Functional food industry: a comparative analysis of the websites of the Finnish Valio and the Italian Granarolo

The present research was conducted to analyse four levels of corporate communication: the structure and aims of corporate communication, how culture affects corporate communication, how international companies deal with lactose-free products and the comparative analysis of the websites of the Finnish Valio and the Italian Granarolo. The objective of the work was to give an overview of how culture impacts on a company's communication, and how it may affect the company perceptions of final international customers. The main results discussed throughout the work are summarised below. Firstly, communication tends to be adapted to different cultures to convey messages effectively, reflecting the cultural roots of one country. Secondly, the results found for Valio and Granarolo were consistent with the existing literature of inter-cultural and cross-cultural communication. Thirdly, lactose intolerance tends to be handled differently according to the distinct cultures of the countries under study, influencing customers' perceptions on lactose-free products. Fourthly, Granarolo tends to treat lactose intolerance like a disease (negative perception), while Valio tends to consider it as a normal condition in adults (neutral perception). Effectively managing and being aware of a company's communicated identity affects corporate communication in a †œcircular way†�.