Introduction
Marina Bay Sands Singapore Hotel is a luxury hotel and casino on the shores of Marina Bay in Singapore. It is famous for its rooftop Infinity Pool and panoramic views of the whole of Singapore (“Singapore Luxury Hotel”, n. d.). The complex has everything for recreation and entertainment, including a casino, a luxury hotel, a theater, and restaurants (“Singapore Luxury Hotel”, n. d.). More than that, it represents the main features of Singapore’s culture. This essay analyzes the promotional activities and marketing promotion of Marina Bay Sands Singapore Hotel, according to Hofstede’s cultural dimensions.
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
The typology of cultural dimensions developed by Gert Hofstede is the basis for cross-cultural communication. It describes the impact of a society’s culture on the individual values of its members, and is based on six dimensions of culture. These dimensions include distance from power, detachment, masculinity, avoidance of uncertainty, strategic thinking, and assumption (or indulgence) (Litvin, 2019). If a country or an organization complies with all of them, it has developed cross-cultural communication.
The power distance index determines the degree to which members of society, institution, or organization endowed with relatively less power expect and allow an uneven distribution of power. The second dimension is individualism, which defines a priority of personal goals, protection of private interests, connections between individuals who are not burdened with strong obligations to act together. Masculinity means a focus on achieving results at any cost. The next dimension is the avoidance of uncertainty, which determines the degree of perception and response to unfamiliar situations. Strategic thinking involves short-term or long-term orientation to the future, focus on solving strategic, long-term goals, the desire to look into the future. The last dimension is the assumption, which is essentially a measure of happiness, a degree of satisfaction with the simple pleasures of life.
Hofstede’s Dimensions for Marina Bay Hotel
As for the power distance index, the hotel is independent from the government largely as it is a constituent of the larger “Las Vegas Corp” and is managed at peak by a sitting executive committee chairing all the LVS initiatives. In other words, regional management in Singapore is responsible for routing the company’s mission and policies in the hotel. More than that, promoting activities of Marina Bay Hotel are also aimed at protecting its private interests as it implements various strategies, such as capital outsourcing from IPO’s, bonds, and engaging in sustainable loaning systems (“Strategic Marketing Plan,” 2019). All these measures ensure the hotel’s competitive positioning and stable finance flows.
Besides, Marina Bay Hotel is masculine as it had to overcome serious economic problems, such as a lack of finance resources, and still, it has to compete for the high status nowadays. In turn, this masculinity results in a low level of avoidance of uncertainty. That means that the management is ready to take risks as the company strives “to extend to new feeder markets all over the continent and establish itself as a world’s foremost hospitality service provider” (“Strategic Marketing Plan,” 2019, para. 62). Moreover, Marina Bay Hotel management implies strategic thinking as it has different short-term and long-term goals, such as increasing the client base and maximization of cash flow from operating assets (“Strategic Marketing Plan,” 2019). As for the last dimension, Marina Bay Hotel provides a high degree of freedom in fulfilling customers’ desires as it has a vast number of different facilities, such as an open-air swimming pool, a theatre, and a casino, which are oriented on varied components of the population.
Conclusion
Marina Bay Sands Singapore Hotel is the most iconic hotel in Singapore with the world’s largest rooftop Infinity Pool, and a wide range of shopping and entertainment options. However, it also reflects several cultural dimensions developed by Hofstede and inherent in the country itself. The hotel complies with all dimensions, which are distance from power, detachment, masculinity, the avoidance of uncertainty, strategic thinking, and the assumption, which means that it has a high level of cross-cultural communication.
References
Litvin, S. W. (2019). Hofstede, cultural differences, and TripAdvisor hotel reviews. International Journal of Tourism Research, 21(5), 712-717. Web.
Singapore Luxury Hotel. (n.d.). Web.
Strategic marketing plan for Marina Bay Sands Hotel report. (2019). Web.