Pitney Bowes is a developer and supplier of message management products. They are a multinational company that operates in the US. They had a sales team that went to an awards ceremony that took place sixty years ago. At this awards ceremony, the hotel that the awards ceremony was located would not let a black member of the team into the ceremony. The rest of sales team reacted by refusing to attend the ceremony and walked out of the hotel. This was the beginning of a successful business policy. Pitney Bowes is now a $5 billion per year company that is fueled by diversity.
This relates to Chapter 14 because cross-cultural communication is something that Pitney Bowes has greatly excelled at. They have diverse personnel in their company, which represents their customers. They have customers in 130 different countries, totaling over two million businesses world wide. This chapter talks about how a number of different things need to be taken into consideration when interacting with people from a different culture, such as religion or gestures. If a company wants to successfully operate on a global scale, they need to research extensively to ensure that they don’t make any wrong assumptions about someone from a different culture. There are a lot of small details that need not go overlooked. This is why Pitney Bowes really excelled at international business. They make certain that they have all the information necessary, and use it to create long lasting, trusting relationships with businesses around the world.
This case study interesting because it shows how foundation of diversity can impact on the success of the business. Pitney Bowes is a ...