Fundamentally, a number of strategic gaps evident in Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) case transpired due to the manner in which it entered the Japanese market. In effect, several problems that the corporation encountered after penetrating the Japanese market emanated from poor planning. Prior to entering the market, the strategic team of the corporation could have studied Japanese culture and the policies governing banking operations in the country.
Ekinci, Uray, and Ülengin (2014), Lusch and Vargo (2014), as well as Lau, Cheung, Lam, and Chu (2013) explain that before entering new markets, organizations need to undertake research so that they understand the prevailing cultures in the respective regions. As such, failing to understand the culture, language, and the policies of the country are some of the strategic failures or gaps that transpired during the HSBC planning process. It is evident from the case that the company had issues of communication implying that they did not focus much on training the human resources on the Japanese language yet they had plans of venturing into the country.
The measures that the corporation could have undertaken comprise intensive research, learning the Japanese culture, language, and understanding the policies governing banking and employees treatment in the country. It is important to note that without a prior understanding of a region’s culture, language, and policies, organizations cannot successfully penetrate and gain the market share in the respective region (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2013; Paliwoda & Thomas, 2013; Kauppinen-Räisänen & Grönroos, 2015).
Soon after entering the Japanese market, the corporation encountered several problems, which comprised increasing the operational costs in the branches based in the country, a factor that crippled its businesses. Fundamentally, a research of the country’s culture, language, and policies would have enabled HSBC to plan and align itself with prevailing requirements in Japan. As such, the company would have been in a good position to address the issue that emerged after its entry.
References
Czinkota, M., & Ronkainen, I. (2013). International marketing. London: Cengage Learning.
Ekinci, Y., Uray, N., & Ülengin, F. (2014). A customer lifetime value model for the banking industry: A guide to marketing actions. European Journal of Marketing, 48(4), 761-784.
Kauppinen-Räisänen, H., & Grönroos, C. (2015). Are service marketing models really used in modern practice? Journal of Service Management, 26(3), 346-371.
Lau, M., Cheung, R., Lam, A., & Chu, Y. (2013). Measuring service quality in the banking industry: A Hong Kong based study. Contemporary Management Research, 9(3), 211-263.
Lusch, R., & Vargo, S. (2014). The service-dominant logic of marketing: Dialog, debate, and directions. New York: Routledge.
Paliwoda, S., & Thomas, M. (2013). International marketing. New York: Routledge.