A content analysis of multinationals' Web communication strategies: cross-cultural research framework and pre-testing

Despite the growing trend toward the interactive medium, there would appear to be a lack of comprehensive research methodology for evaluating the degree of standardisation in multinational corporations' (MNCs') online communication strategies across differing cultures. The objective of this exploratory study is to construct a research framework for cross-cultural comparison of corporate Web pages, applying traditional advertising content study techniques. A series of pretests were conducted to examine three explanatory variables, i.e. information content, cultural values and creative strategies on Japanese MNCs' product-based home pages in Japan, Spain and the USA. The results revealed that Japanese firms tended to localise their online communication strategies in their target markets. In closing, future research directions are discussed and content analysis research designs are summarised. lntroduction As more multinational corporations (MNCs) shift an increasing part of their promotional strategies into interactive medium, the controversy over market globalisation continues. Rapid technological development has interconnected global communities beyond physical boundaries, leading to the increasing homogenisation of consumer preferences, justifying the standardisation of Web-based advertising and promotional campaigns. Despite this growing trend, there has been little research attempting to shed light on the question of whether MNCs' communication strategies have been, and to what degree they should be, standardised on the Internet. What types of explanatory variables are relevant in Web communication strategies? And how do Web pages of different cultures differ in the extent to which they are characterised by such variables? The objective ofthis exploratory study is to construct a research framework for cross-cultural comparison of corporate Web pages, applying traditional advertising content study techniques. The content analysis approach has commonly been regarded as a useful method for social science studies, especially in advertising (Kassarjian, 1977; Kolbe and Burnett, 1991). In this study, a series of pilot studies are conducted to examine key explanatory variables, i.e. information content, cultural values and creative strategies on Japanese MNCs' home pages. The countries analysed are Japan (the home country), Spain and the USA (host countries), chosen because they differ dearly in cultural, economic, and geographical dimensions, conditions which are necessary so as to render hypothesis tests valid. Literature review and hypotheses