The Impact of Intercultural Communication on the Success of French Offshoring Projects to India

Diploma Thesis from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,7, Heilbronn University of Applied Sciences (Wirtschaft 2 - IBIS), language: English, abstract: Today, communication between different cultures becomes more and more necessary due to (1) economic changes such as globalisation, (2) political changes i.e. the formation of international communities, or problems which do not care about borders, and thus problem solving cannot either, and (3) changes in personal lifestyle. But communication is already a complex process for members of the same culture. In interaction with different cultures, it is even more difficult to establish the true intention of the sender of a message. Misunderstandings and communication breakdowns are part of intercultural business reality. Difficulties can arise through language barriers, misinterpretation of verbal and non-verbal behaviour or different shared values and experiences. Other reasons for communication difficulties are ethnocentrism, stereotypes and prejudices. This thesis provides an insight in the challenge of offshoring French IT projects to India. First, it gives an overview of outsourcing and offshoring, including advantages and disadvantages. Second, it presents India as an IT nation and offshore location. Afterwards, it describes the current state of global offshoring, with a special focus on developments in France. In the following chapters, it explains culture, its phenomenon such as ethnocentrism, stereotypes and cultural layers as well as the culture's impact on business. Moreover, this thesis analyses the communication between French and Indian nationals. It begins with describing the communication process including the phases of an offshoring project and communication interfaces. Subsequently, verbal and non-verbal elements of communication across cultures are explained. Additionally, the influence of cultural values on communication between Indian and French nationals is demonstrated. In the end, after having discussed communication problems according to the first-hand research, the thesis tries to provide the reader with solutions to major problems such as creating cultural awareness, employee development and preparation for assignments abroad, using feedback systems and offshoring according to the dual shore model.