High context and low context cultures.

(BASKIN ROBBINS)

Prepared bySaurabh Bhargava Rupa Jha Archit Tiwari

Why Understanding Cultures?

Understanding whether your international colleagues are high context or low context will help you to adapt your communication style and build stronger relationships with them. These concepts are covered during cross-cultural training programs such as Communicating across Cultures and Managing International Teams. Cultural awareness training which focuses on one or more specific cultures like Doing Business in India or Living and Working in China will also address these concepts.

High Context Culture

High context implies that a lot of unspoken information is implicitly transferred during communication. People in a high context culture such as Saudi Arabia tend to place a larger importance on long-term relationships and loyalty and have fewer rules and structure implemented.

Low Context Culture

Low

context implies that a lot of information is exchanged explicitly through the message itself and rarely is anything implicit or hidden. People in low context cultures such as the UK tend to have short-term relationships, follow rules and standards closely and are generally very task-oriented.

Problems in Understanding High Context Cultures

1. Misunderstanding when exchanging information 2. Impression of a lack of information 3. Large amount of information is provided in a nonverbal manner, e.g. gestures, pauses, facial expressions 4. Emphasis on long term relationships and loyalty 5. Unwritten rules that are taken for granted but can easily be missed by strangers 6. Shorter contracts since less information is required

Problems in Understanding Low Context Cultures

All meaning is explicitly provided in the message itself Extensive background information and explanations are provided verbally to avoid misunderstandings People tend to have short-term relationships People follow rules and standards closely Contracts tend to be longer and very detailed

High and low context cultures usually correspond with polychromic and monochromic cultures respectively. The table below shows some general preferences of people from high context and low context cultures.

High Context

Low Context

Indirect and implicit messages

Direct, simple and clear messages

High use of non-verbal communication

Low use of non-verbal communication

Low reliance on written communication

High reliance on written communication

Use intuition and feelings to make decisions

Rely on facts and evidence for decisions

Long-term relationships

Short-term relationships

Relationships are more important than schedules

Schedules are more important than

Baskin Robbins
Baskin-Robbins is a global chain of ice cream parlours founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1953, from the merging of their respective ice cream parlours, in Glendale, California. Headquartered in Canton, Mass., Baskin-Robbins is part of the Dunkin Brands Inc. family of companies. It claims to be the world's largest ice cream franchise, with more than 5,800 locations, 2,800 of which are located in the United States. BaskinRobbins sells ice cream in 34 countries, including Canada, Japan, Mexico, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, South Korea, India, Pakistan, Panama, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates. The Baskin Robbins story in India began in 1993, when the first store opened in Mumbai. Today it is spread across the country with more than 300 outlets in 61 cities.

Ice Cream Industry in India

The ice cream market growth in India picked up after de-reservation of the sector in 1997. Of the total size of Rs 1516bn, around 30-32% is in the hands of organized sector valued at Rs 4.9bn, rest all is with the unorganized sector. The Indian government adopted a lot of policy changes for the liberalization regarding the ice cream industry also and it is since then that this sector has shown an annual growth ranging from 15- 20% per annum for last 1- 2 year.

Infrastructure worries:
There are genuine problems, too. Since the demand for ice cream is seasonal, and it also requires specific infrastructure. Any retailer with a tub full of ice can sell soft drinks, but for ice cream he has to have proper refrigeration. For that, one requires proper power supply, which is erratic in India Transporting ice cream across India requires massive infrastructure, because of which supplies over long distances are irregular

Consumption Pattern:
The market for ice-creams in India was estimated at US$265 million in 200607, growing at the rate of 1214 per cent. However, the per capita consumption of ice-cream in India is relatively low, when compared to developed countries. Per capita consumption of ice-cream is around 250 mL per annum as against 22 litres in the US, 18 litres in Australia, 14 litres in Sweden and 5 litres in the UK.The per capita consumption of ice-creams in India is a paltry 250 ml per annum while the average global consumption is 2 litres

Competition in Parlours:
Baskin Robbins now covers 500 modern retail stores along with its retail foot print of 370 outlets. Baskin Robbins will add 100 retail outlets during the year and also grow our modern trade footprint. But competition is in no mood to give up without a fight. Amul too entered the segment with its Scooping parlours where it serves sundaes, thick shakes and an exclusive range of ice cream. It plans to have 1,000 franchises by the end of the financial year, up from the current 250,

Promotions:
The summer of 2007 witnessed an innovative tie-up of Baskin Robbins with Spiderman 3 movie in India. Baskin Robbins promoted Spiderman 3 by means of a creative promotion. Baskin Robbins also captured the attention of the kids by entering into a tie-up with Paanchvi Pass, a popular reality show telecast in 2008 by Star Plus and hosted by Shahrukh Khan. A special Paanchvi Pass flavour was created.

Cont
Drona, a magical adventure movie based on the warrior Drona tied up with Baskin Robbins to promote the movie among the teenagers. Visual displays for the promotion of the movie using Baskin Robbins as a brand included posters, standees, bags, shelf-talker, drop box and banner. Cappuccino Nibs was named the Drona flavour, also known as the flavour of magic to get the touch and feel of the movie.

Cont
The events/movies sponsored by Baskin Robbins have been not so effective in creating visibility for the brand. This is because the brand seems to get lost in the array of other brands sponsoring the events. Say, in launch of Spiderman 3, Baskin Robbins was one among 9 brands to sponsor. Also when sponsoring MTV Roadies, we felt that the brand doesnt communicate its value properly. Because Roadies is an adventure reality show which depicts a tough person which is opposite to that of Baskin Robbins core identity of fun and soft, tender nature conveyed by the brand as such.

Thank You