A factor of great importance in the study of cultures, according to the John Moores University of Liverpool, is non-verbal language. In particular, there are 5 different elements that can vary from one country to another. In countries with a "high context" culture, for example Southern Europe, punctuality will be flexible. Hence, time will not be a major priority. On the other hand, space is a factor that can unite or create divergences between different cultures. For example, high context cultures such as Italian or Spanish prefer to be close to the people they talk to.
Technology, on the other hand, is a factor that may not vary between two cultures because being in possession of the latest technologies will be equally important. However, the effectiveness of being a friend before being a business partner will be crucial in maintaining a long-term relationship in a high cultural background. Furthermore, trade agreements may be more related to bureaucracy and laws in low cultures. On the other hand, regulation and rules will be less structured in the high cultural level.
An international company that wants to integrate with a foreign country will have to consider all the necessary aspects so that it can easily expand within the new international market: political, economic, technological, cultural and social aspects. Some companies think global and act local. Commercial businesses that want to be successful in the international market must think global, but with a local approach to understand people with different cultures and mentalities.
According to Kotler, a famous American professor of Marketing, the concept of cultural sensitivity takes place where the image of a product is linked to culture in terms of local attitudes towards consumption, attitudes and preferences. However, some brands want to be acceptable to all regions of a continent without taking cultural differences into account. Furthermore, this attitude of internationalization could cause a company to lose brand awareness. As consumers would begin to see that these businesses do not understand the traditions and values of the country. For this reason, international companies need to consider different colors, translations, names and symbols for the different cultures they want to delve into. Obviously this topic will depend a lot on the market to which it belongs, for example in a B2B market (business to business) a company that sells retail refrigerated counters for professional use it will not really be able to make any distinction in terms of image between one country and another.
