The Expansion of ZipTalk in New Zealand
Tiffany Crayle
03/03/2013
MGMT 630
Dr. Wayne Matthews
Turnitin Score: 16%

. ZipTalk was established in 1998 in Baltimore, MD and has grown tremendously since 2005. As a company who provides cell phone communication and services to millions of customers nationally, it is time to expand ZipTalk horizons and expand globally. ZipTalk mission is to provide customers with clear cell phone communication and exceptional service nationally. With over 400 franchises, across the United States, ZipTalk has become one of the leading cell phone distributors in the nation. As a leader and CEO of this company I propose a global expansion to New Zealand within the next five years. According to Forbes, as of October 2012, New Zealand is the top leading countries in business (New Zealand, 2013). New Zealand and the United States have a longstanding relationship based on “…common heritage, shared values and interests, and a commitment to promoting free, democratic, secure and prosperous world (United States of America, 2013).” With New Zealand being the third largest market for the United States (United States of America, 2013); ZipTalk will be a great establishment there. New Zealand has grown over the last 20 years and has improved their business practices to compete globally (New Zealand, 2013). ZipTalk would excel in New Zealand due to their strengthen economy, similar business practices to the United States, and focus on career success. New Zealand is located southeast of Australia in the South Pacific Ocean and is, in comparison, the size of Colorado or Japan (Australia-Oceania :: New Zealand, 2013). In about A.D. 800, Polynesian Maori arrive in New Zealand. After the Treaty of Waitangi was arranged with Britain in 1840, New Zealand surrendered power to Queen Victoria while keeping territorial rights (Australia-Oceania :: New Zealand, 2013). After many wars with the native settlers during 1843-1872, New Zealand became its own separate territory by 1907 (Australia-Oceania :: New Zealand, 2013). New Zealand was “…an agrarian economy dependent on concessionary British market access… (New Zealand, 2013),” whereas now, New Zealand has industrialized their economy and participates in a free market (New Zealand, 2013). New Zealanders are called Kiwis (Australia-Oceania :: New Zealand, 2013) and enjoy leisurely time in their country. Expanding a company in the beautiful land of New Zealand will attract customers from the United States to visit, which will bring more money into New Zealand’s economy. New Zealand culture is more laid back but still hard working as well. For fun, Kiwis like to enjoy the outdoors, play ruby football, enjoy the beaches, and see the land (Facts About New Zealand, 2013). Since there are not near as many people in New Zealand as the United States, kiwis and tourist enjoy the leisurely life, open land, and scenery.
According to the CIA website, New Zealand’s political system is a “…parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm (New Zealand, 2013).” Their system is distributed over three branches of government. Parliament makes the law, the Executive governs the law, and the Judiciary understands the laws through the courts (How Parliament works, 2006). New Zealand is different from the United States in their political system. In the United States there is a Senate and a House of Representatives, in New Zealand they only have the House of Representatives (How Parliament works, 2006). The Parliament’s head of State is the Sovereign, much like the U.S. President. “The Sovereign’s role in Parliament includes opening and dissolving Parliament and giving the Royal assent to bills passed in the House of Representatives (How Parliament works, 2006).” Currently, the Sovereign is Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Minister is John Key, who works with the Queen on deciding and appointing the Governor-General (The Queen's role in New Zealand, 2009). It’s very important to know the background of a countries political system before expanding the company. Even though New Zealand is very similar to the United States there are some noteworthy differences between the two political systems that ZipTalk expansion will need to consider.
To begin the expansion, ZipTalk will need to establish the differences in culture values and traditions. Most countries describe Americans as hard working, precise, and law-abiding (Alder, 2008). It is better to know how New Zealand workers perceive U.S. workers than to compare without knowing. Even though New Zealand is similar to U.S., in the business world, there are many differences. One difference is the language. There are two leading languages spoke in New Zealand: English and Maori (New Zealand, 2013). Like the United States, there is a blend in cultures. Upon the arrival of the Maori thousands of years ago, the country has expanding in many ethnic backgrounds, such as European, Pacific Island, Asian, and African (Culture – social & cultural activities, 2013). The varieties in backgrounds will help remove groupthink and bring new ideas to the expansion (Daft, 2013). Since New Zealand has laws prohibiting discrimination, like the United States, ZipTalk will need to have a policy enforced that coincides with their policies in New Zealand. Even though many Americans believe the biggest obstacle is understanding the differences in culture, it is more on how Americans are distinguished to other countries, such as New Zealand. There are four different cultural dimensions Geert Hofstede, Dutch management researcher, studied: 1) Individualism/Collectivism, 2) Power Distance, 3) Uncertainty Avoidance, and 4) Career Success/Quality of Life (Alder, 2008). Described below is how each of these compares to the United States and New Zealand.
The first cultural dimension is individualism/collectivism. Individualism is solely based on one self and their close families. Collectivism is a group effort and hold objectives as a hold. Many countries vary when it comes to this concept and sometimes it can vary on the organization level as well. In the United States and New Zealand, they’re an individualistic country (Alder, 2008). Both countries believe that all people should obey by the rules and customs rather than accept that some parts of the country have different rules and customs, like in a collectivism country (Alder, 2008). When running a business with this cultural dimension in mind, internal pressure would work best than a societal pressure (Alder, 2008). Individualism is taking responsibility for the entire establishment rather than consulting the opinions of everyone. Since the United States and New Zealand are similar in this dimension, ZipTalk will be able to become accustom to it.
The second cultural dimension is power distance. Power distance exists in every country and organization. The differences between a high power-distance and a low power-distance are the acceptance of the level of power an organization can take. For example, in the United States employees bypass their boss when making a decision, to an extent of the issue, which would be a low power-distance. Some countries, such as the Philippines, bypassing upper management is considered insubordination (Alder, 2008). New Zealand is a low power-distance as well. Employees work better when the boss tells them to do something a particular way because they believe it is the best way to do rather than doing it that way because the boss wants it that way. There are different management styles and this would show one of them. Macro managing and micro managing are two different styles that show a difference in power. In a low power distance organization the manager will have a macro style instead of in a high power distance organization the manager will have a micro style. For this business to be successful in New Zealand, the power distance needs to be low and have a grasp on how to manage people with an open mind.
The third cultural dimension is uncertainty avoidance. According to Alder, this cultural dimension, “…reflects the extent to which people in society feel threatened by ambiguity and therefore try to avoid ambiguous situations by providing greater certainty and predictability (Alder, 2008).”A way an organization can lower uncertainty is having more formal rules, rejecting bad behavior and providing their employees with career stability. This is very important when opening a new business in a new country due to the risk they will take to acquire jobs in a new environment. Policies and procedures will need to be discussed as a whole so there is stability in order. People in New Zealand are loyal to their employers so it may be hard to get new employees from New Zealand to provide their expertise in a cell phone distribution company. ZipTalk will take the most prestigious employees to open the expansion and train new employees. Since the United States is ranked as low uncertainty avoidance, ZipTalk employees have high job mobility and may work where they please. New Zealand and the United States are ranked relatively low for uncertainty avoidance which allows their cultures to mix well together.
The last cultural dimension is career success/quality of life. Career success stresses boldness and the purchase of money and materials where as quality of life focuses on the relationship of people (Alder, 2008). In a career success environment they are not particularly concern on the overall well being of the people. In a business, one must be able to separate work and home. New Zealand and the United States focus more on the career success than on the quality of life (Alder, 2008). There is more success in these two countries because they, typically, are a more lower-tax environment and are rewarded based upon achievements (Alder, 2008). ZipTalk would be a great business to show New Zealand the benefits of career success.
Sustainability and long term goals are very important to New Zealand. Business practices are emphasizing sustainability and expansion internationally. Another important concept to New Zealand is how businesses are improving their social and environmental practices (Collins, Roper, & Lawrence, 2010). ZipTalk is environmentally friendly but needs to update its policy to match New Zealand’s customs. Business with New Zealand will be successful if ZipTalk emphasizes the importance of long term goals and sustainability. ZipTalk will need to be actively engaged with their counter parts and establish relationships with other businesses as well. Social practices are a key component to being successful as a company in New Zealand. This includes how ZipTalk will treat its employees and community. Communication is important when it comes to bettering social practices. ZipTalk will implement a plan where there are options for employees, such as flex-time, no clock-in or clock-out, negotiate education and training benefits, etc (Collins, Roper, & Lawrence, 2010). Employees need to feel that they will succeed in a company while being able to have a life of their own. Training will not only develop the people as a whole but the company will benefit from their expertise. In order to be successful at providing sustainable practices, cost, management time, and knowledge and training are important to have. In a survey done in 2010, those three components were the top three barriers to enforcing sustainability practices (Collins, Roper, & Lawrence, 2010). ZipTalk will need to overcome their obstacles before expansion. By creating a team from franchise employees, we will provide training and informational sessions that will cover all subjects on the expansion. Sustaining a product globally is different than nationally because of management between the two countries. A plan of action will be to look at the historical data of businesses and see the trends of sustainability over the past five years in the cell phone industry. Once that information is taken in to consideration, policies and procedures will be implemented with New Zealand’s culture in concern. Sustainability will help ZipTalk become one of the leading cell phone providers internationally.
ZipTalk will provide policies and procedures on how to provide a sustainable product. Since the United States and New Zealand are very similar, there will not be a large learning curve for cultural difference when it comes to business. Once the CEO and managers from ZipTalk meet with the Prime Minister, John Key and the Queen, Queen Elizabeth the second, on the ideas of expansion and the steps to lead a business in New Zealand, ZipTalk will be able to show the competitor the successful way to provide supplies and services. There are numerous competitors in the cell phone industry. Some of them are Telecom, Vodafone, 2degrees, and Skinny (Provider Details, 2012). Much like United States companies, they offer numerous plans to accommodate anyone. Since coverage is spotty and customers are not getting what they pay for, ZipTalk will put up towers and communication lines to produce a reliable product. To avoid large towers, ZipTalk will wire communication underground so the scenery is not obstructed for the people in New Zealand.
Some tips for leading in this country are to be open to new communication methods, learn Maori language, obtain sustainability, and improve social and environmental practices within ZipTalk. In order to be open to new communication methods, ZipTalk employees will need to understand the customs and values of Kiwis. When opening a new business in a global environment, there will be challenges in communication, such as stereotyping. Some stereotypes for United States employees are thorough, self-centered, and indulgent (Alder, 2008). Since New Zealand and the United States have many similarities it will not be as hard to accustom to their traditions. Learning the Maori language will need to be established because not all people in New Zealand speak English. All employees will be required to learn the Maori language so they are able to communicate effectively with their colleagues. Obtaining sustainability and implementing social and environmental practices will need to be established by management so we can train ZipTalk employees. Much like the firms in the United States, ZipTalk will support all “going green” efforts to become environmental friendly to the beautiful land of New Zealand. Overall, being open minded to change within the company will help grow as a whole in a global environment.
In conclusion, the management style will be similar to what Kiwi employees are used to. Employees do not want to feel their working styles are being changes because a new company has come in. The organization will need to have a structure, from a top-level down, but still give employees the opportunity to manage themselves as well. The main focuses in the New Zealand culture is individualism, low power-distance, low uncertainty avoidance, and career success as described above. ZipTalk’s expansion into New Zealand will help the company’s stocks and profits rise and will help produce new ideas to the company for further growth. Many other aspects of Kiwis lives are similar to Americans. The most important thing to remember leading in this country is their differences in languages and politics. Communication is lost in translation if Americans and Kiwis do not see eye to eye. In order to have effective communication, ZipTalk will need to do the research on all policies and practices. There will be a full detailed proposal of all the rules and regulations for the expansion into New Zealand. ZipTalk will provide an exceptional product and services to the Kiwis so they are able to have service anywhere at any time. Based upon the research and the similarities of business practices, ZipTalk will be successful in New Zealand.

References
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