Human Interest

We often take for granted our infrastructe and in this case our banking system. Have we seen recessions, yes , have we seen our banks fail yes, but to not trust them at all well thats another story. In pretty much every American city and most major cities around the world ATMs are very common. I am pretty sure most of us have used an ATM at least once if not all of the time. So when the small country of Myanmar had its sanctions lifted and VISA and Mastecard had the opportunity to put in ATMs they went for it and thought it would be a great ooportunity. They did forsee what would happen though. Myanmar citizens had almost no confidence in their banking system thus most people just kept their money at home with them. So since they did not have money in the banks they did not need to use the ATMs. Its very important for companies, even big ones such as Visa and Mastercard, to understand the market and the culture of the population in which they are setting up the business. If Visa and Mastercard had done a little more research they might have foreseen this problem. In this ever global world it is important for businesses to remain culuturally aware or risk losing mililons.  For start up companies or investment companies it becomes even more important as they do market research as well.

This showcases how different cultures in different places really are. The idea of credit cards in Myanmar isn't exactly greeted with positivity. Most people are skeptical of the banks and keep their money at home instead. This way of living seems so different to people from places like the US because Myanmar doesn't have and connection to the US with institutions such as banks and atm. However this way of running a country does not allow for anything to be fixed, which is why is it so rugged, with cars with no floors, awful roads, and anything else that a bank would normally help fund.