Culture’s Influence on the Websites of German and Chinese Companies
An Analysis of Cultural Diversity on the Internet
Summary
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Table of Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Introduction
- Introduction to the topic
- Prime research question, goals, sources
- Structure and research methodology
- 1 Literature review
- 1.1 Literature Review from 1999 to 2019
- 1.2 Research gaps and innovations
- 2 Overview of the theoretical foundation of culture
- 2.1 Basic approaches to define the concept of culture
- 2.1.1 Normative concept of culture
- 2.1.2 Cognitive anthropology as a concept of culture
- 2.1.3 Symbolic concept of culture
- 2.2 Limitation of the term ‘culture’
- 2.3 Hofstede’s dimensions of culture
- 2.3.1 Power Distance
- 2.3.2 Individualism versus Collectivism
- 2.3.3 Masculinity versus Feminity
- 2.3.4 Uncertainty Avoidance
- 2.4 Hall’s dimension of culture – focusing on ‘context’
- 2.5 Correlation of individualism-collectivism and high-low-context behavior
- 2.6 Critical consideration of Hofstede’s and Hall’s cultural approaches
- 3 Fundamentals of internet presences and elements of web design
- 3.1 Basics and definition of a website, web page, homepage and internet presence
- 3.2 The anatomy of a web page
- 3.2.1 Header
- 3.2.2 Footer
- 3.2.3 Content and columns
- 3.2.4 Navigation
- 3.3 Usability
- 3.4 Elements of web design
- 3.4.1 Navigation Systems
- 3.4.1.1 Navigation bar
- 3.4.1.2 Dropdown menu
- 3.4.1.3 Sidebar
- 3.4.1.4 Search field
- 3.4.2 Layout
- 3.4.3 Images
- 3.4.4 Icons
- 3.4.5 Color
- 3.4.6 Words
- 3.4.7 Multimedia usage
- 4 Methodology – Content Analysis
- 4.1 Content analysis in general
- 4.2 Analysis process
- 4.3 Web analytics and key metrics
- 4.3.1 SimilarWeb
- 4.3.2 Total visits on websites
- 4.3.3 Average visit duration on websites
- 4.3.4 Bounce rate of website visitors
- 4.4 Qualifying samples with SimilarWeb
- 4.5 Data sampling
- 5 Content Analysis
- 5.1 Coding schedule
- 5.2 Coding manual
- 5.3 Overview of eight sample content analyses for German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.3.1 Content analysis for German and Chinese companies in the financial industry
- 5.3.2 Content analysis for German and Chinese companies in the technology and engineering industry
- 5.3.3 Content analysis for German and Chinese companies in the food industry
- 5.3.4 Content analysis for German and Chinese companies in the fashion industry
- 5.4 Content analysis for German and Chinese internet presences focusing on the average value of each analyzed industrial sector
- 5.4.1 Navigation
- 5.4.1.1 Navigation characteristics of German internet presences
- 5.4.1.2 Navigation characteristics of Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.1.3 A comparison between the usage of navigation characteristics of German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.2 Images
- 5.4.2.1 Images of German internet presences
- 5.4.2.2 Images of Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.2.3 A comparison between the usage of images of German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.3 Multimedia usage
- 5.4.3.1 Multimedia usage of German internet presences
- 5.4.3.2 Multimedia usage of Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.3.3 A comparison between the usage of multimedia on German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.4 Colors
- 5.4.4.1 Color usage of German internet presences
- 5.4.4.2 Colors used in Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.4.3 A comparison between the usage of colors on German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.5 Words
- 5.4.5.1 Word usage in German internet presences
- 5.4.5.2 Word usage in Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.5.3 A comparison between the usage of words in German and Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.6 Performance metrics
- 5.4.6.1 Performance metrics of German internet presences
- 5.4.6.2 Performance metrics of Chinese internet presences
- 5.4.6.3 A comparison between the performance metrics of German and Chinese internet presences
- 6 Findings, discussion and conclusion
- 6.1 An exemplary selection of high-performing websites
- 6.2 Web design architecture: Influences of cultural dimensions on high-performing German and the Chinese websites
- 6.2.1 Power Distance
- 6.2.2 Individualism versus Collectivism
- 6.2.3 Masculinity versus Femininity
- 6.2.4 Uncertainty Avoidance
- 6.2.5 High and Low Context
- 6.3 Result of content analysis: Blueprints for high performing German and Chinese websites
- 7 Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future studies
- 7.1 Research Question
- 7.2 Contributions
- 7.2.1 Theoretical
- 7.2.2 Methodological
- 7.2.3 Practical Implications
- 7.3 Limitations
- 7.4 Future Research
- References
- Appendix
List of Figures
Figure 1: Internet users in the world by geographic regions in 2019.
Figure 2: Three levels of uniqueness in human mental programming.
Figure 3: The Onion Diagram: Manifestations of culture.
Figure 4: Power distance index (PDI) values and ranks China and Germany.
Figure 5: Individualism index (IDV) values and ranks Germany and China.
Figure 6: Masculinity index (MAS) values and ranks Germany and China.
Figure 7: Uncertainty avoidance index (UAI) values and ranks Germany and China.
Figure 8: Anatomy of an average web page.
Figure 9: Global navigation system.
Figure 10: Local navigation system.
Figure 11: Supplementary navigation system.
Figure 12: Contextual navigation system.
Figure 13: Courtesy navigation system.
Figure 14: Internet presence of Daimler and the navigation bar in the header.
Figure 15: Internet presence of Daimler and the dropdown menu of the navigation bar in the header.
Figure 16: Internet presence of Zeit online, showing the sidebar on the homepage.
Figure 17: Internet presence of Deutsche Bahn and the search field in the header.
Figure 19: Flowchart of a web project developing process.
Figure 23: Searching result for www.streetscooter.eu on SimilarWeb.
Figure 24: Searching result for www.tu-freiberg.de on SimilarWeb.
Figure 25: The score of Germany and China measured by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
←15 | 16→Figure 26: The chromatic circle of colors. Adapted from Johannes Itten.
Figure 27: Homepage of Deutsche Bank.
Figure 28: Four navigation bars of Deutsche Bank website.
Figure 29: Sidebar of Deutsche Bank website.
Figure 30: Images of humans on the Deutsche Bank website.
Figure 31: Social media icons on the Deutsche Bank website.
Figure 32: Code-to-text-ratio of the Deutsche Bank website.
Figure 33: Performance metrics by SmiliarWeb of the Deutsche Bank website
Figure 35: Three navigation bars of ICBC homepage.
Figure 36: Drop-down menu of the ICBC homepage.
Figure 37: Sidebar of the ICBC homepage.
Figure 38: Seven icons of the ICBC homepage.
Figure 39: Images of the ICBC homepage.
Figure 40: Code-to-text-ratio of the ICBC website.
Figure 41: Performance metrics by SmiliarWeb of the ICBC website.
Figure 42: Homepage of Audi AG.
Figure 43: Navigation bars of the Audi AG website.
Figure 44: Search box of the Audi AG website.
Figure 45: Human in the image of the Audi AG website.
Figure 46: One of the videos on the Audi AG website.
Figure 47: Code-to-text-ratio of the Audi AG website.
Figure 48: Performance metrics by Smiliarweb of the Audi AG website.
Figure 49: Navigation bar on header and footer on the Geely website.
Figure 50: Side bar with icons on the Geely website.
Figure 51: Images on the Geely website.
Figure 52: Social media link in the footer on the Geely website.
Figure 53: Performance metrics by SmiliarWeb of the Geely website.
Figure 54: Code-to-text-ratio of the Geely website.
Figure 55: Overview of the Iglo website.
Figure 56: Two level navigation bar in the header of the Iglo website.
Figure 57: Navigation bar in the footer of the Iglo website.
Figure 58: Images with humans on the Iglo website.
Figure 59: The only icon on the Iglo website.
Figure 60: Performance metrics by Smiliarweb of the Iglo website.
Figure 61: Code-to-text-ratio of the Iglo website.
Figure 62: Overview of the Kee Wah Bakery website.
Figure 63: Navigation bar in the header of the Kee Wah Bakery website.
←16 | 17→Figure 64: One level navigation bar in the header of the Kee Wah Bakery website.
Details
- Pages
- 246
- Year
- 2022
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631868034
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631868041
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9783631866870
- DOI
- 10.3726/b19084
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2021 (December)
- Keywords
- Culture’s influence Intercultural communication Web design Cultral diversity German companies Chinese companies Online marketing International business International management Cultural dimensions Internationales Marketing
- Published
- Berlin, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2022. 246 pp., 45 fig. col., 109 fig. b/w, 10 tables.
