The document discusses various aspects of culture including how culture is learned and shared between generations, the dimensions of culture proposed by Hofstede which influence behaviors, and considerations for businesses operating across cultures like the importance of building relationships, adapting to local norms, and differentiating strategies to meet local needs.

1. Walta Nemariam, Emily Roberson, Katie Quill,
and Madison Cawthon

2.  Culture is how people behave and react as a
result of what they see and experience
 This knowledge forms values, creates
attitudes, and influences behavior

3.  Learned -acquired by learning or experience
 Shared - not specific to single individuals
 Trans-generational - cumulative, passed
down from one generation to the next

4.  Symbolic - culture is based on the human
capacity to symbolize or use one thing to
represent another
 Patterned - has structure and is integrated; a
change in one part will bring changes in
another
 Adaptive - based on human capacity to
change or adapt

5.  -centralized vs. decentralized decision
making
 -safety vs. risk
 -individual vs. group rewards
 -informal vs. formal procedures

6.  -high vs. low organizational loyalty
 -cooperation vs. competition
 -short term vs. long term horizons
 -stability vs. innovation

8.  Values are the basic convictions people have
concerning right and wrong, good and bad,
important and unimportant
◦ learned from the culture in which the individual is
raised
◦ help direct the person’s behavior

9. • 5 dimensions that help explain how and why
people from different cultures behave the way
they do

10. 1. Power distance- the extent to which less
powerful members of institutions and
organizations accept that power is distributed
unequally
2. uncertainty avoidance- extent to which
people feel threatened by ambiguous situations
and have created beliefs and institutions that
try to avoid these

11. 3. Individualism/Collectivism
individualism- the tendency of people to look
after themselves and their immediate family
only
collectivism- tendency of people to belong to
groups or collectives and to look after each
other in exchange for loyalty

12. 4. masculinity- a cultural characteristic
in which the dominant values in society
are success, money, and materialistic
things
femininity- a cultural characteristic in
which the dominant values are caring
for others and the quality of life

13. 5. Time orientation is the fifth and newer
dimension, but not as well known
 Integrating the dimensions of culture into
pairings or clusters helps depict what
countries are similar in values

14.  Dimensions:
1. Universalism vs. Particularism
2. Individualism vs. Communitarianism
3. Neutral culture vs. Emotional culture
4. Specific vs. Diffuse culture
5. Achievement vs. Ascription culture
 Widely accepted study of international
management
 Conducted over 10-year period, 28 countries
 These dimensions address the way people deal
with one another

15.  Universalism
◦ the belief that ideas and practices can be applied
everywhere without modification
◦ Focus is on rules over relationships
◦ United States, Germany, Sweden, Australia
 Particularism
◦ The belief that circumstances dictate how ideas and
practices should be applied
◦ Legal contracts are modified
◦ Venezuela, Indonesia, China
◦ Be prepared for small talk and meandering

16. a. My friend has a definite right as a friend to
expect me to testify to the lower figure.
b. He has some right as a friend to expect me
to testify to the lower figure
c. He has no right as friend to expect me to
testify to the lower figure.

17.  Individualism
◦ People regard themselves as individuals.
◦ Negotiation takes the form of a representative
 Communitarianism
◦ People regard themselves as being part of a whole
◦ Decisions are usually referred to committees
How should people from these different cultures deal
with one another in business settings?

18.  Neutral culture
◦ One in which emotions are held in check
◦ Japan, UK
◦ Lack of emotion does not mean disinterest or
boredom
 Emotional culture
◦ One in which emotions are expressed openly and
naturally
◦ Mexico, the Netherlands, Switzerland
◦ Those in an emotional culture should respond
warmly in a business setting

19.  Specific
◦ Individuals have large public space they readily enter
and share, and a small public space they guard closely
and share with close friends and associates
◦ Strong separation between work and private life
◦ United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland
 Diffuse
◦ Public and private space are similar in size and level of
privacy
◦ Work and private life are more closely linked
◦ Venezuela, Spain, China
◦ Formality is maintained in individual titles

20.  Achievement culture
◦ Status based on performance at functions
◦ High status to high achievers
◦ United States, Switzerland, United Kingdom
 Ascription culture
◦ Status is based on who or what someone is
◦ Status based on age, gender, social connections
◦ Venezuela, Indonesia, China

21.  Sequential
◦ One activity at a time
◦ Keep appointments strictly
◦ Show strong preference for following plans
◦ United States
 Synchronous
◦ Multitasking
◦ Appointments are approximate
◦ Mexico
◦ “For French and Mexicans, what was important was that
they get to the end, not the particular path or sequence
by which that end was reached.”
◦ Past, present, future orientation

22.  One thing he did was asked managers to
choose one of the following statements.
1. What happens to me is my own doing.
2. Sometimes I feel that I do not have enough
control over the directions my life is taking.
◦ When dealing with those from cultures who believe
in dominating the environment, it is important to
play hardball.
◦ When dealing with cultures that believe in letting
things run their course, it is important to be polite
and to maintain relationships.

23.  Trompenaar’s research lends itself to cultural
patterns.
◦ Anglo cluster: United States, United Kingdom
◦ Asian cluster: Japan, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
Singapore
◦ Latin American cluster: Argentina, Mexico,
Venezuela, Brazil
◦ Latin European cluster: France, Belgium, Spain, Italy
◦ Germanic cluster: Austria, Germany, Switzerland,
Czechoslovakia

24.  Similar to Trompenaars and Hofsted with
greater emphasis on managerial styles
 A different approach to measuring cultural
differences
 Conducted by a team of multicultural
researchers

26.  Researchers use these attributes to predict
the most suitable, effective and acceptable
organizational and leader practices within
that culture
 Goal: to develop an empirically based theory
to describe, understand and predict the
impact of cultural variables on leadership and
organizational processes and their
effectiveness

28.  For MNCs to be successful companies must
carefully address the cultural similarities and
differences in their varied markets.
◦ Renault

29.  Ethnocentric Predisposition
◦ allows the values of the parent company to guide
strategic decisions.
 Polycentric Predisposition
◦ firms make strategic decisions tailored to suit the
cultures of the countries where the MNC operates. EX-
Disney
 Regiocentric Predisposition
◦ firm tries to blend its own interests with those of its
subsidiaries on a regional basis.
 Geocentric Predisposition
◦ tries to integrate a global systems approach to decision
making

31.  Some companies are committed to a
globalization imperative or one worldwide
approach to doing business.
◦ A study showed that 103 medium and large MNCs
out of 115 use the same strategies at home as they
do abroad.
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0rKn7X7UWk
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB85iQ0Y_bw

32.  The most effective MNCs are constantly trying
to address local needs.
◦ Warner-Lambert
 They have manufacturing facilities in Belgium, France,
Germany, Italy, Ireland, Spain, and the United
Kingdom. Each plant is specializes and produces a
small number of products for the entire European
market. This allows each one to focus on the unique
demands for the various markets.

33.  There are several reasons for differentiating
strategies to meet the needs of different
cultures.
◦ 1. Industry standards are different for each country.
◦ 2. Customers want differentiated products
◦ 3. Customers prefer to buy local
◦ 4. The difficulty of managing global organizations
◦ 5. Letting subsidiaries customize their products for
their market

34.  Marketing becomes especially different when
dealing cultures.
◦ Cosmetic products
 In Spain and Greece tooth paste is marketed as a
cosmetic product but is marketed as a cavity-fighter in
the Netherlands and the US. Soap is also considered a
cosmetic product in Spain.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCSxbIvpE4Q
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT1uvi7qjrs

35.  How the marketing message is delivered is
essential.
◦ German advertising is factual and rational. They
fear being manipulated.
◦ French avoid reasoning and logic. Their advertising
is emotional and dramatic. Commercials are viewed
as short films.
◦ British value laughter above all else. They like to
mock the advertiser and consumer.
 However, with a high end or low end products
marketing messages are similar world wide. Ex. Coca-
Cola, Porsche

36.  The need to adjust global strategies for
regional markets presents three major
challenges:
◦ 1. The MNC must stay up to date about local
markets and be careful not to assume that all
markets are basically the same.
◦ 2.The MNC must know the needs of the subsidiaries
so that it can provide best for these units when it
comes to addressing local demands
◦ 3. The company must give the subsidiary more
autonomy so that it can respond to changes in local
demands.

37.  Cross-Cultural Differences and Similarities-
The way MNCs manage their home
businesses often should be different from the
way they manage their overseas operations.
 Parochialism- the tendency to view the world
through one’s own eyes and perspectives.
◦ Soviet Companies
 Simplification- exhibiting the same
orientation toward different cultural groups.

38.  There was a lot of hope that businesses
would be able to keep their practices the
same when internationalization started in the
1970s which proved to be false. However,
there are similarities.
 Studies show that the US has several
similarities with Russia.
◦ Managerial Activities- Networking
◦ Organizational Behavioral Modification- providing
corrective feedback proved to have positive results
in Russia after adopting the US practice.

39.  From a Human Resource Standpoint
◦ Management has to be careful when letting each
national operating company oversee evaluations.
 Each evaluation will vary greatly from country
to country.
◦ Shell Oil had the head office established criteria to
evaluate the personal and had the national
operating company do the evaluating. Each
company had completely different results.

40.  Other Human Resource Management differences:
wages, compensation, pay equity, and maternity
leave.
◦ Hourly wage plays a minor role in Mexico. Labor law
requires that employees receive full pay 365 days a year.
◦ Austrian and Brazilian employees with one year of
service are automatically given 30 days of paid vacation.
◦ Japan: compensation levels are determined by age,
length of service, and educational background rather
than skill, ability, and performance…that comes into
play at age 45
◦ United Kingdom: Employees are given 40 weeks for
maternity leave including 18 weeks of government
mandated pay.

41.  Incentive Plans are also different for
different cultures
◦ Pacific Rim: Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore. High salaries should be paid to senior-level managers.
◦ For Belgium and Italy- significantly higher salaries should be paid
to local senior-level managers because of the high masculinity
index.
◦ Portugal and Greece- both of which have a low individualism
index, profit sharing plans would be more effective than individual
incentive plan.
◦ Personal Incentive plans would be highly useful for Denmark,
Netherlands, Germany because of the high individualism in these
cultures.
◦ Great Britain and Ireland and the US managers value their
individualism and are motivated by the opportunity for earnings,
recognition, advancement, and challenge.

42.  Hiring also varies from country to country.
◦ In the Untied States people are hired based on what
they can do for the firm in the short run. Americans
also prefer specialized training.
◦ In Japan, they hire based on who will help the firm
in the long run, and prefer cross training.
◦ Americans prefer to reward people as individuals
while in Japan they prefer to reward people as a
group.

43.  1979-Deng Xiaoping opened the country
to the world
 US and Europeans find doing business
with China a long and grueling process
◦ Technical Competence
◦ Time/Patience
 Guanxi: means good connection in
Chinese
 Collective society: pride themselves on
being members of a group

44. • Build personal relationships with
partners
• Use local consultants
• Consider business ethics
• Stress exclusivity
• Keep financial information personal
• Research the company
• Stress mutual gain
• Written contracts are not as binding

45.  Unsaturated consumer markets, cheap labor
and production location
 Be on time
 Personal questions should not be asked
 Titles are important
 PDA is inappropriate (backslaps)
 Namaste gesture
 Many Indians understand that Westerners
may not be familiar with their culture and
that’s ok

46.  Social class is very important
 Friendly, humorous and sarcastic
 Accustomed to conflict
 Trustworthiness
 View on Work ethic
 Highly centralized and have rigid
structures
 Management differences
 French business tips

47.  Portuguese influence
 Relaxed work ethic
 Good natured and avoid confrontation
 Working with Brazil:
Personal space
Face-to-Face interaction
Trust
Patience
Appearance
Loyal and Committed
Consistency

48.  Allah controls time
 Status is determined by family position and
connections
 Emotions over logic
 Working with Arabs:
Never display feelings of superiority
Never take credit for joint efforts
Administrative channels
Connections are important
Patience