Transcript Griffin_04

the role of culture
international business, 5th edition
chapter 4
Chapter Objectives 1
• Discuss the primary characteristics of
culture
• Describe the various elements of culture
and provide examples of how they
influence international business
• Identify the means by which members of
a culture communicate with each other
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Chapter Objectives 2
• Discuss how religious and other values
affect the domestic environments in
which international businesses operate
• Describe the major cultural clusters and
their usefulness for international
managers
• Explain Hofstede’s primary findings about
differences in cultural values
• Explain how cultural conflicts may arise
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Culture
Culture is the collection of values,
beliefs, behaviors, customs, and
attitudes that distinguish one society
from another. A society’s culture
determines the rules that govern how
firms operate in the society.
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Characteristics of Culture
• Learned behavior
• Interrelated elements
• Adaptive
• Shared
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Figure 4.1 Elements of Culture
Language
Social
structure
Communication
Culture
Values/
attitudes
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Religion
Social Structure
Individuals, families, and groups
Social stratification
Social mobility
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Language
• 3000+ different languages
worldwide
• 10,000+ different dialects
• Primary delineator of cultural groups
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Map 4.1 World Languages
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Map 4.2 Africa’s Colonial Legacy
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Translation Disasters
• KFC’s Finger Lickin’ Good
– Eat your fingers off (China)
• Pillsbury’s Jolly Green Giant
– Intimidating green ogre (Saudi Arabia)
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Caterpillar Fundamental English
Caterpillar has
developed its own
simplified language
instruction program.
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Yes and No Across Cultures
• Latin America
– meaning of “manana”
• Japan
– meaning of “yes” versus “yes, I
understand”
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Nonverbal Communication
Nonverbal communication
may account for
80-90 percent of all information
transmitted among members
of a culture
by means other than language.
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Table 4.1 Forms of Nonverbal
Communication 1
• Hand gestures
• Touching
• Facial expression
• Eye contact
• Posture and stance
• Architecture/interior
design
• Clothing/hair style
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• Walking behavior
• Artifacts and nonverbal symbols
• Interpersonal
distance
• Graphic symbols
Table 4.1 Forms of Nonverbal
Communication 2
• Art and rhetorical
forms
• Taste, symbolism of
food, oral gratification
• Smell
• Cosmetics
• Speech rate, pitch,
inflection, volume
• Sound signals
• Color symbolism
• Synchronization of
speech and
movement
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• Time symbolism
• Timing and pauses
• Silence
Gift Giving and Hospitality
Gift giving is an
important means of
communication,
but what is
appropriate varies.
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Religion
• Imposes constraints on roles of
individuals in society
• Affects the types of products
consumers may purchase
• Varies from country to country
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Religion
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
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Map 4.3 Major World Religions
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Religion
Two million
Muslims annually
descend on the
Grand Mosque in
Mecca, Saudi
Arabia as part of
the Haij
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Values and Attitudes
Values are the principles and
standards accepted by the members;
attitudes encompass the actions,
feelings, and thoughts that result
from those values.
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Values and Attitudes
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Time
Age
Education
Status
Theories of Culture
• Hall’s Low-Context, High-Context
Approach
• Cultural Cluster Approach
• Hofstede’s Five Dimensions
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Hall’s Low-Context
High-Context Approach
An approach to understanding
communication based on the
relative emphasis on verbal and
nonverbal cues to transmit meaning
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Low
Context
Chinese
Korean
Japanese
Vietnamese
Arab
Greek
Spanish
Italian
British
U.S./ Canadian
Scandinavian
Swiss
German
Figure 4.2 High- and Low-Context Cultures
High
Context
The Cultural Cluster Approach
An approach to understanding
communication based on meaningful
clusters of countries that share
similar cultural values
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Map 4.4 A Synthesis of
Country Clusters
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Hofstede’s Five Dimensions
Social Orientation
Power Orientation
Uncertainty Orientation
Goal Orientation
Time Orientation
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Social Orientation
Individualism
Collectivism
Relative importance of the
interests of the individual versus
interests of the group
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Power Orientation
Power Respect
Power Tolerance
Appropriateness of power/authority
within organizations
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Figure 4.4 Social Orientation
and Power Orientation Patterns
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Uncertainty Orientation
Uncertainty
Acceptance
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Emotional response to uncertainty and change
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Goal Orientation
Aggressive
Passive
What motivates people to achieve different goals
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Time Orientation
Long-term
outlook
Short-term
outlook
The extent to which members of a culture
adopt a long-term or a short-term outlook
on work and life
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Understanding New Cultures
Self-reference
criterion
Cultural literacy
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Acculturation