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Bilingual Website Comparison of U.S. and Mexican Websites

Introduction
When choosing which organizations websites to compare, I simply went with the first two large, international companies that came to my mind. Thats how I decided on Wal-Mart and McDonalds. For this report, I will be comparing the United States and Mexican versions of each website. Wal-Mart, which is based in the United States, is one of the largest retailers in the world. The main purposes of its website are to promote its products, to allow consumers the option of buying products online, and to provide a forum for consumers to offer feedback and have their questions answered. In addition to the United States and Mexico, Wal-Mart has websites for the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom. Here are the links to the websites I compared: United States: http://www.walmart.com/ Mexico: http://www.walmartmexico.com.mx/ McDonalds, which is also based in the United States, is one of the largest fast food chains in the world. The main purposes of its website are to promote its products, to inform consumers about its products, and to provide a forum for consumers to offer feedback and have their questions answered. In addition to the United States and Mexico, McDonalds has websites for 57 other countries. Here are the links to the websites I compared: United States: http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa.html Mexico: http://www.mcdonalds.com.mx/Mexico/HTML/index.html

Methods
For this comparison, I chose to do a content analysis, similar to the one performed by Singh and Baack in their case study. I looked for the presence or absence of the bulleted variables Singh and Baack have listed under Hofstedes cultural dimensions in their Table 1. In addition to the content analysis, I also compared some of the design elements of the websites. Fortunately, the Mexican Wal-Mart website has a button in the navigation bar that translates the website into English. For the Mexican McDonalds website, I used the Google Translator to translate the website into English. In the remainder of this report, I have summarized my observations into tables and discussed the similarities and differences between the websites.

Results (Wal-Mart)
Categories Community Relationships Dimension: Collectivism U.S. Website Yes (giving back to the community) Mexican Website Yes (giving back to community, Social responsibility policy, social responsibility reports)

Bialecki 2 Clubs or Chat Rooms Newsletter Family Theme Yes (Members club) Yes (newsletter) Yes (pictures of family, pictures of teams of employees) No No Yes (Special Membership Program, company credit cards) No No Yes (social responsibility reports, financial reports) Yes (pictures of family, pictures of teams of employees) No No No

Country Specific News Symbols/Pictures of National Identity Loyalty Programs

Links to Local Websites

No

Dimension: Uncertainty Avoidance Categories U.S. Website Mexican Website Customer Service Yes (FAQs, customer service Not really (They only have a option, customer help, etc.) generic Contact us form that you have to submit through the site) Secure Payment Yes (VeriSign, privacy policy, No security policy, product return policy) Guided Navigation Yes (Site map, well-displayed Yes (Site map, well-displayed links, links in form of pictures links, links in form of pictures and buttons) and buttons) Tradition Theme Yes (emphasis on history) Yes (emphasis on history and ties of the company with the nation) Local Stores Yes (Store finder) Yes (Store finder) Local Terminology No No Free Trials or Downloads No No Customer Testimonials Yes (customer ratings of No products, reviews by customers) Toll Free Numbers Yes No Dimension: Power Distance U.S. Website Yes (Information about the types of careers with the company) Yes (mostly on the Careers link) No

Categories Company Hierarchy Information Pictures of Important People Within the Company Quality Information and

Mexican Website Yes (Information about the types of careers with the company) Yes Yes (mention of quality

Bialecki 3 Awards information and quality certification by international agencies) No Yes (mention of prestige of the company) Yes (depictions of happy and proud customers and employees) Yes (titles of people at the contact section)

Vision Statement Rank or Prestige of the Company Pride of Ownership Appeal

Yes No Yes (depictions of happy and proud customers and employees) No

Proper Titles

Categories Quizzes and Games Hard Sell Approach Explicit Comparisons Realism Theme Product Effectiveness

Use of Superlatives Clear Gender Roles

Dimension: Masculinity U.S. Website No Yes (discounts, promotions) No Yes (only relevant product information) Yes (durability information, quality information, product attribute information) Yes No Design Elements U.S. Website White and blue Products, advertisements Found on the top, left, and bottom of the pages; designed to be read from left to right; more in-depth

Mexican Website No No No No No

Yes No

Categories Color Scheme Content of Images Navigation Bar

Mexican Website White and blue People, advertisements Found on the top, left, and bottom of the pages; designed to be read from left to right; less in-depth

Results (McDonalds)
Categories Community Relationships Dimension: Collectivism U.S. Website Mexican Website Yes (Ronald McDonald House Yes (Ronald McDonald House Charities, Social Charities, Social Responsibility Policy) Responsibility Policy) No No Yes (News reports and Yes (News reports and articles) articles) Yes (mention of employee Yes (pictures of family,

Clubs or Chat Rooms Newsletter Family Theme

Bialecki 4 teams and emphasis on teamwork) No No pictures of teams of employees) No Yes (soccer theme on first page, as well as traditionallooking Mexican cartoon characters) No No

Country Specific News Symbols/Pictures of National Identity

Loyalty Programs Links to Local Websites

Yes (company cash cards Arch Card) No Dimension: Uncertainty Avoidance U.S. Website Yes (Contact information) No Yes (well-displayed links, links in the form of pictures and buttons, directional navigation buttons) Yes (emphasis on history) Yes (Restaurant Locator) No No No Yes Dimension: Power Distance U.S. Website Yes (information about the ranks of company people, information about country managers, biographies of executives) Yes (pictures of important people in the company) Yes (mention of awards won, quality information, and quality certification by international and local agencies) Yes Yes (mention of prestige and fame of the company) No

Categories Customer Service Secure Payment Guided Navigation

Tradition Theme Local Stores Local Terminology Free Trials or Downloads Customer Testimonials Toll Free Numbers

Mexican Website Yes (FAQs, contact information) No Yes (well-displayed links, links in the form of pictures and buttons, directional navigation buttons) Yes (emphasis on history) Yes (Restaurant Locator) No No No Yes

Categories Company Hierarchy Information

Mexican Website Yes (information about the organizational hierarchy)

Pictures of Important People Within the Company Quality Information and Awards

No Yes (mention of quality information)

Vision Statement Rank or Prestige of the Company Pride of Ownership Appeal

Yes Yes (mention of prestige and fame of the company) No

Bialecki 5 Proper Titles Yes (titles of important people in the company) Dimension: Masculinity U.S. Website Yes (Games, fun information) Yes (promotions) No Yes (emphasizes product attributes) Yes (quality information, product attribute/nutrition information) Yes No Design Elements U.S. Website Black, white, and red Advertisements, food, and people Found on the top, left, and bottom of the pages; designed to be read from left to right; No

Categories Quizzes and Games Hard Sell Approach Explicit Comparisons Realism Theme Product Effectiveness

Use of Superlatives Clear Gender Roles

Mexican Website Yes (fun information) Yes (promotions) No Yes (emphasizes product attributes) Yes (quality information, product attribute/nutrition information) Yes No

Categories Color Scheme Content of Images Navigation Bar

Mexican Website Many different colors Advertisements, food, and people Found on the top, left, and bottom of the pages; designed to be read from left to right; drop-down menu

Discussion
The most crucial difference between the U.S. Wal-Mart website and the Mexican Wal-Mart website is the level of completion. The U.S. website is very thorough. The Mexican website seems like it's still in the beginning stages of development, possibly because Wal-Mart hasnt been around in Mexico as long as it has in the U.S. This may have been the reason for some of the differences I noticed between the two sites. Collectivism The Mexican website seemed to emphasize community relationships more so than the U.S. website. The Mexican website puts a lot of focus on social responsibility. It has a social responsibility policy and social responsibility reports, and it mentions what theyve done to support the environment and the welfare of remote communities. I didnt find any mention of social responsibility on the U.S. website, but they did have a few articles about things theyve done to give back to the community. Neither website showed symbols or pictures of national identity. I thought that surely the Mexican website would, but since the site seems like its still being developed, they might not have gotten it to it yet. Uncertainty Avoidance One thing that surprised me is that the U.S. website seems to show stronger uncertainty avoidance than the Mexican website. The U.S. website has FAQs, customer

Bialecki 6 service/help, etc., but the Mexican website currently has only a generic Contact us form on the website. The U.S. website has a VeriSign endorsement, a privacy policy, and a product return policy. The Mexican website has none of these. This also might be due to the level of completion of the website. In the U.S. website, you can buy Wal-Mart products online, but there is no information whatsoever about products on the Mexican website. The Mexican website has more of a tradition theme, with emphasis on history and ties of the company with the nation, whereas the U.S. website emphasizes only the history of the company. Neither website displayed local terminology. The U.S. website featured customer ratings and reviews of products. Since, at this point, the Mexican site is strictly promotional and informative, there were no customer testimonials. Another surprising thing is that the U.S. site displays toll free numbers for customers to call, but the Mexican website doesnt. Power Distance - An interesting difference between the two websites is that the Mexican website includes information about the quality of the company and quality certification by international agencies, such as the U.N. There was no mention of this kind of information on the U.S. website. Given its pride in social responsibility, you would think the Mexican website would have a vision statement, but currently, it doesnt. The U.S. website, however, does have a vision statement. Another interesting difference is that the Mexican website emphasizes the prestige of the company, but the U.S. website doesnt. The Mexican website used the proper titles of people in its contact section, but the U.S. website discussed only the job duties of important people in the company, rather than the people themselves. These last two differences may be due to the differences in power distance between the U.S. and Mexico. Masculinity Other than the use of superlatives, which was found in both websites, I did not find any aspects of the Mexican website that suggest masculinity. But again, this may be due to the level of completion of the Mexican website. Design Elements The U.S. and Mexican websites are somewhat similar in terms of design elements. One difference is the content of the images. While both websites have a lot of advertisements, the images in the Mexican website focus more on people, whereas the images in the U.S. website focus more on products. This could be due to the more collectivist nature of Mexico. Another difference is in the navigation bars. There are many more links in the U.S. websites navigation bar than there are in the Mexican websites navigation bars. In the U.S. website, the major links are located in the top and bottom navigation bars, and the links to the different store departments and types of products are located in the left navigation bar. In the Mexican website, the major links are on all three navigation bars, and there are no links to the stores different departments and products. Again, the difference between the navigation bars might be due to the level of completion of the Mexican website. There were a lot more similarities than differences between the U.S. and Mexican versions of the McDonalds website. Unlike the Wal-Mart website for Mexico, the McDonalds website for Mexico seemed complete. Both versions of the McDonalds website are very thorough. Collectivism Both versions of the website exhibited a family theme but in different ways. The U.S. version emphasized teamwork more so in words, whereas the Mexican version emphasized teamwork more so in pictures. Perhaps this is because the U.S. is more of a low-context country,

Bialecki 7 and Mexico is more of a high-context country. A big difference between the two versions is that the Mexican version showed symbols of national identity, and the U.S. version did not. On the home page of the Mexican website, you see a soccer field in the background. Soccer is a popular sport in Mexico. You also see a graphic of some traditional-looking Mexican cartoon characters. Since McDonalds is based in America, maybe they didnt feel it was necessary to include symbols of national identity in the U.S. website. Uncertainty Avoidance In terms of uncertainty avoidance, there were no significant differences between the two versions of the McDonalds website. Power Distance The only significant difference between the two versions is that the U.S. website went into more detail about the company hierarchy information and the quality information and awards. Masculinity In terms of masculinity, there were no significant differences between the two versions of the McDonalds website. Design Elements The two websites are somewhat similar in terms of design elements. The biggest difference is the color scheme. In the U.S. website, the background color on most pages is either black or white. There is a lot of red on the pages as well. In the Mexican website, there is a different background color for each of the major categories of pages. These colors include red, green, purple, blue, and gold. The differences in color symbolism between the U.S. and Mexico might explain why the two websites have different color schemes. Another difference is in the navigation bar. The Mexican websites top navigation bar has a drop-down menu on each link, whereas the U.S. website has more links in their navigation bars. This difference pertains to accessibility. Perhaps there are differences between the U.S. and Mexico in what makes a website more or less accessible. After reviewing the differences between the U.S. and Mexican versions of both websites, I was able to identify only one consistent difference. The U.S. websites featured loyalty programs, and the Mexican websites did not. Since both companies have been around in the U.S. longer than theyve been in Mexico, perhaps they have not yet gotten around to creating loyalty programs for their Mexican customers. The lack of consistent differences between U.S. and Mexican websites can be best explained by the small sample of websites I compared for this report. Had I used a larger sample, I would most likely have discovered more differences. Another contributing factor could be the lack of completion of the Wal-Mart website for Mexico. In any event, one must not assume that all international companies will have similar websites for each country with whom they do business.