Globalisation

Worldpay, a global payment processing company of the United Kingdom has planned to merge with Vantiv, which is a company of the same sector but of a different country that is the United States of America (Worldpay 2018).  This report will present an analysis on the entire scenario and will mostly focus on the cross-cultural challenges the merger will face because of the companies cultural and legal variability because they are from different countries. The report will be drafted in a well-ordered structure. The issue will be seen as an international issue as it includes the participation of two companies from two different countries of the world and aim to provide a similar service globally irrespective of their variability’s with respect to culture and law. The report will discuss the pros and cons of globalisation, as the merging is an aspect of it. It will tell us about the challenges that the Fintech industry is currently facing. It will then discuss a little about the two companies. The analysis will be carried on by analysing the merger in terms of decision-making, negotiation, communication, leadership and cultural intelligence. The report will also inform about the challenges the mergers gives rise to challenger for new international teams within the same organisation. In the end, it will provide adequately detailed information about what the executive team needs to know about the cultural differences of the country in order to avoid and solve the challenges that merging of the companies will bring along. This report aims to serve as a guideline for the executive team for proper Merging to eliminate maximum difficulties and attain adequate and efficient results.

Globalisation is a process, which involves international through acceptance and exchange of goods, culture, services of the respective parties from different countries involved in the amalgamation (Dreher, Gaston & Martens 2008).

• Merging of organisations with different developmental background enables better overall progress in the field of technology, health care, education and economy.
• Globalisation enables the usage of resources from all over the world thus helps in creating a proper balance in different countries.
• Cultural exchange is a very good way of establishing stronger connection among people from different countries.

• Cultural exchanges though do bring people from around the world closer but it is leading to overshadowing of one culture by another(Morrison 2015).
• Globalisation has led to the increase in Terrorismbecause other countries can easily interfere in affairs and a lot of confidential information is exposed.
• Globalisation has eventually increased the technological development globally and this has caused severe negative consequences for the environment.

Banks vs Fintech

Increasing competition between the banks and the Fintech industry have led banks to adopt new procedures as a counter the fintech industry is causing to them which has led to the ill functioning of the fintech industries and has resulted in the reduction of the appropriate and adequate results. Some banks have also successfully taken over companies from this industry to avoid any sort of treat from them (Arnold 2018) .

 Companies of the Fintech industry hold a very sensitive nature of the client data due to which cybercriminals introducing more complicated and regular attacks, the number of major data breaches have increased in 2018 (Kelly 2018).

The technical intellects in the field have been continuously found guilty to be engaged in severe frauds associated to the works in this industry and due to the lack of advanced knowledge of the investigation teams; it is extremely difficult to catch these people (FTTransform 2018).

It is a payment processing company. The company provides payment services for Internet retailers, mail order and sale transactions. It also gives loans to help small businesses. It mostly provides services to multinational or multichannel retailers and small business merchants. The headquarters of Worldpay is located in London, United Kingdom.

Pros of globalisation

It is also a payment processing company and provider of technology. Vantiv also enables big and small to accept and process debit, credit, and prepaid payments. They are also provided with supporting services, such as information solutions, interchange management and fraud management. Services are also provided in sectors such as grocery, pharmacy, retail, e-commerce, petroleum and restaurants. Vantiv also works with financial institutions to develop tools and programs in order to enable simpler payment procedures. The financial products of the company comprises of credit cards, ATM processing, merchant services, rewards and fraud prevention.  The headquarters of Vantiv is located in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States (Worldpay 2018).

• It might lead to the loss of teamwork efficiency and spirit within the organisation.
• The risks of expanding value might come across.
• It may trigger dishonesty in personal and professional relationships.
• It might lead to the ignorance of integration.

(Hofstede 2018)

Basis of comparison (with definition) (Particular scores are provided in the graph)	United Kingdom	United states of America
Power Distance: The extent of acceptance and expectation of the fact that power is equally distributed as considered by the less powerful members of institutions and organisations.	The British society believes that inequalities. According to research PD index in Britain is lower amongst the higher class than the working classes.	The American society believes that everybody is unique due to which, not everyone can be equal.
Individualism: The amount of interdependence among members of a society.	British’s are a highly Individualist and private people.	The American society believes in “liberty and justice for all.” This proves a huge emphasis is given to equal rights in all aspects of society as well as government.
Masculinity: what motivates people to want to be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine).	Britain is a Masculine society. The British society prioritises and aims for success. The British culture of modesty and understatement is an aspect contradicting this element and often confuses foreigners.	All Americans display their Masculine drive individually and is quite similar to the British culture in this aspect.
Uncertainty Avoidance: The extent of threatened feeling of members of a culture by uncertain or unknown situations has led to the development of beliefs and institutions to try to avoid such situations.	The British society is quite comfortable in ambiguous situations.	Americans do display a fair amount of acceptance for new ideas and situations but they do not need many rules. They are also less emotionally expressive than the British’s are. The 9/11 attack  has led to a fear in the American society which has made the government to monitor everybody with the help of NSA as well as other organisations related to security.
Long Term Orientation: how every society has to maintain connections with its own past while dealing with present and future challenges.	A dominant fondness in British culture cannot be determined.	The culture does not make most Americans pragmatic, but they sure are very practical. Americans have a rigid idea of what is good or bad. This can be with respect to issues like drugs, abortion (abuse, snuggling), weapon size, euthanasia and rights of government and citizens. America is one among the only “Caucasian” countries in the world where, since 20th century, church visits has amplified. American businesses analyse their performance based on profit and loss statements issued every 4 months.
Indulgence: The degree of effort people put in trying to control their impulses and desires.	British culture is Indulgent. People here display willingness to realise their impulses and desires with respect to having fun and enjoying in life.	Americans are Indulgent as well but they believe in the motto ‘Work hard and play hard’. The country has determined and exhibited a war against drugs and is still indulging in it. It is a prudish society still even some famous televangelists seem to be immoral.

Bothe the companies have many similarities with respect of the services they provide the only difference is the fact that Vantiv provides some additional services along with the common services provided by both of them.

In terms of:

 The merger consists of two groups of companies providing same services due to which the decision making process will not change a lot. The executives from both the companies will together form a team in order to take a common decision for the new merger company. Combined decisions from both sides will now form the agenda of the newly formed merger (Kline 2010).

 Some former rules and policies from both the sides might be modified or removed; or some new rules and policies might be generated after the detailed study of rules and policies of the former separate companies. This will lead to the formation of an entire set of new rules and policy for the newly formed merger. Decisions will be made about the same according to the suitability of the newly formed merger to maximise its work efficiency and result outcome (Brett 2014).

 Both countries associated in the Merger have a similar national language that is English due to which communication will not be a big issue within the new formed organisation the only difference will be in the accents (Mauranen & Ranta (eds.) 2009).

Costumers of both the companies from both countries will now be able to attain services from one place and that will directly lead to the increase in profit and development of the merger.

 Vantive has taken over Worldpay to form the merger but the representative leaders must be chosen from both the companies in order to maintain a fair and productive working force.

 The merger being a combination of companies from two different countries will allow the flow of information about the culture of both the countries, which will enable the company to provide their service in both these countries as well as enhance globally due to the newly obtained universal knowledge obtained with respect to culture (Thomas & Peterson 2017).

• United Kingdom is very conservative contrary to the United States that might lead in rise of challenges while making decisions (Light 2013).
• Variability’s in cultural and religious practices and beliefs among the workers in the organisation might make it difficult for them to form a strong unity to promote excellent teamwork.
• The United Kingdom still holds Monarchical Power (McDiarmid (ed.) 2016),which might sometimes influence the big business organisations in the country but in America ultimate power is held by the democratic government these different aspects might change the functioning of the new merger due to changes from both directions and might lead to confusion.
• Both these countries has a huge population of immigrants which make it densely diverse that might lead to difficulty in adjustment among the workforce and hence it might be difficult to extract results and work for them that will aim to provide global services (Aguinis, Joo & Gottfredson 2012).
• The two countries do not hold many differences culturally due to which no new flow of cultural information is witnessed which will make it difficult to understand more culturally different parts of the world for the merger to provide services globally.
• UK is a part of the European Union due to which people from other countries can easily come here including Germany, France, Denmark etc. This cultural diversity is obviously an advantage but this might also make it difficult to unite the work force and make them all well informed about the services the company provides because they possess different knowledge because of different cultural backgrounds. This might also lead to the indulgence of other countries, which might result in a small or big threat in confidential information of the organisation (Yurtsever 2016).

• United Kingdom has conservative beliefs and practices in comparison to America.
• Morality and good behaviour is universal and it will enable in forming a good merger (Crane & Matten 2016).
• Greeting gestures are similar thus, needs to be practiced (Francis 2018).
• Accents are variable thus; clarity must be maintained in conversation.

Conclusion

The article provides a detailed analysis of the individual companies forming the merger as well as the newly formed merger. The report also concludes the fact that this merge is a step towards globalisation and thus brings the world closer to eliminate boundaries but the disadvantages of the same must also be considered in order to achieve only positive results. All the differences in the countries, which the companies are located according to Hofstead’s study, are stated in the report. Both the countries exhibit very partial differences socially and culturally. A proper guideline is provided in the report to consider by the executive team to get the best out of the merger.

• People from both parties must be provided equal value, respect and consideration for maximum success.
• Cultural differences must be seen as a way to incorporate a vast range of knowledge and must not be a reason of groupism within the organisation.
• Unity, team spirit and accumulated effort are the only ways to achieve success.

References

Aguinis, H, Joo , H & Gottfredson, RK 2012, ‘Performance management universals: Think globally and act locally’, Business Horizons, vol 55, no. 4, pp. 385–392.

Arnold, M 2018, Five ways banks are responding to the fintech threat, viewed 17 December 2018, <https://www.ft.com/content/d0ab6b84-c183-11e8-84cd-9e601db069b8>.

Brett, JM 2014, Negotiating globally: how to negotiate deals, resolve disputes, and make decisions across cultural boundaries, 3rd edn, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, California.

Crane, A & Matten, D 2016, Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization , 4th edn, Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2016a) Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability in tOxford University Press, Crane, A. and Matten, D. (2016a) Business ethics: managing corporate citizenship and sustainability Oxford.

Dreher, A, Gaston, N & Martens, P 2008, Measuring Globalisation: Gauging Its Consequences, Springer, Australia, Switzerland.

Francis, KA 2018, Why is Business Etiquette Important?, viewed 14 December 2018, <https://smallbusiness.chron.com/business-etiquette-important-3112.html>.

FTTransform 2018, The fintech ‘genius’ accused in $165m fraud, viewed 17 December 2018, <https://www.ft.com/content/82d17d1e-cae2-11e8-b276-b9069bde0956>.

Hofstede 2018, Country Comparison, viewed 14 December 2018, <https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/the-uk,the-usa/>.

Kelly, J 2018, A fintech sandbox might sound like a harmless idea. It’s not, viewed 14 December 2018, <https://ftalphaville.ft.com/2018/12/05/1543986004000/A–fintech-sandbox–might-sound-like-a-harmless-idea–It-s-not/>.

Kline, JM 2010, Ethics for international business: decision making in a global political economy, 2nd edn, Routledge, New York.

Light, A 2013, Forever England Femininity, literature and conservatism between the wars, Routlegde, London and New York.

Mauranen, , Ranta, E (eds.) 2009, English as a Lingua Franca: Studies and Findings, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, United Kingdom.

McDiarmid, JF (ed.) 2016, The Monarchical Republic of Early Modern England: Essays in Response to Patrick Collinson, Routledge, London and New York.

Morrison, J 2015, Business Ethics: New Challenges in a Globalised World, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.

Thomas, DC & Peterson, MF 2017, Cross-cultural management: essential concepts, 4th edn, SAGE, Los Angeles: SAGE.

Worldpay 2018, About Worldpay, viewed 14 December 2018, <https://www.worldpay.com/uk/about>.

Yurtsever, B 2016, ‘Securitization of Migration: In the Case of European Union’, International Relations, Institute of Social Science, 566315002, Marmara University, Intanbul, Turkey.