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Infold and International Business

My area of expertise. If you didn't know, I have a bachelor's degree in sociology and international business. I'll be going to get my master's in international marketing in the fall. So, I feel confident discussing this.

Buckle up. Let me introduce you to Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

Alright, let me explain a little bit. Orange is China, grey is the UK, and blue is the US. The UK and the US are simply for visual comparison. Power distance: the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally. Individualism: the strength of the ties that bind people to their groups. Individualist societies enjoy more personal freedom. Collectivist societies prioritize the "we." Motivation towards Achievement and Success: represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness, and material rewards for success. Uncertainty Avoidance: the extent to which members of a culture feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations, and have created beliefs and institutions that seek to avoid them. Long Term Orientation: describes how every society must maintain some links to its past while dealing with the challenges of the present and future, and how societies prioritize these two goals differently. Indulgence: the extent to which people try to control their desires and impulses, shaped by how they were raised.

Let's look specifically at China, for the sake of explaining Infold's current behaviors.

Power distance: China has a high score of 80, meaning that inequalities among people are accepted. The subordinate-superior relationship tends to be defined, formal authority and sanctions carry weight, and people are not expected to have aspirations beyond their rank. In short, hierarchies are strong and people are content to stay at whatever level they are at.

Individualism: With a fairly low score of 43, China is a collectivist society. People act in the interest of the group rather than the individual. This can look like: hiring and promotion favor closer in-groups such as family, and relationships with in-group colleagues are cooperative, while those with out-groups can be cool or distant. Personal relationships take priority over tasks, and offenses lead to a loss of face.

Motivation towards Achievement and Success: At 66, China is achievement oriented. The drive to succeed is everywhere. Many Chinese sacrifice family and leisure for work, service businesses stay open late into the night, and migrant workers leave their families in distant home towns to earn more in the cities.

Uncertainty Avoidance: With a low score of 30, truth may be relative, and although bound to rules, adherence to them is flexible and adapted to the actual situation. The Chinese are comfortable with ambiguity.

Long Term Orientation: China scores high with 77. It is highly pragmatic and long-term oriented. People accept that truth depends on context and circumstance, and adapt traditions readily to changing conditions. They act in pursuit of long-term results.

Indulgence: China scores very low with 24. People place limited emphasis on leisure and tend to control the gratification of their desires, feeling that behavior should be governed by social norms.

That's a lot of words, I know. But what does it mean?

Well, let me put it simply. Hierarchies are widely accepted, especially in companies. The boss is the boss. As a collectivist society, people act in the interest of the group. "We" over "me." They are highly motivated towards achievement and success, as we usually see with overworked employees and highly dedicated students. While there are rules, they aren't always adhered to. The truth is more flexible and nuanced—circumstances matter. People are less likely to pursue their "selfish" desires, instead following social norms.

So, how does this apply to Infold? Let's look at the situation we're facing.

The group surrounding them didn't approve of Valko—this is a direct hit to collectivism. They offended the "in-group", therefore harming their reputation. Their immediate concern is fixing this issue.

Their silence is causing a lot of uncertainty—something they're comfortable with. The ambiguity isn't a major concern for them. Instead, it's accepted as merely part of the situation—necessary for the situation, even. They're working behind the scenes to fix their priorities before facing the public.

The major things: long term orientation and motivation towards success. Long term, not adding a sixth LI leaves them very little to work with. Eventually, the story runs dry, they run out of multi-banners and solo-banners, and all that's left is meaningless updates and reruns. This spells disaster for their company. They want money, they want long-term success, and they want a good reputation. Now, what would guarantee all three of these things? Releasing Valko.

Now, that's just my opinion as someone who understands business. If they're thinking otherwise, I'd have to wonder if their heads are simply full of air and rocks. Looking at it logically, the only way forward for the game itself is adding another character. The main story can't conclude with only the five we have, and they will eventually run out of ideas for banners. And what happens when all of the players have all of the existing cards? Financial plateau.

Again, logically speaking, introducing Valko to the story opens several doors. New main story updates, new character tie-ins, more lore, more myths, more cards. And what does all of that add up to? More money.

This is the best explanation I can offer for the situation we're likely facing. I'm not saying that this is exactly how everything will play out, but it does seem like a logical course of action. Stabilize their reputation, wait for the noise to quiet down, fix what needs to be fixed, and move forward with Valko.

I hope this can give you some peace of mind. Again, these are just my explanations and speculations based on what I know. I can't say for certain what Infold is doing or dealing with behind the scenes, but I think this is a solid place to start.