Culture and International Business Flashcards
(35 cards)
1
Q
What are norms?
A
- Folkways
- The routine conventions of everyday life
- Violators seen as eccentric or ill-mannered
- Mores
- Norms that are seen as central to the functioning of a society and to it social life
- Much more significance, violating mores can bring retribution
2
Q
What is culture?
A
- A system of values, beliefs and practices that are shared among a group of people, which give a sense of belonging and uniqueness
- Constantly changing
3
Q
What are Shein’s levels of culture?
A
- Artefact level - outward displays
- Value level - norms about what ought to be
- Underlying set of assumptions - unspoken and unseen norms
4
Q
How can culture be divided?
A
- Tip of the Iceberg Culture
* Bottom of the Iceberg Culture
5
Q
What are tip of the iceberg culture elements?
A
- Language
- Food
- Population
- Music
- Clothing
- Pace of life
- Emotional display
- Gestures
6
Q
What are bottom of the iceberg culture elements?
A
- Notions of time
- How the individual fits into society
- Beliefs about human nature
- Importance of work
- Motivations for achievement
- Rules about relationships
- Tolerance for change
- Imporantce of face, harmony
- Preference for leadership systems
- Communication styles
- Men/womens rolse
- Preference for thinking style - linear or systemic
7
Q
What are the most important cultural dimensions for business?
A
- Identity
- Hirearchy
8
Q
What are the determinants of culture?
A
- Relglion
- Poltical philosophy
- Economic philopshy
- Education
- Language
- Social structure
- Social Stratification
9
Q
What are the IB implications of Christianity?
A
- Protestantism is thought to have the most economic implications
- Protestant ethics may emphasie the importance of hard work and wealth creation and frugality - some would argue this was necessary for the development of capitalism
- Whereas the Catholic promise of salvation in the next world did not foster the same kind of work ethic
10
Q
What are the IB implications of Islam?
A
- The Koran speaks approvingly of free enterprise and earning legitimate profit
- The protection of the right to private property is also embedded within Islam
- Prohibits the payment of interest
- Mudarabah
- Profit sharing
- Marabaha
- Equivalent to interest, bank buys desired capital and sells to customer with mark up
11
Q
What are the IB implications of Hinduism?
A
- Does not encourage entrepreneural pursuits
- Traditionally has supported India’s caste system - concept of mobility makes no sense to traditional hindus, mobility is only in a spiritual sense
- Buddhism
- Does not support the caste system
12
Q
What are the IB implications of Confucianism?
A
- Loyalty
- Especially to one’s superiors
- Recipricol obligations
- Honesty in dealing with others = potentially less hesitance
- Confucian dynamism
- Attitudes toward time, persistence, ordering by status,
protection of face, respect for tradition and reciprocation of gifts and favours
- Attitudes toward time, persistence, ordering by status,
13
Q
What is a social structure?
A
A socity’s basic social organisation
14
Q
What is the important aspect of social structure?
A
Group vs Individual focus
15
Q
How is the group focus in Asian countries important for IB?
A
- Discourages job switching between firms
- Encourages lifetime employment systems
- Leads to cooperation in solving business problems
- This is changing though
16
Q
What is social stratification and what is the important aspect of it?
A
- All cultures are stratified on a hierarchal basis into social strata
- Defined on the basis of characterisesics such as family background, occupation and income
- Social mobility
17
Q
What is social mobility and what kinds are there?
A
- The extent to which individuals can move out of the strata into which they are born
- Caste system
- A closed system of stratification in which change in position is usually not possible during an individuals lifetime
- Class system
- Less rigid form of social stratification in which mobility is
possible
- Less rigid form of social stratification in which mobility is
18
Q
What is the significance of social mobility to IB?
A
- Class consciousness
- Refers to a condition by which people tend to perceive themselves in terms of their class background, and this shapes their relationships with members of other classes
- Can lead to antagonism in business settings
19
Q
What is cultural intelligence?
A
Ability to engage in a set of behaviours that rely on skills and qualities that are tuned appropriately to the culture-based values and attitudes of the people with whom on interacts
20
Q
What are Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions?
A
- Power distance
- Individualism vs collectivism
- Masculinity vs femininity
- Uncertaintiy avoidance
- Long term vs short term normative orientation
- Indulgence vs restraint
21
Q
What is power distance?
A
Acceptance of unequal power distribution
22
Q
What is individualism vs collectivism?
A
Degree to which individuals are expected to confirm to social expectations
23
Q
What is masculinity vs femininity?
A
Competitive vs Consensus orientation
24
Q
What is Long term vs short term normative orientation aka?
A
Confucian dynamism
25
What is the dimension of importance to Intercultural Communication Preferences?
- High and Low context cultures
| - How individuals and society seek information and convert messages to each other
26
What are high context cultures?
- Personal networks are important source of information
- Well informed about facts before making a decision or arranging a deal
- Rely on implicit and non-verbal behaviours to communicate
- Japan, China, Italians, Arabs
27
What are low context cultures?
- Explicit verbal messages are important for determining meaning
- People state their intentions clearly
- German, Swiss, Australian, American
28
What are monochronic cultures?
- Act in a focused manner, one thing at a time
- Time is money
- Germans, Finns, some North Americans
29
What are polychronic cultures?
- Flexible, unconstrained by concerns about time
- Do many things concurrently, often unplanned or opportunistically
- Not interested in time schedules or punctuality
- Indians, Polynesians, Latin Americans, Arabs
30
What are high trust cultures?
- Organise work on more flexible, group oriented basis, more responsibility delegated
- Cultures with strong, associational life
- US, Japan
31
What are low trust cultures?
- Have strong sense of family, tribe or clans, but low levels of trust with others
- Strong correlation of hierarchy and absence of trust, must be coerces by rules and sanctions
- Italy, Spain
32
What are the important cultural dimensions?
* High and Low context cultures
* Monochonic and Polyphonic clutures
* High and Low Trust Cultures
33
Why do managers find country to country analysis difficult?
- Subcultures exist within nations
| - Similarities link groups from different countries
34
What are the company and management orientations to culture?
- Polycentrism
- Belief that business units in difference 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
organisational cultures with both home and host country needs, capabilities and constraints
35
What is important to businesses about cultural change?
- Evidence that economic progress is accompanied by a shift in values away from collectivism towards individualism
- As countries get richer, a shift away from traditional values linked to religion, family and country, and toward secular rational values
