Global Business Environment
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Chapter 8 : Cultural Environment
Understanding culture
Characteristic of culture
Hofstede’s Model
Power distance
Masculinity Vs.
Femininity
Uncertainty avoidance
Individualism vs. Collectivism
Long-term Orientation
Influence of Culture on Consumption
Influence of Culture on Thinking Process
Influence of Culture on
Communication Process
Non-verbal communication
Managing Cross
Cultural Differences
Locating Relevant Cultural Information
Time
Sensitiveness
Flexibility
Ethnocentrism
Culture Shock
Chapter Summary
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Understanding the culture of a particular country and
respecting its customs and traditions plays an important role in international
business. There are various elements of culture, like customs and traditions,
mannerisms, values and attitude, religion etc. that are of importance to
international business. All these elements have to be thoroughly understood
before entering new markets.
The culture of the country influences the culture at the workplace. Hofstede’s
cultural dimensions help in understanding the various dimensions under which
culture can be classified. They are power distance, individualism vs
collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, uncertainty avoidance, individual vs
collectivism and finally, long term orientation. Culture has a major influence
on the consumption patterns. Marketers have to study clearly the acceptability
of the product and its advertisements in a particular culture. |
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Advertisers can achieve positive consumer
responses by developing advertisements with culturally congruent
appeal. Culture also has an influence on the thinking process.
According to Maletzke the major paradigms for thinking that can have
an influence on culture are logic and pre-logic, inductive and
deductive, abstract and concrete and alphabetical and
an-alphabetical thinking. All these concepts of thinking are
interconnected.
Communication is an important part of any business. Especially in
international business, any mistake in communicating will prove
costly for a firm. Apart from taking care while advertising, which
is an important part of any business, firms have to be careful when
negotiating business deals and using non-verbal communication. The
various forms of non-verbal communication are kinesics, proxemics,
appearance, posture, eye contact, paralanguage, symbolism etc.
Another important aspect of culture in international business is
managing cross-cultural differences. The best way is to locate
relevant cultural information. Culture shock can be avoided by
striving to be more flexible and forming effective inter-cultural
relationships.
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