MANAGING ACROSS

CULTURE

By: KUSHAL GUHA

MBA-IB
Greenwich
UK
 CULTURE IN TNT
 What type of cultural challenges does TNT face
when it attempts to market its services
worldwide ?

 Is the demand universal for all of these offerings

or is there a National Responsiveness ?

 In managing its far from enterprise, what are the

two cultural challenge that the company is likely
to face and what will it do to respond to it ?
 What type of cultural challenges does TNT face
when it attempts to market its services worldwide ?
The cultural challenges may be segregated under two aspects namely at MICRO and MACRO level
and they are stated as follows:
Challenges at MICRO level:
 “Work Attitude”
 Work ethics
 Organizational commitment
 Desire to meet objective and achieve success etc.
 “Approach”
 Collectivist or Individualist.
 “Communication”
 Ambiguity – things are hinted and not directly said.
 Straight Forward – things are said directly and not hinted.
 “Nature of people”
 Good
 Evil
 Mixture of both good and evil
 “Different Management Methods”
 The management technique followed or practiced in host country can be different from the home country.
 Role of managers practiced in host country can be different from that of the home country – difference in
the combination of Organizing, Controlling, Training, and Directing practiced by the managers.
 “Negotiating with targeted customers due to unfamiliar culture”
 Style of negotiation
 Unfamiliar concept for the targeted customers
 Communication and language barriers while negotiating
 “Handling difficult customers”

Therefore as culture differs from one country to another, while marketing a service worldwide a company has to study
these above mentioned cultural challenges well at a micro level to avoid future difficulties while operating its
business smoothly.
Challenges at MACRO level:
 “Communication”
 Different language
 Different communicating approach
 Style – pitch, tone, accent, gestures, signs, expressions etc.
 “Culture”
 Private,
 Public or
 Mixed
– the openness of the people and their ability and extent of acceptance of another culture.
 “Modality of Human Activity”
 Doing
 Being and Becoming
 Being
– the approach of the people of the respective country towards their professional life.
 “Monetary Conflicts and Exchange Rates”
 Every country has different practice of exchange and acceptance of currencies of other countries which may be
sometimes not favorable for the home country to commence business.
 “Trading Blocks”
 In some of the cases the trading blocks creates difficulties for the non-member country to commence its
business or market its services as each trading block has different trading policies for the member country and
the non-member country.
 “Local Employment Laws”
 Every country has got set of different employment laws making it difficult for the home country to follow such
norms while marketing and commencing its business worldwide.
 “Technology”
 High cost of technology up-gradation and new set-up
 “Political”
 Government interference
 Rules and regulations set up by the government

As the culture differs from one country to another the company is likely to face such cultural challenges
at a MACRO level while marketing it services worldwide.
Is the demand universal for all of these offerings or
is there a National Responsiveness ?
 TNT has a long and interesting history spanning more than 250 years.

 It’s roots can be traced back to 1752 but it wasn’t until 1946 that the company known as TNT was
born in Australia. 

 Since the last 65 years TNT has grown into a global enterprise, even operating its own aircrafts, containers, trucks,
vans etc. reflecting the need of the demand by its customers.

 The demand for the services provided by TNT is no doubt universal because the service they provide worldwide is
a part of the global transportation and distribution industry through its two divisions- Express & Mail.

 TNT serves more than 200countries and employs around 160,000 people, this alone states that how intense is the
demand for its services worldwide.

 The service they provide is needed by every individual quite often, no-one can avoid using such a service
knowingly, as there are no practical alternatives to it.

 Goods and documents have different weights, shapes and sizes. They can be as small and light as a postcard or
they can be as big and heavy as the engine of a jumbo jet.

 All these different types of requirements need different delivery networks and are served by different operators.

 There is no change in the service they provide but surely there is value addition and up-gradation of the way they
provide it to the customers as demanded in various situations to make the customers satisfied and meet up to their
expectations
 Two of its most important missions
 To exceed customers expectations in the transfer of their goods and documents around the
world.
 To deliver value to their customers by providing the most reliable and efficient solutions
through delivery networks.
 Three of its most important standards
 Aim to satisfy customers every time 
 Challenge and improve all they do
 Work for the world
 National or international delivery, Same day or next day delivery, Warehousing or
fulfillment.

All of these factors reflect the change the company is ready to make and go the extra mile to
cater the needs of the customers.
Whatever the customers business's needs, TNT is there to help. Whatever customers need in
case of transportation or distribution, just let them know.
And even if they don't have the solution the customers are after, they'll go that extra mile to
develop it for the customers - making sure they suit the customers requirements as much
as possible.
 In managing its far from enterprise, what are the
two cultural challenge that the company is likely to
face and what will it do to respond to it ?
 The two cultural challenges that the company is likely to face in managing its far from enterprise are as follows:
1. “TECHNOLOGY”
2. “DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT METHODS”

1. “TECHNOLOGY”
 The technology which the home country use to commence business and provide service is
sometimes not available in the host country for commencing the same business
 The integration and follow up of the technology in the host country becomes difficult and complex
leading to various technical problems for the one unfamiliar with it
 Cost of setting up of new and enhanced technology from the scratch in the host country becomes
immensely expensive
 The personnel's required for handling and working with such technology requires high qualifications
which at the end increases the expenses of the company at a high level

2. “DIFFERENT MANAGEMENT METHODS”

 The methods followed by managers in host country can be different from that of the home country
which might sometimes make complications for the home country
 Managers in different countries follow different methods of managing their subordinates
 It’s a combination of controlling, directing, coordinating and training
 The step that TNT took to overcame and eradicate the
above mentioned two challenges are as follows:

TNT Express decided to develop GARD, a new system within the

Global Account Management department. Its main features are;
 Workload Management for the Contract Managers allows for a better and
more effective allocation of individuals to activities;
 Priority Management through the system allows management to better
oversee each Contract Manager’s workload, and be able to make informed
changes to what each Contract Manager should address at a particular point
in time;
 Customer Relationship and Knowledge Management module allows a more
proactive response to customers’ needs.
 Supply Chain Management module to support the Logistics Management
challenges that the business faces on a day-to-day basis.
 Reports and Monitoring capabilities allow the management team to quickly
assess and make informed decisions regarding the status of each activity
and the status of the logistics workflow activities;
 Worldwide communication tools allow for the Contract Managers to remotely
communicate with one another and forge better solutions to address specific
customer problems through the online GARD system.