A Case Study on Coca-Cola Company's Advertisements in China:Based on Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions

Globalization changes the business style of corporations.In modern society,entrepreneurs believe that it is important for companies to expand their business all over the world.However,an inevitable problem comes to managers' sight-cultural differences.Citizens in different countries have different norms,rules,symbols and values,which influence the business expansion of corporations in foreign countries.Therefore,it is crucial for translational corporations to introduce their products or services to foreign customers in proper ways and make customers accept them.Advertising plays an important role in this process because it delivers corporate image and corporate culture to customers.Meanwhile,Hofstede's cultural dimensions help managers analyze and deal with cultural differences when they are assigned to foreign countries for managing.In this paper,an analysis on the application of Hofstede's cultural mode based on a case study of Coca-Cola's advertisements will be conducted.It will be organized as follows:a literature review on Hofstede's cultural mode will be arranged in section one.Then,section two will discuss the application of Hofstede's cultural mode in China,and a case study of Coca-Cola's advertisements in China will be followed.In the end,a conclusion based on above findings will be summarized in section three.

Theoretical Transplantation into Translation Studies——An Analysis on the Pragmatic Application of Hofstede’s

The deepening process of globalization has given rise to restless cultural exchanges among people from different regions of the world through newspapers,books,and other written media.However,the significant differences in languages and cultures have become an insurmountable gap in intercultural communication.To lubricate cultural exchanges,new translation theories that focus on the transformation of different cultural concepts shall be introduced and adopted.This paper aims to extract applicable notions from Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions for pragmatic translation studies by laying emphasis on its pragmatic value through case study.By such theoretical transplantation,valuable suggestions are proposed to tackle cultural misunderstandings and conflicts encountered amid cultural exchanges.

The Impact of Employees＇ National/Regional Culture on the Adaptation to Organizational Culture

In respect of all forms of enterprises, whether it is a private or public institution, labor cohesion and productivity is one of the most emphasized issues. Culture, on the other hand, can be characterized as one of the inextricable and hardly ever alterable features of human kind. Whether the profession cohesion and accordingly productivity of those employed within a culture discrepant from their culture of origin both due to the effect of globalization and domestic conditions are culturally affected is a question of importance, which must be answered with regard to state, institution, and employee. The occupational obligation to work in various regions, encountered in public employees at a national scale, particularly in the fields of education and health, and identified with legislative regulations, has become a reason of preference due to economic justifications for private sector employees. Hofstede （1990）, who divides culture, in general, into two, national and organizational, has presented five parameters for the elucidation of cultures. These are ＂power distance＂, ＂individualism vs. collectivism＂, ＂masculinity vs. femininity＂, ＂uncertainty avoidance＂, and ＂long and short term orientation＂. By means of power distance, the conception by an organization or social structure of power distribution of its members is queried. In other words, the difficulty or simplicity in people establishing communication with more influential individuals of the society is evaluated. Individualism vs. collectivism is with regard to whether individuals consider themselves as a distinct individual or a member of a group. Masculinity vs. femininity is the parameter, explanatory of the mentality, rather than a form of gender discrimination. Masculine cultures attach more importance to competition, force, and achievement whereas feminine societies place emphasis on emotions and life quality. Uncertainty avoidance is associated with the attitude of societies towards uncertainties. While some may not pay attention to uncertainties, for others, situations without clear boundaries may be registered as a threat. Long and short term orientation is related to long or short term planned by＇ people and accordingly bearing expectations and in other respects, displays the past, present, and future oriented thinking tendency. Within the scope of this study, it is aimed to identify the positive or negative impact of the culture of origin of university staff, to be designated in Istanbul/Turkey, on the organizational culture. By means of the results of the aforementioned study, the comparison of cohesion is in terms of ability to communicate and accordingly productivity, within the frame of Hofstede＇s cultural dimensions, between those employed within their culture （of origin） and those employed in different cultures. In pursuant of the results obtained from this study, an opinion can be formed for the regulations to be issued on the matter on national scale. At institutional scale, contributions can be made in the assessment of employee productivity from the aforesaid perspective and in terms of the employee, awareness can be raised on the impact of working within the body of different cultures.

Cultural Differences Between China and the West Behind“neijuan”

Over recent years,our society has plunged into the phenomenon of“neijuan”(in English“involution”,a kind of meaningless competition).And it even becomes a social dilemma that many people are forced to make more efforts to compete for limited social resources.This phenomenon has,of course,attracted the attention of many researchers.There are many researches about“neijuan”varying from its popularity reasons and its trend to its application,but there is very little research about the cultural differences between China and the West behind this phenomenon.Therefore,based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory,this paper analyses the different manifestations of“neijuan”in China and the West and explores the cultural differences between the two.

An Acceptance Model of Using Mobile-Government Services(AMGS)

In recent years,the telecommunications sector is no longer limited to traditional communications,but has become the backbone for the use of data,content and digital applications by individuals,governments and companies to ensure the continuation of economic and social activity in light of social distancing and total closure inmost countries in the world.Therefore,electronic government(e-Government)andmobile government(m-Government)are the results of technological evolution and innovation.Hence,it is important to investigate the factors that influence the intention to use m-Government services among Jordan’s society.This paper proposed a new m-Government acceptance model in Jordan(AMGS);this model combines the Information System(IS)Success Factor Model and Hofstede Cultural Dimensions Theory.The study was conducted by surveying different groups of the Jordanian community.Astructured questionnaire was used to collect data from203 respondents.Multiple regression analysis has been conducted to analyze the data.The results indicate that the significant predictors of citizen intention to use m-Government services in Jordan are Information Quality,Service Quality,Uncertainty Avoidance,and Indulgence vs.restraint.While,the results also suggest that Power Distance is not a significant predictor of citizen intention to use m-Government services.

Motivations of Individuals Participating in Social Media： A Cultural Perspective

Social media is an information technology that allows users to communicate and share information. With steadily rising number of users across the globe, individuals participate in various activities, like connecting with friends and community members, sharing information, posting political messages, disaster recovery activities, reading daily news, learning, and entertainment, each driven by different sets of motivations. Culture has an influence on the kind of motivation―pro-social and personal needs oriented―that drives social media usage by individuals. Using Hofstede’s （1984b） cultural dimensions, the paper suggests that each of the dimensions will have influences on the social media behaviors differently. Such a cultural perspective helps future social media users to plan the kind of activity and information sharing based on the kind of motivation driving the target audience and the platform providers to design and market accordingly.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Disaster News in Chinese and American Media

Mass media has become an important platform for countries to connect with the outside world and exchange information.However,due to the differences in values,beliefs,and conventions of each country,misunderstandings are likely to occur in the processes of reading,translation,and communication.Catastrophic news,as an indispensable part of news reporting,is worth studying,especially the differences in this kind of news between China and American,to find out the cultural reasons leading to inconsistencies.This study selects some of the disaster reports in People’s Daily and Washington Post to examine what are reported and how they are reported,and then uses Hofstede’s Theory of Cultural Dimension to explore the cultural values reflected in the different features of Chinese and American catastrophic news.The results show that China and the US are quiet different in power distance,collectivism or individualism,and uncertainty avoidance.