Europe is often thought of as a group of culturally similar firms. However, firms that are successful there recognize clearly that Europe is made up of distinct countries, each requiring individual adaptations if the firm is to reach its full potential. IBM World Trade Europe/ Middle East/ Africa Corporation is very successful in Europe due to its “Europeanness”. Not only do they not treat their European operations in the same manner as the U.S. operation, they have learned that they must treat each European country separately. Consequently, among the various things the firm does that are particular to each country, they maintain a separate national marketing organization in each country, which includes local hiring.

David E. McKinney, head of IBM Europe, reflected a similar view when speaking at The Europe Business Outlook 1991 Conference at The University of Tennessee in April, 1991. According to McKinney, the markets of Europe will not be homogeneous. Diversity will continue to flourish in these markets with different legislation, tax laws, languages, and so on. Roland Magnin, executive vice-president of Xerox, speaking at the same conference stated that this is the reason there are few pan-European advertising campaigns.

In a like manner, other geographically associated countries are culturally grouped. The Middle East is often thought of as composed of countries that are Arabic, Islamic, and similar. However, they are not all Arab. Even when viewing just the Arab countries, there are significant differences. Jordan and Saudi Arabia, in many respects, are more different than they are similar. Also, within the Islamic religion, there are significant differences among the dominant sects.

Latin America, too, is often thought of as composed of similar countries. They, for the most part, speak the same language, Spanish, and to a large extent, have a similar heritage. Even here, however, successfully operating foreign firms have realized that beneath all of the similarities, significant differences arise due to, among other things, an alteration of the culture resulting from political and social conditions. Bolivia and Argentina are worlds apart. U.S. firms have also found that they cannot treat their Canadian operations as mere extensions of their domestic operations. Not only are national adaptations necessary here, but different parts of Canada must be treated in significantly different ways. One member of Pierre Trudeau cabinet said, “Canada is less a country than a collection of little worlds”.