【正文】 f the stores in the area have moved downmarket, selling in the lower price ranges. That39。s a problem. I think we have to make changes very soon. I mean, our losses are increasing every year, we just can39。t go on like this. We may have to revise our strategy. Maybe we made a mistake in choosing France for expansion.C Well, thanks for your opinions. I think on balance we feel we should keep the store going for a while. So, the next thing to do is to appoint a suitable firm of marketing consultants to find out what our problems are, and make remendations. Personally, I39。m convinced the store will be a success if we get the marketing mix right. We39。ve got to get the store back into profit, we39。ve invested a lot of money in it.0 (I = Interviewer, E = Expert)I What39。s going wrong with Texan Chicken, Susanna? It used to be a star performer. Now, no one seems to want to buy their shares. What39。s it all about?E There are a number of problems, as I see it. First, demand has fallen for their food. I39。m not sure if it39。s because people are eating less chicken these days. But certainly there39。s lots of petition from the fast food chains. McDonald39。s, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and so on.I But I thought Texan Chicken was a bit special? Different from the others? Spicier, better tasting, and so on?E That may be true. But it39。s rather expensive. You pay a lot more than a similar meal at, say, McDonald39。s.I So is that the problem, pricing?E It39。s not just that. They39。ve been expanding very fast,probably too fast, and they39。ve run into financial problems. They couldn39。t pay back some of their loans on time — the banks don39。t like that and the word gets round. Investors don39。t like it either.I Mmm, no wonder the share price fell.E Another thing. They39。ve built up the business by franchising.But some of the franchisees aren39。t mnning their restaurants properly. Customers are plaining about long queues, poor service and dirty restaurants. The decor is also dull and unexciting.I So what39。s the solution? What are they going to do about it? E I called Eva Martinez yesterday and asked her what plans they had to mm the business round. She didn39。t tell me much, but she did say they had called in a team of management consultants to advise them on their future strategy.13 Cultures0 (I = Interviewer, CB = Claire Bebbington)I Can you tell me any problem you39。ve had of a cross culture nature?CB Understanding what the aspirations of people in different cultures are is important. In my previous job where I was looking after BP39。s publications, we selected images to go with particular stories, especially in developing countries. We were quite keen to show what we would consider the more photogenic aspects of a particular lifestyle, culture, society. But the society was much more keen to show the more dynamic, international, forwardlooking western images that it wanted to present to the outside world.For example, images of Malaysia. We wanted to show images of the countryside, the old systems of agriculture, people using oxen. But they wanted to show the downtown, suburban, western, highly developed, highly sophisticated aspects of Malaysian life.I That39。s interesting. Can you think of any other examples, apart from Malaysia?CB We came across the same issues when we were doing articles on Turkey, Colombia many of the countries that were on the edge of quite rapid economic development, maybe for the first time, who were very sensitive towards how they were presenting themselves to the outside world.Also you shouldn39。t assume that because you understand the culture of the capital city that you also understand the culture in the provinces and other areas in the country. For example, in Colombia where you have a very sophisticated group of people working in Bogota, their lifestyle, their way of life, their culture if you like is quite different from, for example, one of the provinces a long way from the city where the Government and the Government culture in the capital has had very little chance to spread.And even maybe, if you think of, say, somewhere like Papua New Guinea where you have 700 different ... 39。tribes39。 is probably the wrong word, but say 39。groupings39。 — and each of them is subtly different, and certainly from, say, the people and the tribes that live at high altitude, it39。s going to be very different from the coastal inhabitant. (CB = Claire Bebbington)CB I think it39。s very important to be as openminded as you possibly can. You e across different kinds of cultures and they affect business in different ways. You should be aware of a number of things. There are different attitudes towards work, and towards resolving problems and working in teams and so on. In an AngloAmerican culture, they emphasise action, doing things and achieving things. But when you39。re dealing with people who are much more fortable with consensus, in discussion, then you shouldn39。t dismiss that as timewasting. You should have a very open attitude to how people approach work. The simple things like inappropriate food, alcohol, that sort of thing, are much easier to deal with than these more subtle things.