...GUNG HO! CULTURAL ANALYSIS Michael Hamilton MKTG 3852 – Second Summer 2012 7/22/12 GUNG HO- CULTURAL ANALYSIS Cultural differences influence how business is conducted in today’s rapidly expanding global market. These cultural barriers affect human interactions through our perspective of one another, credibility, time frames, as well as through communication. The success of international business depends upon the ability to set aside our differences, unite and strengthen one another. Many of these challenges can be seen throughout the movie Gung Ho. The movie portrays the relationship between the Japanese and Americans in a lightly comically point of view through an auto factory. However, when comparing and contrasting the interactions of these two cultures, both in and out of the film, they’re dynamics of become more apparent. The connections and exchanges between the Japanese management team and the American workers throughout the film present examples for each of the five dimensions in Geert Hofstede’s cultural dynamics analysis: Individualism/Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance, Masculinity/Femininity, and the later added Long-term Orientation. I. Hofstede’s Cultural Dynamics The results from Hofstede’s analysis for the United States and Japan are in the following table. When comparing the two we see that the Americans have a highly individualistic, male reinforced, ambiguous, society with a slight hierarchy with a weak connection to tradition...
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...CAVUMC05_124-157hr 10/10/07 1:41 PM Page 124 c h a p t e r 5 The Cultural Environment of International Business Learning Objectives In this chapter, you will learn about: 1. The challenge of crossing cultural boundaries 2. The meaning of culture: foundation concepts 3. Why culture matters in international business 4. National, professional, and corporate culture 5. Interpretations of culture 6. Key dimensions of culture 7. Language as a key dimension of culture 8. Culture and contemporary issues 9. Managerial guidelines for crosscultural success > American Football . . . in Europe? There are few things more representative of U.S. culture than American football. It is an extravaganza, complete with exciting halftime shows and peppy cheerleaders. The game exemplifies national pride. The national anthem is played, flags are unfurled, and uniformed players charge up and down the field like an army in the throes of often violent conflict. The teams’ huddles divide the game into small planning sessions for the next play. In the United States, the National Football League (NFL) oversees the sport and, like any successful business, wants to score in new markets. The NFL first tackled Europe in 1991, with plans to establish American football there. After years of failed attempts, NFL Europe emerged as six teams, five of which were based in Germany (such as the Berlin Thunder, the Cologne Centurions, and the Hamburg Sea Devils). Earlier teams established in Spain...
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...International Journal of Business and Management; Vol. 7, No. 16; 2012 ISSN 1833-3850 E-ISSN 1833-8119 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Cross-Cultural Etiquette and Communication in Global Business: Toward a Strategic Framework for Managing Corporate Expansion Ephraim Okoro1 1 School of Business, Howard University, Washington, USA Correspondence: Ephraim A. Okoro, Department of Marketing, School of Business, Howard University, 2600–Sixth Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20059, USA. Tel: 1-202-806-1545. E-mail: eaokoro@howard.edu Received: March 22, 2012 doi:10.5539/ijbm.v7n16p130 Abstract The expanding scope of business corporations in the first decade of the twenty-first century is drawing much scholarly attention, and the trend has been described as a fact of life that defies the stretch of human imagination. The concept of global economy has expanded consumer awareness, defined new standards and rules of operations, and increased the need for national and corporate interdependence. Multinational organizations are exploring opportunities around the world, demonstrating sensitivity towards cultural differences in order to gain from the proliferation and growth of international enterprise. Recent studies indicate that while some corporations compete successfully in the global marketplace, others have failed to sustain their competitive advantage because of cultural imperialism or inadequate acculturation of their managers on international assignment...
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...MANAGING EXPATRIATE FOR AN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT Referring to the case study, there are gaps identified in the Kline & Associate international human resources management practices in terms of expatiate management. Before sending an employee to an international assignment there are certain skills an employee must acquire and it is the duty for the HRM of the firm to prepare the employee for any international assignment. However this was not done by Kline & and Associate before sending Fred Bailey to Tokyo which caused the culture shock and the challenges faced by Fred and his family in Japan. Firms use a variety of HR practices to manage their expatriates (Mendenhall et al., 1987; Brewster and Scullion, 1997). As successful expatriate assignments are indispensable to MNCs for strategy implementation, researchers and practitioners alike are interested in determining how to facilitate the success of expatriates’ assignments (Stroh and Caligiuri, 1998; Dowling and Welch, 2004; Scullion and Collings, 2006). However, MNCs differ on the extent to which these practices are used in managing expatriates (Tung, 1982; Kopp, 1994; Peterson et al., 1996; Scullion and Starkey, 2000) and how effectively they are designed (Mendenhall et al., 1987). According to Adler and Ghadar (1990), expatriate management practices, namely who the firm considers as possible expatriates, how the firm selects and trains them, what criteria the firm uses to assess their performance, and what impact the...
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...Gung Ho (1986) stars Michael Keaton in the role of an American wheeler-dealer who hopes to save his small Pennsylvania town by getting a Japanese automobile manufacturer to buy the town’s biggest employer-a failing automobile assembly factory. He is sent to Japan to convince the Japanese that buying this factory is in mutual interest. The movie is about how the Japanese and American cultures try to work together to successfully run the factory. For the most part, the Japanese management and the American workers cannot manage to get along because of cultural differences. The Japanese insisted on discipline, company fitness routines, and putting work before family. Keaton gets into a dispute with one Japanese middle manager over the man's unwillingness to stand up to his own uncle to ask for some time off to be with his newly born child. In the United States, people value individual rights whereas Japanese people have priority over the overall good of the group so that their individual. It is believed that Americans show more concern for interests of themselves and their families, rather than others. Therefore the early leave is acceptable within the American companies. However, being part of the group is essential in Japan; therefore, that request for early leave is against the overall good of the team, and slowing down the production. There were examples of differences as obvious as the eating in two separate break rooms. This was a very funny movie. I really enjoyed it, but...
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...ASSIGNMENT OF CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED TO:- Dr.(cdr) SATISH SETH SIR SUBMITTED BY:- VENKATESH KUMAR PGDM 6-A ROLL NO-60 Q1. What is meant by the term culture? In what way can measuring attitudes about the following help to differentiate between cultures: centralized or decentralized decision making, safety or risk, individual or group rewards, high or low organizational loyalty, cooperation or competition? Use these attitudes to compare the United States, Germany, and Japan. Based on your comparisons, what conclusions can you draw regarding the impact of culture on behavior? Ans:- culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. Culture is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior (Hodges, 2005). Centralized versus decentralized cultures are different in which the top managers or leaders make all the important decisions in a centralized culture and in a decentralized culture, the decisions are made throughout the levels. Safety and risk in some cultures are frowned upon because the...
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...INDEX Introduction The challenge of crossing cultural boundaries The meaning of culture: foundation concepts Why culture matters in international business National, professional, and corporate culture Interpretations of culture Key dimensions of culture Language as a key dimension of culture Culture and contemporary issues Managerial guidelines for cross-cultural success Page 1 to 1 Page 1 to 5 Page 5 to 6 Page 7 to 9 Page 9 to 9 Page 10 to 14 Page 14 to 17 Page 17 to 19 Page 19 to 21 Page 21 to 23 1 Introduction There are few things more representative of U.S. culture than American football. It is an extravaganza, complete with exciting halftime shows and peppy cheerleaders. The game exemplifies national pride. The national anthem is played, flags are unfurled, and uniformed players charge up and down the field like an army in the throes of often violent conflict. The teams’ huddles divide the game into small planning sessions for the next play. In the United States, the National Football League (NFL) oversees the sport and, like any successful business, wants to score in new markets. The NFL first tackled Europe in 1991, with plans to establish American football there. After years of failed attempts, NFL Europe emerged as six teams, five of which were based in Germany (such as the Berlin Thunder, the Cologne Centurions, and the Hamburg Sea Devils). Earlier teams established in Spain had failed. Why did American football triumph in Germany but fail in Spain? An...
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...International Management: Managing Across Borders and Cultures, Text and Cases, Seventh Edition SEVENTH EDITION FEATURES • Streamlined text in eleven chapters, with particular focus on global strategic positioning, entry strategies and alliances, effective cross-cultural understanding and management, and develop- ing and retaining an effective global management cadre. The seventh edition has been revised to reflect current research, current events and global developments, and includes company examples from the popular press. In Chapter 1, we introduce trends and developments facing international managers and then expand those topics in the context of the subsequent chapters. For example, we discuss developments in globalization and its growing nationalist backlash— in particular resulting from the global financial crisis. We discuss the effects on global business of the rapidly growing economies of China and India and other emerging economies such as those in Africa, and the expansion of the EU; the globalization of human capital; and the esca- lating effects of Information Technology and the global spread of e-business. We follow these trends and their effects on the role of the international manager throughout the book. For exam- ple, in Chapter 6 we focus further on strategies for emerging markets, while also dealing with changing strategies to respond to economic decline around the world and an increasing level of nationalism in some industries; we have a...
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...of goods but also doing business with people around the world. Enterprises enter foreign markets in order to expand the market or look for resources or reduce cost etc. However, Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) not only need to know the political, legal and regulatory environment in host country but also the culture difference which is very important to lessen the cultural problems and know how to solve it wisely. Companies may be abandoned by customers or spend a lot of money to recover their reputation if MNEs’ managers do not understand the cultures of the countries they deal with. The influence of international trade liberalization has presented not only substantial opportunities but also some challenges for domestic and international companies (Watchravesringkan 2011). The aim of this essay is to discuss the importance of culture difference to MNEs. In this essay, culture and society will be discussed in the first part. The following part is about the importance of cultural difference to international managers. Finally, it will discuss the methods to understand cultural difference. Dowling & Liesch (2009) state that culture is a system of values and norms those is shared among a group of human beings and form a pattern for living when brought together. Culture is gained knowledge that human beings use to explain experience and develop social behaviour and this knowledge forms values, generates attitudes, and affects behaviour (Luthans and Doh 2012). Moreover, culture influences...
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...Executive Summary 1 2. Introduction 2 3. Cultural aspect to Communication 3 3.1. Cultural Contexts 3 3.2. Assessing Cultures through Hofstede’s Framework 4 4. Codes of Communication 6 4.1. Verbal Communication 6 4.1.1. Welcome topics of conversation 7 4.1.2. Topics to avoid 8 4.2. Non-Verbal Communication 9 5. Gift Giving 10 6. Causes of Cross-Cultural Communication Conflicts 12 7. Conclusion 13 8. Recommendations 14 9. References 15 Executive Summary Today’s world has gone global. This globalization has led to the collaboration among manufacturers of products, suppliers of materials and service providers situated across the globe. The markets are no more restricted to a specific region or a country. The boundaries and distances between the markets have vanished. Saturation in developed markets has led to exploration and exploitation of emerging markets. The expansion of geographic footprint is not happening only to meet business needs, but this is happening also to promote social causes (Education, Health Awareness) and to mitigate global risks (Global Warming). Therefore, for the purpose of effective functioning, there is a strong need to learn about Cross-Cultural Communication. It is true that any usage of an inappropriate word, an impression or a gesture can lead to serious business or social implications. These cross-cultural communication blunders can then lead to lost...
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...product. At the same time, depending on the new design, Apple’s partner at Korea also started producing components of screen and battery. After that, these components from Japan and Korea would come to the South of China. At there, each IPhone would be assembled and leave the factory, and then transported around the world. The production of iPhone will be a good example showing how the global progress connects people from all around the world. Indeed, “Globalization” is closely connected with our life, and it has changed our world from economic layout to personal life. Just like the case of IPhone, by globalization, companies can collaborate with each other and effectively organize the resource, so that the advantages can be maximized and costs can be reduced. Moreover, globalization also means more extensive market. Nowadays, we can enjoy hamburgers of McDonald’s no matter in which country we are; people also can easily find imported goods everywhere. Expanding business into foreign market has become a trend for more companies. However, global progress also brings some big challenges for us. With the collaboration of economics, various cultural elements, such as values, life styles, and stereotypes, would communicate, conflict, and mix during the process. Thus it also brings difficulties in management for some organizations that start their global strategies. Since the recently trend of global cooperation between different areas and cultures, employees, especially managers...
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...MBA LEARN MORE, DO MORE, BECOME MORE 90 exceptional people who will shape the future of business The IMD MBA Class of 2011 Developing your future global leaders The IMD difference Why recruit at IMD? Find truly global experienced leaders able to address your company’s challenges in today’s complex environment 90 talented pre-screened participants Besides strong academic ability, we assess the leadership potential with a focus on real management capacity in a multi-cultural and complex environment. In total we spend at least 10 manhours per candidate to make sure each one is right for the program. The admission process consists of: - an online application with 12 essays - letters of recommendations - a full day assessment center Once accepted, each candidate goes through a full background check conducted by an independent agency. International and experienced In a class of 90, you will find 40+ different nationalities and 90% of the participants will have spent at least 6 months outside their home country. With a minimum of 3 years of work experience, our participants have on average 7 years of experience prior to IMD. Trained to become truly global hand-on leaders Besides strong academic business fundamentals, our intensive one-year program is designed to constantly push our MBAs beyond their comfort zone. A diversity of hands-on projects takes them through various settings: - a 6-week startup project - a 9-week international consulting project with medium to...
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...case in relation to the recruitment and selection processes followed by the company. How effective have the firm’s processes been? The HR department of Kline & Associates was clearly neglectful in many aspects on the assignment of Fred Bailey moving to Japan. The way this whole recruitment process occurred was not well managed from the beginning, since the opportunity appeared because the person managing Japan had been promoted, so Fred would just take his place. That is the first evidence that shows why things where not working. The company should have been involved in the selection and training process for the expatriate in advance. Fred did not know many basic differences between these two cultures, and lacked the knowledge to handle it, therefore, he committed many mistakes with wrong assumptions. Somehow he thought that United States should not be very different from Japan, he was in charge of 7 Americans and 33 Japanese, and thought people had the same motivations, so he could apply the same strategies and behaviours when conducting business. As shown in the case, the company did not provide him with the appropriate training that an expat should have to take the position on managing director. HR should contain cultural awareness programs, preliminary visits, job training, practical assistance and language training (Dowling, Festing & Engle 2013). The human resource managers must have training programs before an expat is sent to his assignment. What often happens is that...
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... Taoism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism. 2.1 billion people around the world believe in Christianity, which ranked most number of adherents and Islam is the 2nd most and has 1.5 billion adherents. In some country, religion and the way of people living, including business and communication are tightly related. And most of the countries have the major religion, which most population believes. In this research, you will see example of 4 countries and their religion and showing how their religion is influencing their way of people living and the way of business and communication. First example is United States of America and Christianity. 224,457,000 people are the adherent of Christianity in USA. This is about 85% of USA’s population. There are cases that often company incorporates Jesus' examples into the business building process. Many firms believe that the one business management skill you need most is integrity. And in the Bible, integrity is one of the key factors, which Jesus teaches through out the book. Although some may say integrity is a personal attribute, it is also the foundation of building and operating a successful business and showing integrity...
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...western management approaches: is convergence occurring?, Interntaional Business & Economics Research Journal, 2 (4), 63-73. Flache, A., & Macy, M.W. (2011) Local convergence and global diversity: from interpersonal to social influence, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 55 (970), 970- 995. Gentry, W.A,. & Sparks, T.E. (2012) A Convergence/divergence perspective of leadership competencies mangers believe are most important for success in organizations: A cross-cultural multilevel analysis of 40 countries, Journal of Business and Psychology, 27 (1), 15-30. Gupta, S.F (2012) Integrating national culture measures in the context of business decision making- an initial measurement development test of a mid level model, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 19 (4), 455- 505. Gupta, V., & Wang, J. (2011) Globalization and convergence-divergence debate: strategic perspectives for emerging markets, Journal of Business and Economic Research, 1 (2), 69-76. Huang, C., Mujtaba, B.D., Cavico, F.J., & Sims, R.L. (2006) Ethics and executives: a cross-cultural comparison of Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, International Business & Economic Research Journal, 5 (7), 9-22. Hofstede, G., (1983) Cultural dimensions for project management, International Journal of Project Management, 1 (1), 41-48 Jackson, T. (2011) From Cultural balues to cross-cultural interface:...
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