Company Overview Natures Secrets Marketing Essay

Introduction

I am R.H.F.Nuzla, a BABM student of Cardiff Metropolitan University. This assignment asks to critically evaluate the negative and positive influences of home and host country cultures on business decision making.

According to the guidelines, in order to do this assignment I assume that I have been hired as a consultant in Nature’s Secrets (Nature’s Beauty Creations Ltd), a Sri Lankan herbal cosmetic manufacturing company, which plans to expand their operations in UK.

The workings of different social group behaviour patterns of the Sri Lanka (home country) and United Kingdom (host country) have been critically analysed and the positive and negative influences of UK and Sri Lankan culture on business decision making of Nature’s Secrets have been analysed with examples. Computer, internet, books, and advices of the lecturer have been used to complete the assignment successfully.

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Company Overview: Nature’s Secrets

Nature’s Secrets is the Sri Lanka’s largest herbal cosmetic manufacturing company which operates in beauty and herbal cosmetic industry. Nature’s Secrets is really a blend of modern cosmetics technology and ancient natural beauty secrets from the tropical island of Sri Lanka.http://www.multichemigroup.com/images/NS-logo_small.jpg

Vision Statement – To create a global brand of herbal cosmetics from Sri Lanka by 2020.

Mission Statement – To achieve product excellence and delight customers through total commitment to quality and service, with a fusion of Sri Lanka’s own herbal heritage and modern cosmetology that offers the best of nature for the benefit of people and the environment.

Nature’s Secrets manufactures 4 ranges of personal care products namely, general, platinum, herbal heritage and salon & spa range. And they produce body care, face care, hair care and foot care products for all types of skins and for both gender.http://www.naturessecrets.lk/images/430/0/herbal-heritage-26.06.12.jpg

(http://www.naturessecrets.lk/)

Nature’s Secrets herbal cosmetics are manufactured by Nature’s Beauty Creations (NBC) in Sri Lanka by maintaining ISO and European recognized GMP standards. http://www.naturessecrets.lk/images/430/0/platinum-range27.06.12.jpg

Sri Lanka is one of the prominent countries in growing the herbals. NBC has created an herbal garden which consists of over 500 varieties of medical plants around its high-tech factory, making it an exclusive competence in the world and also established Sri Lanka’s only privately owned Plant Research Centre dedicated to carrying out scientific research on precious medicinal plants of Sri Lanka. Today Nature’s Beauty Creations takes pride in driving the herbal cosmetics market in Sri Lanka. These genuine exotic herbal cosmetics of far superior quality and efficiency are now been highly recognized in many countries. Nature’s Secrets products are currently exported to Germany, Poland, Czech republic, Maldives, Singapore, India, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, US, Finland and Hungary. (http://www.naturessecretsnz.com/countries-natures-secrets-products-are-currently-exported-to/).

As a consultant at this company, the following are discussed with the plan of entering UK (host country) herbal cosmetic market. The mode of entry into this international market will be export. Reasons for selecting UK as the host country will be discussed below.

Reasons to select UK as the host country

The followings are the reasons to select UK as the host country; the detailed country evaluation portfolio has been attached in the appendix.

There is a huge prospect for Asian cosmetics in the wholesale cosmetic UK; nature’s Secrets is an Asian company, therefore they have the opportunity to enter the UK market. (Veronika, 2011)

Women’s beauty products demand growing about 7 times the rate of the global cosmetics market in UK. Female are the majority in the UK population.

Customer affluence and demand for organic and natural beauty care products are in an increasing trend in UK. (Katie, 2009)

The increasing growth of the cosmetic industry in the global market; EU counts for the higher share; therefore in UK there is a growing demand for this industry.

Herbal cosmetics are the current trend not only in Asian countries, but also countries like US, UK and Australia; the herbal premium cosmetic sector is growing at 15% per annum. (http://www.ft.lk/2011/03/12/reebonn-cosmetics-to-drive-herbal-beauty-care-industry/)

Consumer awareness has led to a trend towards organic and herbal products; many UK cosmetic manufactures are moving to herbal and natural ingredients as the demand for it has shown an increasing trend. The risks associated with toxic materials in personal care products, UK companies have to invest in research and development to render products safe or to discover alternative raw materials like natural and herbal products. Therefore, Nature’s Secrets has an opportunity in this market as they are an herbal cosmetic manufactures. (http://www.reportlinker.com/ci02134/Personal-Care.html)

In UK, approximately 6.11% of UK population is Asians/British Asians; this is a noteworthy amount; so, as this is an Asian company they will have a demand from this population, because the products will best suit to their skin type and the fragrance of the products will suit them as they are Asians.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/may/18/ethnic-population-england-wales#data)

Target market

The following groups or categories have been identified as Nature’s Secrets potential target group/market in the United Kingdom.

Middle class and upper middle class young and matured women and men (mainly the 15 – 64 age category)

Professional community that belongs to the above income and age category.

Distribution channels

The following channels have been chosen to distribute the product in UK

Super markets and hyper markets

Beauty parlors, salons and skin care shops

Herbal shops.

Different social groups of home country (Sri Lanka) and host country (UK)

A country’s population can be grouped by using various elements; these are the social groups in a country, so it will help to identify or study the social behaviour patterns of the population. The following are the different social groups of the home and host country.

Sri Lankan population grouped by:

Ethnicity

Figure 01 – Sri Lankan population by ethnicity

Gender

Figure 02 – Sri Lankan population by gender

Religion

Figure 03 – Sri Lankan population by religion

Age

Figure 04 – Sri Lankan population by age

0-14 years: male 2,705,953 / female 2,599,717

15-64 years: male 6,993,668 / female 7,313,440

65 years and over: male 720,219 / female 950,916

(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ce.html, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/srilanka.html)

UK population grouped by:

Ethnicity

Figure 05 -UK population by ethnicity

White population is consists of English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9%.

Gender

Figure 06 -UK population by gender

Religion

Figure 07 -UK population by religion

Christian category consists of Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist.

Age

Figure 08 -UK population by age

0-14 years: male 5,575,119 / female 5,301,301

15-64 years: male 20,979,401 / female 20,500,913

65 years and over:  male 4,564,375 / female 5,777,253

(https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/uk.html, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/UK.html)

Different social group behaviour patterns of Sri Lanka and UK

Sinhala is the mother tongue and official language of Sri Lanka, on the other hand, in UK English is the main and official language.

Gifts are opened when received in UK and not opened in Sri Lanka

The British and Sri Lankans exchange gifts between family members and close friends for birthdays, Christmas and religion holidays; in both the country gifts need not to be expensive but it should be symbolic.

Sri Lanka is diversified by religion/ethnicity, therefore when giving gifts, should avoid pig products and alcohol products to Muslim, flowers and black and white colours should be avoided as they are used in funerals and mourning, and leather gifts should be avoided for Hindus.

The handshake is the common form of greeting in UK; no issue on gender, on the other hand in Sri Lanka Sinhalese may say “ayubowan” and Tamils would say “vanakkam” to greet people and the younger generation generally shake hands in Sri Lanka. Many Sri Lankan women will refrain from physical contact with a man outside their family.

Relationship building is important for businesses in Sri Lanka; on the other hand British rely on facts rather than emotions to make decisions, maintaining privacy is vital in UK.

Forwarding the business meeting agenda to the other party prior to the meeting will be worthwhile in both the countries

Punctuality is important in business situations in UK, in contrast it is not that much followed in Sri Lanka.

Maintain eye contact in UK but avoid prolonged eye contact as it makes people feel uncomfortable in UK; on the other hand in Sri Lanka avoid of eye contact or blatant tactics of evasion.

When addressing people in Sri Lanka should always use the appropriate title followed by the surname on the other hand Most people use the courtesy titles or Mr, Mrs or Miss and their surname in UK

 Business cards are usually exchanged after an initial handshake and greeting in Sri Lanka; in UK business cards are exchanged at the initial introduction without formal ritual.

Maintaining face is important for all communication and do not openly criticise people in Sri Lanka. They are very non-confrontational in their communication, they may say one thing but mean another and it is up to the listener to work out the message. In contrast, the British have both understatement and direct communication. If communicating with someone they know well, their style may be more informal. Most British will not use slang or acronym and will think negatively if your communication shows overly familiar.

Sri Lankans enjoy meal time with their family or with friends. They use their right hand to eat and sometimes they use cutlery. The UK people enjoy entertaining in people their homes and table manners are Continental; they always eat with the cutlery (folk and knife)

The main religions of Sri Lanka are Buddhism which has large influences on political, cultural, and social life. The caste system have created a culture that operated within a hierarchical system, all relationships (in family or at office) involve hierarchies. Sri Lankans are conscious of social order and status.  On the other hand, class is no longer simply about wealth or where one lives; the British are able to suss out someone’s class through a number of complex variables including demeanour, accent, manners and comportment. Formerly a very homogenous society with the immigrants. The British are a bit more contained in their body language and hand gestures while speaking. (http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/srilanka.html, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/UK.html)

Sri Lanka is consists of many religions and they celebrate different festivals; it is a holiday in Sri Lanka. The Sinhala and Tamil New Year is a very large cultural event on the island which falls in April celebrate by Buddhists and Hindus; Buddhists celebrate vesak and poson; Hindus celebrate thaipongal and theebawali; muslims celebrate the Ramadan and Haj festival; and Christians celebrate the Christmas and good Friday. Other than this the Esala Perahera is celebrate as a major cultural event in the island. In UK, Christmas, New Year, Easter and Halloween are celebrated. The immigrants and the other religion people celebrate their own religion festivals. (http://woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/questions/index/festivals.htm)

Rice is usually consumed-daily and it can be found-at any special occasion with spicy curries for-lunch and dinner-in Sri-Lanka. In UK, they do-not use much-spices (hot spices) for their-dishes; mostly-sandwiches can be seen in their-meals. British-have specific-set-of-cooking traditions-and-practices; simple-dishes matched-with sauces to highlight-flavour.

Business-attire-rules are little relaxed in UK, but conservative dress is still very important for both men-and-women. Dark-suits, usually black, blue, or gray, are acceptable; businesswomen are not limited to colours and styles. (http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/united_kingdom.htm). In Sri-Lanka also the dark official-suits are known as business-attire but not for the-all-level.

Influences of home (Sri Lanka) and host (UK) country cultures on business decision making

A country’s culture can influence the business and its decision making. The followings are the positive and negative influences of UK and Sri Lankan culture on international business of Nature’s Secrets.

Punctuality is vital in UK, where as Sri Lankan people do not give attention for punctuality for that extent. So, this can have influence on the business. For an example if a Sri Lankan businessman could not attend a business meeting at the right time in UK, the decision making will be slow, and also there may be less time to discuss the matters as the meeting was delayed due to unpunctual, therefore the discussion held can be poor; therefore this can have a negative impact on the decision making.

Sri Lankans are non offensive in their communication; but they may say one thing and mean another, so, the listener will have to understand the massage properly. When it comes to doing business in UK this can have an impact. For an example in business meetings the massage that is conveyed by the Sri Lankan people may understood by the British imperfectly where it can lead for a negative impact on decision making.

When it comes to the language, although Sinhala is the main language in Sri Lanka they widely use English; English is the main language in UK, but the accent and the body language differs. So, the understandings can be affected by this and sometimes can negatively impact on the decision making. And also time can consume more to understand the opposite party and obviously decision making consume more time.

UK is a multicultural society, where there are different social groups and different behaviour patterns exists. So, when the company tend to make decisions regarding their international operations it is impractical to cater all the groups in the decision; so, this has an influence on the business.

First impression is the best impression. Greetings in UK and Sri Lanka differ. When it comes to international business the faults that occur in greeting each party can negatively influence the business deals as the first impression went wrong.

Lankan-women refrain from physical-contact with outside men where as in UK no gender differences. So, for an example if UK-men greet Lankan women though physical-contact as they don’t have issue on-gender, there can be negative-issues regarding it and it can negatively-influence the-business.

Maintaining eye-contact (not for so-long) is important in UK. For an-example in a business meeting the Sri Lankan didn’t maintain eye contact, the-British can think offend or stretch-out about the matter because Sri Lankans don’t maintain eye contact while talking. This can have negative-influence business happening.

Maintaining privacy is vital in UK where as Sri-Lankans relationship-oriented. So, in business-operations within these-countries can have-influence by this; for an-example if Sri-Lankan in the form of building-relationship, they may-exceed the level which the-British can be offended as their-privacy is-questioned. So, this can have-negative impact over the-business.

Gift-giving ways are-different in these-countries; the gifts-that should be-given to different-social group-are-differing. The-way of addressing-people differ-in UK and Sri-Lanka. So in business-practices, businesses-should-be concern of these-things as the-faults in these-little-things-can negatively-influence the-business.

Business-attire gives-impression-about the person; so, the-people should be-concern of their-costume when-they go for-business meetings-because this-little item-can give negative-impression.

Some-of the-social-group behaviours-are same in both-the-countries. For an-example if we take-Muslims, their-behaviours are same-related to-their religion-wherever they are; so as-the gifts alcohol-and-pig-products should be avoided. Likewise the-some cultural-behaviour is same in these both-countries. Therefore, it can influence the business and decision-making positively in-terms of time to study the cultural behaviours; decision-making can-be speed-up.

Conclusion

By doing this assignment I have gathered knowledge of how different cultures and the workings of different social-group behaviours influences the businesses-and the decision making.

Nature’s-Secrets is the Sri-Lanka’s largest-herbal-cosmetic-manufacturer-and having-demand in the international-market. They are-with the plans of entering into a new-market which is UK-cosmetic-market. UK cosmetic-market shows a trend-towards herbal cosmetics with natural ingredients and also the industry is-growing well. And also-around 6.11% of Asians (in the-total population of UK) living there. These factors-are few reasons to-select this country as the host country.

The culture-and the behaviours of different-social group differ from-one to another. Population can be grouped by different-initiatives such as age, gender, ethnicity and religion. UK-and Sri-Lanka has different social groups and the behaviours of these groups-differ from one to another in-terms of greetings, meetings, dining and-business etiquettes,-festivals, costumes-and-behaviours.

UK is a multicultural-society and the-cultures of this-host and home-country differ, when it comes to international-business it has huge-influences on it. The decision-making of the business – Nature’s-Secrets, and the business itself has positive-and-negative influences from the UK and Sri Lankan cultures.

Recommendation

As recommendation for Nature’s Secrets international operation in UK, the followings can be stated.

Before entering-into business-contracts with British; the-upper and-middle level of the company who-engage in operations with British-can go for a study regarding-UK culture. For this, training-programs such as-presentations can be arranged to-educate regarding-the UK culture. So-the possible faults-and-misunderstandings related to cultural-difference as discussed-in-the essay-can be-reduced.

Suitable-person (in the-upper-level) should be-selected and-sent for the-meetings with the British who-really understands-their-culture and-behaviours for an extent, so, the-blunders can be-reduced, because-tiny mistakes-can lead-for-failures.