Public Response in Low Uncertainty and Low Power
Distance Nations
A review of other nations in the European Union shows
that many nations watched and waited for conclusive evidence before banning the
sales of Coca-Cola and related products. Why did these nations not recall all
Coca-Cola products? One key answer is that these nations are more similar to
Coca-Cola’s cultural norms in power distance and uncertainty avoidance.
Table 2 shows the uncertainty avoidance indexes for Sweden, Denmark, and
Norway. These scores were much lower than those for Belgium, France, and Spain
and were much closer to the American score. The scores of these Scandinavian
nations may help explain why no actions—policy, boycotts, or banning—were
taken against Coca-Cola. Given that the American score for uncertainty avoidance
was much closer to these Scandinavian nations, it appeared that these national
governments and health ministries were not worried that tainting would endanger
their national population. This may be attributed to similar conceptions of risk
between the organization and these publics.
These nations also scored very low on the power distance index. Table 2
shows scores for Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. These nations seemed more
willing to accept Coca-Cola’s explanation of the situation. Indeed, the United
States’ score of 40 was much closer to these low power distance nations than to that
of Belgium, France, or Spain. The cultural similarity in power distance orientations
may have added to the level of mutual understanding and maintenance of Coca-
Cola–public relationships during the crisis.
This six-nation case study of Coca-Cola showed that this multinational
organization misjudged its publics on a variety of cultural dimensions. A close
scrutiny of the cultural and social complexities of Western European nations would
have told the American-based Coca-Cola executives that European governments and publics are not monolithic. The same strategies and tactics that work in one
nation are often not successful in another. Although these nations are part of the
European Union, each maintains its own unique cultural values. The cultures of
some nations—Belgium, Spain, and France—do not tolerate an incident that
creates risk, ambiguity, and conflict. Other, more risk-tolerant nations—Sweden,
Norway, and Denmark—appear to be more patient, and, if the Coca-Cola crisis is
any indication, more forgiving of mistakes.