Finding a balance: cultural adaptation and standardized corporate identity in workplace design

This practicum sets out to address several challenges faced by a multinational corporation operating within a globalized marketplace through the reconsideration of its workplace design. The aim is to achieve a balance between cultural adaptation and standardized corporate identity in the design for...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bachynski, Lauren
Other Authors: Karpan, Cynthia (Interior Design)
Language:en_US
Published: 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1993/3193
Description
Summary:This practicum sets out to address several challenges faced by a multinational corporation operating within a globalized marketplace through the reconsideration of its workplace design. The aim is to achieve a balance between cultural adaptation and standardized corporate identity in the design for the hypothetical multinational management consulting company, Torrent. The balance is perused in order to support Japanese and Canadian national-work-cultures, the two cultures on which the practicum is based, while creating a strong, consistent, and recognizable visual identity across its different subsidiaries. The practicum’s overall objective is to demonstrate how both of these themes can be achieved simultaneously in order to create a balance that benefits both the multinational company as well as its host country. The practicum’s outcome involves two design solutions developed for Torrent based on a single workplace, one responding to Japan’s national work culture, and the other to Canada’s. A standardized corporate identity is achieved through the communication of a consistent company identity in both workplace designs.