Transcript PART TWO COMPARATIVE ENVIRONMENTAL FRAMEWORKS

International Business
Part Two
Comparative Environmental
Frameworks
Chapter Two
The Cultural Environments Facing
Business
Chapter Objectives
• To understand methods for learning about
cultural environments
• To analyze the major causes of cultural
difference and change
• To discuss behavioral factors influencing
countries’ business practices
• To understand cultural guidelines for
companies that operate internationally
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The People Factor
• Culture refers to learned norms based on
the values, attitudes, and beliefs of a
group of people
• Cultural diversity
• Cultural collision
• Sensitivity and Adjustment
2-3
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Cultural Awareness
• There is no foolproof way to build your
awareness of culture
• Hard to isolate culture from economic and
political conditions
• Education about a culture helps
• Studies of cultures have shortcomings
2-4
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The Nation as a Point of Reference
• National boundaries act as proxy for
culture
• Not everyone in a country shares the
same culture
• Certain cultural attributes may link groups
from different nations more closely than
certain groups within nations
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How Cultures Form and Change
• Cultural values set early in life
• Changes occur from:
 Choice
 Imposition
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Language as a Cultural Stabilizer
• When people from different areas speak the
same language, culture spreads more easily
• Among nations that share a same language,
commerce is easier
• Isolation from other groups, especially because
of language, tends to stabilize cultures.
• Some countries see language as being so
important that they regulate the inclusion of
foreign words and/or mandate the use of the
country’s official language for business
purposes.
2-7
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Religion as a Cultural Stabilizer
• Centuries of profound religious influence
continue to play a major role in shaping
cultural values
• Many religions influence specific beliefs
that may affect business
2-8
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Issues in Social Stratification
• Ascribed group memberships are determined at
birth
• Acquired group memberships are based on
one’s choice of affiliation
• Performance orientation of the society
• Open vs. Closed society
• Attitude towards gender
• Attitude towards age
• Importance of family group
• Prestige of occupation
2-9
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Issues in Work Motivation
• Materialism and Motivation
• Expectation of Success and Reward
• Assertiveness: The Masculinity–Femininity
Index
• Hierarchies of Needs
2-10
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Factors Affecting Relationship
Preferences
• Power distance: general relationship
between superiors and subordinates.
• Individualism vs. collectivism: degree of
dependence on organization
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Factors Affecting Risk-taking
Behavior
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Uncertainty avoidance
Trust
Future orientation
Fatalism
2-12
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Factors Affecting Information and
Task Processing
• Perception of cues
• Obtaining Information: Low-Context versus
High-Context Cultures
• Information Processing
2-13
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Factors Affecting the
Communication Process
• Spoken and Written language
• Silent language:
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color associations
conversational distance
perception of time and punctuality
body language and gestures
prestige
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Dealing with Cultural Differences
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Accommodation
Cultural distance
Culture shock
Company and Management orientations
 polycentric
 ethnocentric
 geocentric
2-15
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Factors Affecting Strategies for
Instituting Cultural Change
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Value systems
Cost/benefits of change
Resistance to too much change
Participation
Reward sharing
Opinion leadership
Timing
Learning abroad
2-16
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