Lecture International business - Chapter 2: Cross-cultural business

In this chapter, you will come to understand the role of culture in international business. You will also learn the importance of national culture, subculture, and how each component of culture affects business activities. Understand how cultures and companies change each other, and how the physical environment and technology influence cultures. And acquaint yourself with two popular frameworks used to classify cultures.

Business

2

• Describe culture and explain the significance of both national

culture and subcultures

• Identify the components of culture and describe their impact

on international business

• Describe cultural change and explain how companies and

culture affect each other

• Explain how the physical environment and technology

influence culture

• Describe two frameworks used to classify cultures and explain

their practical use

• Problem: Not serving $2 billion subculture

• Culprit: Pork-based gelatin in the candies

• Solution: New bacteria-based compound

Ethnocentricity

Belief that one’s own  ethnic group or culture is 

superior to that of others

X

X

Creating a Global Mindset

Cultural Adaptability

Cultural Adaptability

Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap

Building Global Mentality

and Broadcasting

Guggenheim

and Hong Kong Disney

Guggenheim

and Hong Kong Disney

Ethnocentricity distorts our

view of other cultures and

causes us to overlook

important human and

environmental differences

among cultures.

Cultural literacy improves the

ability of managers to manage

employees, develop and

market products, and conduct

negotiations in local markets.

Physical environments Education

Personal communication

Religion

Social structure

Manners & customs

Values &

attitudes Aesthetics

Culture

Music Painting Dance Drama Architecture

Positive or negative evaluations, feelings, and tendencies people hold toward objects or concepts

Ideas, beliefs, and

Spread of cultural traits across cultures

causes much cultural change

Gift Giving

Folk Popular

Social group

Two or more people who identify and

interact with each other

Origin of Human Values

Modernization and Traditional Beliefs

Does globalization endanger traditional

beliefs, such as living a life void of

materialistic ambitions?

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc

Language Blunders

 Japanese knife manufacturer labeled its exports to the United States with “Caution: Blade extremely

sharp! Keep out of children.”

welcome to visit the cemetery where famous

Russians are buried daily, except Thursday.”

 Sign for non-Japanese-speaking guests in a Tokyo

hotel read, “You are respectfully requested to take advantage of the chambermaids.”

• Many endangered languages

• Yet English, Mandarin, and

Spanish are expanding

• Lost languages means lost

Mixed Signals

Knowledge of a culture’s

spoken, written, and

body language gives

international managers

insight into why people

think and act the way

they do.

Cultures pass on traditions, customs, and values through schooling, parenting, group memberships, etc.

Education level

Well-educated attract high-paying jobs, while poorly educated

attract low-paying manufacturing jobs

Brain drain

Departure of highly educated people from one profession,

geographic region or nation to another

Problem of Illiteracy

Physical and Material Culture

These influence a culture’s development and pace of change

Topography

Physical features characterizing the surface of a geographic region

Climate

Weather conditions of a geographic region

Material Culture

Technology used to manufacture goods and provide services

Uncertainty avoidance

Long­term orientation Long­term orientation

Individualism vs. Collectivism

Uncertainty Avoidance

Cultures with small

tend to

display greater equality

and a more equal

distribution of rewards.

a Individualism

b Power distance

c Uncertainty avoidance

Cultures with small

tend to

display greater equality

and a more equal

distribution of rewards.

a Individualism

b Power distance

c Uncertainty avoidance

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.

Copyright © 2014 Pearson Education, Inc