Intercultural communication in business ventures illustrated by two case studies

The information and communications revolution has hastened the process of globalization in today's world of business. Consequently, businesses, even small and mid-sized companies, are confronted with cultural diversity when these companies become internationally active. Yet only few businesses are well prepared for a culturally diverse global market. Indeed, many business ventures fail not for a want of superior products and/or services, but due to a lack of intercultural competence. Disregarding the cultural component in a business transaction can and will lead to mistakes due to cultural misunderstandings which are the result of miscommunication. Because not much intercultural research exists for German American business ventures, this paper focuses on two German corporations, Buderus and Bayer, who are actively engaged on the American market to determine how they are coping with the cultural differences and measures they have adopted to surmount the cultural gap.