Management Institute to set up the India-Africa Institute of Foreign Trade (IAIFT).It will be one of the 19 educational institutions that India will help establish in Africa following the 2008 India-Africa Forum Summit.Africa needs a lot of capacity building,especially for managing foreign trade, said KT Chacko,Director IIFT.The Indian institute will provide faculty and will train local teaching staff as a new campus is built by the Ugandan government.Short-term courses and training classes will begin by November this year.Pune University was the first government-run educational institute to set up an international campus,in the United Arab Emirates.However,private-sector players such as Manipal Group have set up a number of foreign campuses across locations such as Dubai,the Caribbean and in Kuala Lumpur over the last two decades.International ventures together contribute almost 60% to the total revenue, said Anand Sudarshan,CEO,Manipal.We are looking to expand in Africa but have not finalised on a location or a partner, he added.Manipal Educations revenue is expected to be $250 million in the coming fiscal.Even private vocational and skills training enterprises are eyeing the global education market.In February this year,Global Talent Track (GTT),which makes students corporateready through additional career-focused training,launched a training centre in Shanghai.The Intel Capital and Helion Venture funded company,which was set up in 2008,has centres in Malaysia as well.
PS: The article was published in TOI. dated 31/05/2011 by RADHIKA P NAIR, BANGALORE
Here is the Link http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?articles=yes&pageid=7&max=true&articleid=Ar00702§id=5edid=&edlabel=ETBG&mydateHid=31-05-2011&pubname=Economic+Times+-+Bangalore+-+Corporate&title=IIFT+to+Launch+Foreign+Trade+Institute+in+Kampala&edname=&publabel=ET, it opens when u r logged in the e-paper.
The IIFT Mumbai Alumni Chapter meet concluded successfully on May 14, 2011 at the Indian Merchant Chamber, Churchgate, which saw an enthusiastic response from alumni of many batches. The evening, which was well planned and organized by Abhishek B V and Nikhil Sabharwal, executive members of the Alumni Committee, saw the participation of The IIFT Alumni Society’s Executive Council.
The event started with an introductory note from the chapter head Mr Rajiv Gatne, who thanked the alumni for devoting their time for the meet. It was followed by a small address by our Director Shri K.T.Chacko to the alumni and noted that alumni are the biggest assets of the college. The corporate video of IIFT was presented by Anil Kolla, the student Alumni Coordinator, which was followed by a power point presentation of the last year activities and the calendar for the next year.
Mr Bharat Merchant (Batch of 1972) was the senior most alumnus to attend the chapter meet and was presented with a memento by the chapter head Mr Rajiv Gatne. It was followed by an exciting ‘Business Quiz’ hosted by the MC of the evening Mr Umang Chittalangia, which invited the participation from many of the alumni. Gifts were given for each correct answer. The evening culminated with dinner and drinks.
The two caricature makers in the venue made the evening even more memorable as many of the alumni got their caricatures sketched by them. All the alumni in the chapter meet were given a ‘passport wallet’ as a token of memento for attending the chapter meet.
NDTV Show @ IIFT Campus: B-School Budget
Venue: Our very own Atrium.
Looks amazing!!! Isnt it??
So we are all set for the UCL semi final 2nd leg(El Clasico number 4 in little more than 2 weeks)
at the Camp Nou. Before this Real Madrid has won 1, Barca 1 and one resulted in a draw. Going into the match Barca has an advantage of playing at home with 2 away goals at hand. In the first leg, it was a deadlock which was broken by Pepe's dismissal which seemed to turn the tide in Barca's favour and they went ahead when Messi turned in Ibrahim Afellay's cross. Messi then added a fabulous second when he ran 30 yards before slotting in.
Real Madrid's defeat at the Bernabéu by Zaragoza – José Mourinho's second league defeat at home inside a month after a nine-year unbeaten run – gave Barça a chance to stretch their advantage at the top to 11 points but they were beaten by Real Socieded later on Saturday. Real Madrid coach Mourinho rested several first-choice players, including Real's top scorer, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Xabi Alonso, ahead of Tuesday's Champions League return at Camp Nou, where they will aim to overturn Barcelona's 2-0 advantage from the first leg.
For the 2nd leg, Pepe is suspended and then there are players in danger of missing the final if
booked - Alves, Mascherano for Barcelona and for Madrid, they are Arbeloa, Adebayor, Di María, C.Ronaldo, and Albiol.
To improve their attacking ambitions, Mourinho may play Kaka in an attacking central mid-field role. Madrid is one of the world’s best teams on the counter. In fact, they are much more than a team that depends on the counter. For much of the season Madrid has dominated the ball and retained possession for long stretches. In addition, Madrid have been quite dangerous when they’ve been able to turn the ball over higher up the pitch and then break at speed. Their pace and technical ability makes them very adept at transitioning from defense to not only attack extremely quickly but to do so in numbers.
Tactically, Alonso plays a key role in the midfield as Pedro and David Villa are for Barca. Alonso is a fine passer but he’s not particularly strong at shielding the ball or dribbling. With Villa and Pedro pressing the full backs, Barça will be able to break Madrid into two horizontal pieces by pressing Alonso and forcing Khedira to build up more of the play. This will require both Xavi and Iniesta(who might not play) to defend vigorously on the press, which they fortunately accustomed to doing.
The Barça wide players must press and disrupt the Madrid full backs as they seek to initiate play. Pedro in particular will be critical for Barça because one of the signfiicant advantages Barça have is Pedro’s work rate compared to Ronaldo’s. Pedro will need to not only pressure Marcelo but will then need to track back to support closing down the partnership between Marcelo and C. Ronaldo.
Which leads us to the final way Barça must defend – one of their best defenses in this match will
be to possess the ball and to do so with as few errors as possible. One of Madrid’s greatest
problems in this match will be - How to generate attacking opportunities in the way they are
accustomed to against a team that possesses the ball for so long and infrequently makes mistakes in possession.
Some Catalans see Barcelona as their "national team" – despite the presence of foreign players such as the Argentinian Leo Messi and Brazil's Dani Alves. Some Madrileños see it as the sporting embodiment of "anti-Spanishness". It is a state of mind that harks back to the days of General Franco, when Real Madrid was seen as the establishment club. Barcelona, almost as a corollary, became a symbol of Catalan resistance.
For them this is war, a set of proxy battles between the Catalonia region – of which Barcelona is
the capital – and mighty Madrid. With a draw and a victory apiece so far, the bruising campaign
will not be settled until Tuesday.
The first leg saw Mourinho openly criticising Barca(for their "theatrics)and UEFA(for "supporting" the Catalans). I have heard/seen people making baseless comments that UEFA supports Barca as UNICEF are their sponsors. But here I want to make clear that UNICEF does not sponsor Barca. Rather it's the other way round i.e. Barcelona FC funds UNICEF.
Anyways, hoping for more football and less of an action packed movie in the last Clasico of the
season.
I chose to watch this movie as it was suggested by Pinaki Sir in class. And as he rightly said, the
movie is depressing, and leaves one with a paranoid feeling. I still wonder why Midnight Cowboy was slapped with an X rating. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards though, becoming the first and only X rated movie to win Best Picture(they used this for promoting the movie). John Schlesinger won Best Director, and Waldo Salt won Best Writing - Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Midnight Cowboy is all about one of the essential myths: The eager youth comes from the country to the city, and his simplicity and freshness are ground up in the urban jungle. Joe was a simple-no-ambition dishwashing Cowboy on the road to nowhere. In this small nothing town he might have been the top stud with women falling all over him. Realizing "the only one thing I ever been good for is loving" he concocts this naïve idea that he's going to quit his job.
Joe Buck happens to meet Ratso(Rico or Rizzo), a person entirely outside his experience. Like a rat, he makes his own way in the city, hated, asking no favors, living the life he knows. The characters are very different yet they complement each other really well. The only reason being- there is no other way to turn.
Joe is very much a daydreamer. The film is constructed with a series of flashbacks and dream sequences that are triggered by as much as an incident reminding Joe of something "similar" that happened to him. Joe's biggest misstep is buying into the images and words he sees and hears. His worldview seems to have been formed through John Wayne's movies.
Midnight Cowboy is a movie that destroys myths and demonstrates the difficulty of trying to attain one's dreams. Joe's great misconception of media leads to broken dreams, promises, and hopes when Joe tries to live his version of the American dream. The film wastes no time in pointing out Joe's lack of intelligence, style, class, tact, quick thinking, brainpower and so on make him unable to succeed in a place he doesn't understand in the least.
Joe's encounter in the dark movie theater with the kid with hornrims was seriously damaged by Schlesinger's flashbacks,which I think, were a serious weakness in the movie. I can never be sure what went on with the girl in Texas, or what Joe's grandmother was up to, but that doesn't matter. Experiences like those in Joe's background should have produced a masochistic, impotent figure, which don't fit into Joe Buch as we see him.
In the end, Midnight Cowboy is a devastating movie and doesn't care about sending the audience home happy. As a whole though, the film is hardly all gloom and doom because the friendship between Joe & Ratso and sequences that show their dreams shed some light on even the darkest of circumstances. Even the concluding sequence is painful. As Joe and Ratso make their way to enjoy in Florida, Ratso passes away in the bus. The people know something serious has occured but they don't get much bothered and some old women are shown as doing makeup as they get ready to get down at Florida.
The movie reminded me of the innocent, innocuous village people's experiences once they step into a metro city and it really does give you a mental beating. All in all, a depressing movie filmed in a cutting edge style that shows even dreams with low expectations can have a high price.
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