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Understanding Cultural Differences in Business

This document discusses cultural environment and its effects on international business. It aims to understand cultural differences, illustrate risks in cross-cultural communications, suggest how businesses can act as agents of change, and examine cultural knowledge acquisition. Culture is defined as integrated learned behavior patterns characteristic of a society. Key cultural elements include language, infrastructure, education, social institutions, religion, values/attitudes, manners/customs, and aesthetics. Understanding differences in areas like individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity is important. Formal training and cultural sensitivity programs can help businesses and individuals prepare for cross-cultural interactions.

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Shanntha Joshitta
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14 views14 pages

Understanding Cultural Differences in Business

This document discusses cultural environment and its effects on international business. It aims to understand cultural differences, illustrate risks in cross-cultural communications, suggest how businesses can act as agents of change, and examine cultural knowledge acquisition. Culture is defined as integrated learned behavior patterns characteristic of a society. Key cultural elements include language, infrastructure, education, social institutions, religion, values/attitudes, manners/customs, and aesthetics. Understanding differences in areas like individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity is important. Formal training and cultural sensitivity programs can help businesses and individuals prepare for cross-cultural interactions.

Uploaded by

Shanntha Joshitta
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Chapter 2

Cultural
Environment

What We Are Striving To Accomplish?

1. To understand the effects of cultural differences on


international business.
2. To illustrate the risks involved in cross-cultural business
communications and transactions.
3. To suggest ways in which international businesses act
as change agents in the diverse cultural environments
in which they operate.
4. To examine how cultural knowledge is acquired and
how individuals and organizations prepare for crosscultural interaction.

What is Culture?

Integrated system of learned


behavior patterns that are
characteristic of the members of
any given society.

Context Orientation in Major Cultures

Elements of Culture

CONCRETE ELEMENTS

ABSTRACT ELEMENTS

Language
Verbal
Nonverbal

Religion

Infrastructure
Education
Social Institutions

Values and attitudes


Manners and customs
Aesthetics

Languages

Top Ten World Languages

Language
1. Chinese, Mandarin
2. English
3. Hindustani
4. Spanish
5. Russian
6. Arabic
7. Bengali
8. Portuguese
9. Malay-Indonesian
10. French

Approx. # of
Speakers
(in millions)
1,075
514
496
425
275
256
215
194
176
129

SOURCE: Adapted from Raymond G. Gordon, Ethnologue, 13th


ed. (Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc.:1996), accessed from
[Link] downloaded January 30, 2008

Convey messages through spoken


word and nonverbal gestures,
body position and eye contact.

Aides information gathering and


evaluation.
Provides local society access.
Reduces risk of errors.
Extends beyond the mechanics of
communication in accurate
interpretation of cultural contexts.

Infrastructure
Economic

Social

Financial
and
Marketing

Education

Education is a means of
passing on and the sharing
of culture.
Education levels will have
an impact on the different
business functions.

Social Institutions

affect the way people relate to each other


Social Stratification - division of a particular
population into classes

Reference Group - a group, such as the family,


coworkers, and professional and trade associations,
that provides the values and attitudes that influence
and shape behavior, including consumer behavior.

Religion
Has an impact on international marketing that is seen in
a cultures values and attitudes toward entrepreneurship,
consumption, and social organization.

Values and Attitudes


Attitudes
Evaluations of
alternatives based on
values

Values
Shared beliefs or group
norms internalized by
individuals

Manners and Customs

Manners and
Customs
Attitudes

Values

Religion

Aesthetics

Colors, forms, music and symbolism may


have to be changed according to culture.

Understanding Cultural
Differences

Four Dimensions of
Culture
Individualism
Power distance

Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity

Gaining Cultural Knowledge


GMAC Global

Cultural knowledge is:


factual
experiential

Increased cultural
sensitivity training and
formal training programs
help to avert culture
shock.

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