Bài giảng International Business - Chapter 4 Differences in Culture

International Business 9eBy Charles W.L. HillMcGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.Chapter 4Differences in Culture How Do Cultural Differences Affect International Business? Understanding and adapting to the local cultural is important international companies cross-cultural literacy - an understanding of how cultural differences across and within nations can affect the way in which business is practiced A relationship may exist between culture and the costs of doing business in a country or regionMNEs can be agents of cultural changeWhat Is Culture?Culture - a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living wherevalues are abstract ideas about what a group believes to be good, right, and desirablenorms are the social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in particular situationsSociety - a group of people who share a common set of values and norms How Are Culture, Society, And The Nation-State Related?The relationship between a society and a nation state is not strictly one-to-one Nation-states are political creations can contain one or more culturesA culture can embrace several nationsthe values and norms of a culture evolve over timeWhat Determines Culture?Determinants of CultureWhat Is A Social Structure?Social structure - a society’s basic social organizationA group is an association of two or more people who have a shared sense of identity and who interact with each other in structured ways on the basis of a common set of expectations about each other’s behaviorindividuals are involved in families, work groups, social groups, recreational groups, etc.What Is Social Stratification?All societies are stratified on a hierarchical basis into social categories, or social strataSocial mobility - the extent to which individuals can move out of the strata into which they are borncaste systemclass systemThe significance attached to social strata in business contactsclass consciousnessHow Do Religious AndEthical Systems Differ?Religion - shared beliefs and rituals that are concerned with the realm of the sacredChristianityIslamHinduismBuddhism5. Confucianism influences behavior and cultureEthical systems - a set of moral principles, or values, that are used to guide and shape behaviorHow Do Religious And Ethical Systems Differ?World ReligionsWhat Is The Role Of Language In Culture? Language - the spoken and unspoken (nonverbal communication such as facial expressions, personal space, and hand gestures) means of communication Chinese is the mother tongue of the largest number of peopleEnglish is the most widely spoken language in the world and is also becoming the language of international businessbut, knowledge of the local language is still beneficial, and in some cases, critical for business successfailing to understand the nonverbal cues of another culture can lead to communication failureWhat Is The Role Of Education In Culture?Formal education is the medium through which individuals learn many of the language, conceptual, and mathematical skills that are indispensable in a modern society important in determining a nation’s competitive advantageJapan’s postwar success can be linked to its excellent education systemgeneral education levels can be a good index for the kinds of products that might sell in a countryex. impact of literacy ratesHow Does Culture Impact The Workplace?Hofstede’s dimensions of culture:Power distance - how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities Uncertainty avoidance - the relationship between the individual and his fellows Individualism versus collectivism - the extent to which different cultures socialize their members into accepting ambiguous situations and tolerating ambiguityMasculinity versus femininity -the relationship between gender and work rolesHow Does Culture Impact The Workplace?Work-Related Values for 20 CountriesHow Does Culture Impact The Workplace?Hofstede later expanded added a fifth dimension called Confucian dynamism or long-term orientationcaptures attitudes toward time, persistence, ordering by status, protection of face, respect for tradition, and reciprocation of gifts and favorsJapan, Hong Kong, and Thailand scored high on this dimensionthe U.S. and Canada scored low Does Culture Change?Culture evolves over timechanges in value systems can be slow and painful for a societySocial turmoil - an inevitable outcome of cultural changeas countries become economically stronger, cultural change is particularly commoneconomic progress encourages a shift from collectivism to individualismglobalization also brings cultural changeWhat Do Cultural Differences Mean For Managers?It is important to develop cross-cultural literacycompanies that are ill informed about the practices of another culture are unlikely to succeed in that cultureThere is a connection between culture and national competitive advantagesuggests which countries are likely to produce the most viable competitorshas implications for the choice of countries in which to locate production facilities and do business