Culture defines how people communicate, interact, negotiate or trust one another. A lack of cultural awareness may cost an association money, trust and time. A multi-cultural understanding allows associations to view the same issue through many cultural dimensions and adjust plans and strategies accordingly. Determining an association to be “international” requires setting an environment where members or chapters from each country maintain their own identity.
Organizations can benefit from SmithBucklin’s extensive knowledge and experience in international association management issues, with an emphasis in developing a plan that takes into account worldwide diversity and the specific challenges of international membership and service delivery.
Associations leverage our international development consulting services in order to address a number of important areas, including:
- Developing an international governance model.
- Training leadership to become cross-cultural competent.
- Performing international market research.
- Creating or adapting services to fulfill the needs of local or international members.
- Adapting or expanding business models to integrate the cultural, administrative, geographical and economic dimensions.
- Specifying Web sites that are culturally friendly.
- Transforming events to be welcoming to non-U.S. visitors whether held in the U.S. or anywhere in the world.
- Delivering multi-lingual/multi-cultural content.
- Designing an international e-learning platform.
