Conversis to present proprietary research results at the annual conference of the leading academic international business association
Oxford, 23rd June 2008 – On 3rd July 2008, Gary Muddyman, CEO and Managing Director of Conversis, will be presenting at the AIB (Academy of International Business) annual conference which is taking place in Milan from June 30 – July 3rd.
The Academy of International Business is the leading association of scholars and specialists in the field of international business. An annual conference is held and this years’ theme is “Knowledge Development and Exchange in International Business Networks”. As the largest international business conference, there are currently 1155 attendees registered to attend.
Over 4 days, 11 topics will be covered, each focusing on the issues faced by multinational corporations such as international accounting, marketing and cross-cultural management.
Gary will be covering two topics, both within the “Internationalisation processes and International Marketing” session which focuses on culture and MNE Policy.
The first presentation is “The localization of MNEs’ websites for Chinese online consumers: A content analysis”. This presentation is based on a paper written by Mike Chen-Ho Chao, Baruch College, CUNY and Nitish Singh, Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University.
“The sheer size of China makes it the most desired market to expand to over the next three years” said Muddyman. “ China is an emerging global economic power with a GDP ($10.17 trillion in 2006) growth rate expected to be 10% in 2008, purchasing power parity only second to the United States, and a population of 1.3 billion” he added.
According to Muddyman, this paper provides a tested framework to measure the degree of Chinese website localisation practices on U.S. company websites. The sample consisted of Fortune and Forbes 500 companies, government and non-profit organisations. “The researchers measured how effective each Chinese website was in terms of content localisation, cultural customisation, local gateways and translation quality.
The results were certainly interesting and are available in this paper” said Muddyman. “Managers can use this framework to analyse their company’s localisation efforts towards China” he added.
The second presentation topic is “Are multinationals localizing their websites? The link between managerial attitudes and MNE web content”. Gary will be co-presenting with Daniel W. Baack, Assistant Professor, Ball State University. The presentation is based on a paper written by Gary, Daniel, Nitish Singh and Jennifer Bott, Assistant Professor, Ball State University.
Research shows that localising web content can increase website effectiveness. “Customers are far more likely to buy when addressed in their own language” said Muddyman. “By providing your product in the local language, you gain a clear competitive advantage” he added.
“This study compares MNE manager perceptions and understanding of the web localization practices of their organizations to the actual web localization efforts on their MNE’s websites” said Muddyman.
Again, the results of this study were interesting and demonstrate that web content needs to be localised in accordance with each target locale.
Delegates will be given the opportunity to improve their international marketing skills through the framework provided in these presentations. Both Gary and Daniel will share their knowledge and the research results.
About Conversis
Founded in 2003 and based in the United Kingdom, Conversis is now one of the world’s fastest growing and most innovative providers of Globalisation, Internationalisation, Localisation and Translation (GILT) services. As a multilingual one-stop-shop localisation company, we understand our client’s industry and business requirements and allocate the best resources to each job. Serving clients in more than 30 markets worldwide, Conversis is dedicated to advancing the understanding and use of GILT as a strategic business tool. More information can be found at http://www.conversisglobal.com.
