cross-cultural business
The significance of natural culture and subcultures.
Culture is the set of values,beliefs, rules, and institutions held by a specific group of people. Successfully dealing with members of other cultures means avoiding ethnocentricity (the tendency to view one's own culture as superior to others) and developing cultural literacy (gaining the detailed knowledge necessary to function effectively in another culture).
We are conditioned to think in terms of national culture -- that is, to equate a nation-state and its people with a single culture. Nations are firm the importance of national culture by building museums and monuments to preserve national legacies. Nations also intervene in business to help protect the national culture from unwanted influence of other cultures. Most nations are also home to numerous subcultures -- groups of people who share a unique way of life within a larger, dominate culture. Subcultures contribute greatly to national culture and must be considered in marketing and production decisions.
Components of culture impact business activities around the world.
Culture includes a people's beliefs and traditional habits and the ways in which they relate to one another. These factors fall into one or more of the eight major components of culture.
The eight major components of culture:
- aesthetics
- values and attitudes
- Manners and customs
- social structure
- religion
- personal communication
- education
- physical and material environments
Each of these components affects business activities.
Aesthetics can determine which callers and symbols will be effective, or offensive, in advertising.
Values influence a person's attitudes toward time, work and achievement, and cultural change.
Knowledge of manners and customs is necessary for negotiating with people of other cultures, marketing products to them, and managing operations and their country.
Social structure affects business decisions ranging from production site selection to advertising methods to the costs of doing business in the country.
Different religions take different views of work, savings, and material goods.
Understanding a people's system of personal communication provides insight into their values and behavior.
A cultures education level affects the quality of the workforce and standard of living.
The physical and material environments influence work habits and preferences regarding products such as clothing and food.
Cultural change
cultural change occurs when a people integrate into their culture the gestures, material objects, traditions, or concepts of another culture through the process of cultural diffusion. Globalization and technology are increasing the pace of cultural change around the world. Companies can influence culture when they import business practices or products into the host country. In order to avoid changes of cultural imperialism, they should import new products, policies, and practices during times of stability. Culture is also affect management styles, work scheduling, and reward systems. Adapting to local cultures around the world means heeding the maxim "Think globally, act locally."
Physical environment and technology influence culture.
A people's physical environment includes topography and climate and the ways (good and bad) in which they relate to their surroundings. Cultures isolated by topographical barriers, such as mountains or seas, normally change relatively slowly, and their languages are often distinct. Climate affects the hours of the day people work. For example, people in hot climates normally take siestas when afternoon temperatures soar. Climate also influences customs, such as the type of clothing a people we are and the types of food they eat.
Material culture refers to all the technology that people used to manufacture goods and provide services. It is often used to measure the technological advancement of a nation. Business people often use this measure to determine whether a market has developed adequate demand for a company's products and whether it can support production activities. Material culture tends to be uneven across most nations.
Culture frameworks.
There are two widely accepted frameworks for studying cultural differences.
The Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck framework compares cultures among six dimensions by seeking answers to certain questions, including: do people believe that their environment controls them or vice versa? Do people focus on past events for the future? Do they preferred to conduct activities in public or private?
The Hofstede framework develops four dimensions, such as individualism versus collectivism and equality versus inequality. Understanding a cultures orientation regarding these four dimensions helps companies increase their chance of success. Taken together, these frameworks help companies to understand many aspects of a people's culture including risk-taking, innovation, job mobility, team cooperation, pay levels, and hiring practices.
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