22135184 bznt environ

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education
2-1
International Business
Environments and Operations,
13/e
Global Edition
Part Two
Comparative Environmental
Frameworks

2-2
Chapter Two
The Cultural
Environments
Facing Business

2-3
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

2-4
Culture
Learned norms based on values,
attitudes, and beliefs of a group of
people

2-5
Cultural Diversity
A means of gaining global
competitive advantage by bringing
together people of diverse
backgrounds and experience

2-6
Cultural Collision
• Occurs in international business when:
 A company implements practices that are less
effective
 Employees encounter distress because of
difficulty in accepting or adjusting to foreign
behaviors

2-7
Cultural Factors Affecting International
Business Operations

2-8
Cultural Awareness
• Problem areas that can hinder managers’
cultural awareness…
 Subconscious reactions to circumstances
 The assumption that all societal subgroups
are similar

2-9
The Idea of a “Nation” – Delineating
Cultures
The nation is a useful definition of society
because:
• Similarity among people is a cause and an effect
of national boundaries
• Laws apply primarily along national lines

2-10
The Nation as a Cultural Mediator
• A national culture must be flexible enough to
accommodate the diversity of various
subcultures, ethnic groups, races, and classes
• Yet every nation boasts certain human,
demographic, and behavioral characteristics that
constitute its national identity

2-11
Country-By-Country Analysis
• Managers find this difficult to implement
because:
 Subcultures exist within nations
 Similarities link groups from different countries

2-12
How Cultures Form and Change
• Change by Choice
 Reaction to social and economic situations
• Change by Imposition
 Imposed introduction into a culture of certain
elements from an alien culture

2-13
Language as Both a Diffuser and
Stabilizer of Culture
A common language within a
country is a unifying force

2-14
Major Language Groups: Population and
Output

2-15
Religion As A Cultural Stabilizer
Centuries of profound religious
influence continue to play a major
role in shaping cultural values
and behavior

2-16
Behavioral Practices Affecting Business
• Issues in Social Stratification
 Social ranking is determined by:
• Factors pertaining to you as an individual
• Factors pertaining to your affiliation with
certain groups

2-17
Group Affiliations Can Be:
• Ascribed or Acquired
 Include those based on gender, family, age,
caste, ethnic, racial, or national origin
• A reflection of class and status
 Include those based on religion, political
affiliation, and professional and other
associations

2-18
Social Stratification and Employment
Practices
• Performance Orientation
• Open and Closed Societies
• Gender-Based Groups
• Age-Based Groups
• Family-Based Groups

2-19
Work Motivation
• Materialism and Motivation
• Expectation of Success and Reward
• Performance and Achievement: The Masculinity-
Femininity Index
• Hierarchies of Needs

2-20
Hierarchy of Needs

2-21
Relationship Preferences
• Power Distance
• Individualism Versus Collectivism

2-22
Risk-Taking Behavior
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Trust
• Future Orientation
• Fatalism

2-23
Information and Task Processing
• Perception of Cues
• Obtaining Information: Low Context versus High
Context Cultures
• Information Processing
• Monochronic Versus Polychronic Cultures
• Idealism Versus Pragmatism

2-24
Communication
• Spoken and Written Language
• Silent Language
• Distance
• Time and Punctuality
• Body Language
• Prestige

2-25
Body Language Is Not A Universal
Language

2-26
Degree of Cultural Differences
Cultural Distance
When a company moves within a cluster of
culturally similar countries, it should expect to
encounter fewer cultural differences and to face
fewer cultural adjustments.
Cultural Friction
A business interaction may be viewed negatively
because of possible changes in power
relationships and the sovereignty that sets
countries apart.

2-27
Company and Management Orientations
• Polycentrism
 belief that business units in different countries should
act like local companies
• Ethnocentrism
 conviction that one’s own culture is superior to that of
other countries
• Geocentrism
 requires companies to balance knowledge of their
own organizational cultures with both home and host
country needs, capabilities, and constraints

2-28
Strategies for Instituting Change
• Value Systems
• Cost-Benefit Analysis of change
• Resistance to too much change
• Participation
• Reward Sharing
• Opinion Leadership
• Timing
• Learning Abroad

2-29
Future: What will happen to national
cultures?
• Scenario 1.
 New hybrid cultures will develop and personal
horizons will broaden
• Scenario 2.
 Outward expressions of national culture will continue
to become homogeneous while distinct values will
remain stable
• Scenario 3.
 Nationalism will continue to reinforce cultural identity
• Scenario 4.
 Existing national borders will shift to accommodate
ethnic differences

2-30
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United
States of America.

22135184 bznt environ

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