Q: European common market and national cultures in product management.
As borders of the European Union expand and internal barriers to trade continue to be lifted, European common market becomes more and more of an everyday occurrence rather than a lofty slogan. Thanks to harmonized legislation and lack of trade barriers, it is now easier than ever to treat the European Union (or perhaps the whole of Europe) as a single market for the purposes of product development, promotion, and distribution. Yet at the same time various European regions and nations have quite different historical baggage, differing value and attitudes—in short, different national and regional cultures. Discuss the impact cultural differences have on product management possibilities in Europe and vice versa (how are open markets changing European cultures?).
Provide an analysis of major cultural differences and their consequences, using available theories to build your argument and concrete, real-life examples of products to illustrate it.
Across Europe and within the European Union, there exist many cultural diversities descending from the many countries and regions. With many companies now spreading out into the European market place, these cultural differences have to be strongly taken into consideration by product managers if they wish their products to be successful. Within this essay I will attempt to identify why cultural differences need to be established and considered within a companies management approach to their products and some examples of where certain approaches have be successful or otherwise.
Before attempting to analyse the topic, it is necessary to define exactly what ‘product management’ is. In brief, ‘it is the busin ...