...went unanswered by Sun Microsystems. With threats of a lawsuit, Sun Microsystems was determined to get to the bottom of it and find out who dropped the ball. Interpersonal conflict is the most important issue within the case because if there hadn’t been perceived power distance, distrust, and cultural misunderstandings than the outage could have been handled quickly without involving HS Holdings management nor the Customer Advocate in Paris, Elisabeth Fournier. Despite the poorly programmed queue and the lack of an updated contact list, the problem still could have been addressed fairly quickly if the Indian team hadn’t felted alienated by the team as a whole and insulted by Nick Elliott when he was overheard saying the Indian team was incompetent. Situation Analysis: Sun Microsystems (Sun) is one of the largest information technology companies in the world. It includes global teams filled with efficient and effective employees who work with a choice of an employee-friendly open work environment. Greg James, a successful engineer and “Outstanding Manager Award” winner was appointed as a global manager of a diverse 45-member team from the United States, United Arab Emirates (UAE), India, and France. As he sets out to meet his entire team to resolve the HS Holdings system outage, he realizes that finding a smooth and easy solution to the rapidly decreasing customer satisfaction that motivated...
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...Company report on cross border offshoring management, cultural dimensions and gamification Table of Contents Table of Contents Executive Summary | p.5 | Chapter I – Introduction1.1 Purpose of the Report1.2 Effects of Globalization on Businesses’ 1.3 Company Background1.4 Outline of the Report | pp.6-7 | Chapter II – Cross Border and Offshoring Management 2.1 Introduction2.2 Defining culture2.3 Defining management and cross cultural management 2.4 Offshoring2.5 Key problems in cross cultural teams2.6 Conclusions | pp.8-11 | Chapter III – Analyzing and Explaining Cultural Dimensions3.1 Introduction3.2 Analysis of cultural dimensions and Country Comparisons 3.2.1 Power Distance 3.2.2 Uncertainty Avoidance 3.2.3 Long term orientation 3.2.4 Indulgence 3.2.5 Individualism 3.2.6 Masculinity 3.3 Limitations of Hofstede’s Dimensions | pp.12-17 | Chapter IV – Gamification4.1 Introduction4.2 Defining and Explaining gamification4.3 Gamification’s effects on business4.4 Examples of gamification4.5 Criticism – The dark side of gamification | pp.18-20 | Chapter V – Corporate Social Responsibility5.1 Introduction5.2 Defining and explaining CSR 5.3 The Foxconn and Apple scandal5.4 Recommendations and Actions | pp.21-22 | Chapter VI – Recommendations to Management | pp.23-24 | Chapter VII – Conclusions | pp.25 | References | pp.26-27 | Executive Summary Executive Summary This report provides an analysis and evaluation of...
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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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...The Dimensions of Cultural Diversity According to Geert Hofestede, a scholar and researcher from the Netherlands, there are four dimensions of cultural diversity: power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, femininity vs. masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance. (Hofstede, n.d.). As cited by Maloney, Geert Hofstede, “…defined a dimension as an aspect of culture that can be measured relative to other cultures. He suggested that people carry “mental programs” which develop in the family and in early childhood and are reinforced in a person’s organizations and community. Hofstede further suggested that these mental programs include a component of national culture and are expressed in an individual’s values…” (Maloney, n.d.). Asrani (2000-2010), defines power distance as the extent to which a society accepts the fact that power in organizations is distributed unequally. Individualism/collectivism is defined as the extent to which people act on their own or as a part of a group. Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which people in a society feel threatened by uncertain and ambiguous situations. Masculinity/feminity [sic] is defined as the extent to which a society values quantity of life (e.g., accomplishment, money) over quality of life (e.g. compassion, beauty). (Diversity in Workforce, para. 6). Identification and Explanation Referencing Textbooks The factors of racism, ageism, sexism, (including prejudices against gays, lesbians, and other sexual...
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...A. What cultural challenges are posed by Disney’s expansion into Asia? Our text specifically talks bout Disney’s approach to challenges in several ways: 1. Language differences: At least three languages will be supported by consumer facing personnel. 2. Americanization is being de-emphasized, with Main Street USA being replaced by a special garden for picture taking. 3. On-premise menus have been adapted to local tastes. 4. In addition to these, Disney must address the typical US vs. China differences reviewed in our previous discussions about Trompenaar’s cultueral dimensions in both their employees and customers: Communitarianism (China) vs. Individualism (USA) Ascription (China) vs. Achievement (USA) Diffuse (China) vs. Specific (USA) Affective (China) vs. Neutral (USA) B. How are these different from those in Europe? Disney seems to be learning greatly from their European experiences. In Europe, Disney found that in many ways, the consumer did not behave as expected: o Wanted a different breakfast menu than planned o Did not change vacation behaviors o Did not check in & out of hotels at the expected times o Did not have a relaxed eating schedule. Given these problems, and their experiences in Tokyo and Hong Kong, there seems to be a much better approach to understanding probable consumer desires, and adapting the experience to fit those consumer expectations as outlined in A.1 – A.3 above. C. How do cultural variables influence the location...
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...Plan for IKEA in INDIA [Document subtitle] Strategic Marketing Plan for IKEA in INDIA [Document subtitle] Contents Introduction 2 About IKEA 2 1.0 Analysis of Indian Market 3 1.1 Micro Analysis 3 1.1.1 PESTEL Analysis 3 1.2 Micro Analysis 4 1.2.1 SWOT Analysis 4 1.3 Impact on Hofstede Culture Dimension 5 a) Collectivism vs Individualism 6 b) Femininity vs Masculinity 6 c) Avoidance of Uncertainties 6 d) Power Distance 6 1.4 Porter’s Diamond Model 7 2.0 Global Marketing Objective 7 2.1 Porter’s Generic Strategy Mix 8 2.2 Ansoff’s Marketing Strategies 8 3.0 Mode of entry 9 4.0 7 P’s of Marketing 10 a)Product 10 b) Process 10 c) Price 10 d) Physical evidence 11 e) Place 11 f) People 11 g) Promotion 11 References 0 List of Figure Figure 1: SWOT Analysis 5 Figure 2: Hofstede Dimensions 7 Figure 3: Comparison of Entry Mode 9 Introduction India is developing country, populated with 1.2 billion people. India’s economy is of very worthwhile. The current analysis shows India is expected to be considering in Top 5 economies in the world. Due to powerful economic development in past few decades, the living standards of Indian nation are improved and improving day by day. The people of India are establishing themselves in the field of information technology and in other industries. They also step up in urbanization and trend of using foreign band has increased much. The retailing industry in India is working very well...
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...Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture Geert H. Hofstede was born on October 2, 1928 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. He received his M.Sc. from the Delft Institute of Technology in 1953, his Ph.D. (cum laude) from Groningen University in 1967. Hofstede is most well known for his work on four dimensions of cultural variability, commonly referred to as "Hofstede's Dimensions." These include: Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance, Masculinity-Femininity, Individualism-Collectivism, and Long-Term/Short Term Orientation. These dimensions were arrived in his 1980 publication, "Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values." The study took existing survey data (sample size of 116,000) collected from a multinational corporation (IBM). The result was a score in each of the dimensions for 40 different countries. During 1978-83, the Dutch cultural anthropologist Geert Hofstede conducted detailed interviews with hundreds of IBM employees in 53 countries. Through standard statistical analysis of fairly large data sets, he was able to determine patterns of similarities and differences among the replies. From this data analysis, he formulated his theory that world cultures vary along consistent, fundamental dimensions. Since his subjects were constrained to one multinational corporation's world-wide employees, and thus to one company culture, he ascribed their differences to the effects of their national cultures. (One weakness is that he maintained that each country...
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...UNIT: Developing Corporate Culture Topic: Political Organization’s Culture In Pakistan BY: M Muneeb Ullah Sandhu Unit Contents: * Introduction to culture. * Culture of political parties. * Brief details of PTI * Cultural Profile of PTI * Climate of PTI * Communication & PTI WHAT IS CULTURE? Def. Culture is the values and practices shared by the member of a group (source notes) Hence a corporate culture is values and practices shared by the people in that company Key Points Regarding Culture * A Companies culture can make or break the company. * Company’s culture can be changed. But it can be difficult in some cases. * It can be changed as the targets of the company changes. * Company culture changes and evolves over time. But not in all cases if it is strong culture. * It changes from one environment to another. (E.g. Multinational companies) Explanation in My Views: Any human organization develops culture over time, from small family business to global national companies to village and country try to develop its own culture over time. It is like an iceberg whose very small portion can be seen while travelling in sea but the major portion of it is under water, which can only be observed when you get under water. Now, Why it is important? It is important as every organization try to develop its own unique identity. Here I think it is important to define organization...
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...explicit conveyance of messages. As Hall (1984) says, “Many Americans don’t seem able to evaluate anything unless they can attach a number to it”. Introduction One of the early scholars of culture, Linton (1945), defines it as: ‘‘The configuration of learned behavior and results of learned behavior whose component elements are shared and transmitted by the members of a particular society.’’ Other early scholars like Kluckhorn (1954) conceptualized that the cultural influences transcend in terms of the beliefs, norms, traditions, and values of society and this view still prevails among the scholars of culture. Why is culture important? Global Marketing in the simplest description attempts to understand customers in terms of what they buy, when they buy, why they buy, how much they buy, where they buy it, and with what they buy. Internationally, this means understanding culture. How marketing efforts interact with culture determines the success or failure of a product. "There are many examples of cultural differences that have affected marketing success or failure." (Buzzell) The relationship with culture comes into play with the realization that each of the consumer behavior factors noted above varies from culture to culture. In order for their organizations to be globally competitive they must have the ability to influence the customers’ wants and needs, therefore marketers must understand the cultures in which they are operating in. (Jeannet & Hennessey, 2004). Lack...
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...Name: Ahmed Abdelaal Ahmed "Outsourced Movie" In Light of the Movie Discuss the Following Questions: Explain Hofstede cultural dimension and how it is clearly manifested? Below is a brief explanation of the cultural dimensions and examples from the film that represent each of the dimensions. Individualism and Collectivism Individualistic cultures “offer their members a great deal of freedom, the belief being that this freedom makes it possible for each person to achieve personal success” . Members tend to “put their own interests and those of their immediate family ahead of social concerns” In contrast, members of collectivist cultures “have tight social frameworks in which members of a group . . . feel primary loyalty toward one another and the group to which they belong” . · Todd has his own apartment in Seattle, he lives alone, and he is ambitious and consumption-oriented. As he explains to Puro: “In my world, it just makes sense to work your ass off and go into credit card debt just so you can have that 50-inch plasma.” · Todd also does not see his parents often, even though they live only two hours away from him. This news stuns Puro, who also cannot understand why Todd continues to work for a company and a boss he dislikes. Todd and Puro are at opposite ends of the individualism-collectivism continuum. A series of events at the beginning of the film also highlight the contrast between individualist and collectivist cultures: · When...
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...------------------------------------------------- Assignment 1 Cross Cultural Study MGMT 978: Cross Cultural management MGMT 978: Cross Cultural management Outline: Creating a rich understanding of cultural behavior in the workplace using primary data from local organizations and cross cultural theory. Outline: Creating a rich understanding of cultural behavior in the workplace using primary data from local organizations and cross cultural theory. Supervised by Dr. Alison Thirlwall Supervised by Dr. Alison Thirlwall Group Members Kawtar ASSILA Fadoua Nqairi Bhumika Chhatwani - 3378251 Omar Setti Ghassan Ouajnati - 4433543 Group Members Kawtar ASSILA Fadoua Nqairi Bhumika Chhatwani - 3378251 Omar Setti Ghassan Ouajnati - 4433543 In Green: to be put in appendix in red: to be put in transcript remarks: make the findings part shorter highlight the concepts of ethnocentrism (French consultant) highlight the concepts of high context and low context (all of three) Background: Every culture has elementary principles of viewpoints and these differences affect the beliefs practiced at work as well as communication carried out amongst employees. Thus it is important for managers and employees in a work environment to understand the importance of it to have a mutual synchronization while performing their job. The research we have conducted for our analysis is based on an Irish multinational executive search firm called Practice...
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...The Influence of the Culture dimension ‘Power Distance’ on product choice: A Cross Cultural Exploration of Effects of Country of Origin on the Choice of Branded Products by Adriana Cordeiro Socha A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Marketing and Consumer Studies Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Adriana Cordeiro Socha, September, 2012 ABSTRACT THE INFLUENCE OF THE CULTURE DIMENSION ‘POWER DISTANCE’ ON PRODUCT CHOICE: A CROSS CULTURAL EXPLORATION OF EFFECTS OF CULTURAL TRAITS ON THE CHOICE OF BRANDED FOREIGN PRODUCTS Adriana Cordeiro Socha University of Guelph, 2012 Advisor Dr. Brent McKenzie Committee Dr. Vinay Kanetkar Dr. Sara Mann This thesis investigates how cultural traits, such as the cultural dimension of Power Distance, influence preference for foreign made branded products. Cultural background influences several aspects of human behaviour, including the behaviours of consumers. In marketing, individual cultural differences affect consumers’ choice as well as their response to advertising message and brand associations. One example, impact on consumer choice, is related to the country of origin (COO) of the product. The effect of COO has been extensively explored in the literature. However, cultural frameworks like those of Hofstede (2001) have seldom been considered as a factor explaining the variability of consumers’ preference (or avoidance) for products originating in different...
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...collectively held values.” The concept of a culture has been around for a very long time; in-fact, when people exist in the same place together they end up following a set of rules. These rules can be called a “social norm” or culture and can be made up of simple things like how to act in certain situations all the way to a very devout set of beliefs or values. This paper will focus on the role that culture plays on multinational businesses around the globe and the differences that culture plays from one area of the globe to the next. An in-depth look will be taken on the obstacles that may arise due to culture, adjustments that need to be made, and any ethical conundrums that may arise due to different cultures. Literature Review D. Elenkov and d. Kirova, state that “MNCs should not underestimate the importance of the cultural specificity of the host countries because different staffing, selecting, training, motivating and compensating practices should be applied in accordance with the characteristics of the local cultural context,” (2008, p. 71). A unique perspective on culture is taken by Hill, Hynes, and Johnson by analyzing the international student in the American business culture. “A relatively unrecognized challenge is knowledge of contemporary American business customs and culture. International students enrolled in two business schools formed focus...
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...Napoli has been charged with creating a new division of Schindler in India. In addition to creating a new subsidiary and new low-cost elevator strategy in India, Napoli also has the added challenges of incorporating essentially three cultures (Italian, Swiss, and Indian) (Bartlett, C., Fagan, P., Yoshino, M. 2006). It is difficult to know Napoli’s level of adaptation to Swiss culture, so I will consider him to be Italian, and thus discuss his interactions with both Swiss and Indian culture. In the below case study analysis I will analyze various cultural assumptions within Italian, Swiss, and Indian cultures and provide Napoli with a specific action plan to incorporate the cultures successfully, gain true consensus among managers, provide insight on strategy deployment and advise him on whether he should share the situation with Luc Bonnard. Cause and Problem Analysis In the below section, I will analyze key assumptions of the three national cultures and discuss strategy deployment. These assumptions include the relationship with nature, nature of truth and reality, controlling vs. adapting strategy, relationships with people, time, language and communication. Assumption 1: Relationship with Nature Italy’s relationship with nature is very different from that of Switzerland and India. Italian culture lends the idea that situations can be controlled by regulations and rules, whereas Switzerland and India have a culture that denotes fewer rules and regulations (Barsoux,...
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...Topic 1: Analyze the role of cultural factors that can create comparative advantage for a company. Give some relevant examples. CONTENT Facing with the diversity of the market as well as the establishment of more and more enterprises, managers’ pressure is weighed on how to make their firms different and attract more customers compared to other companies. In the opinion of Michael Porter, entrepreneurs who only focus on two objectives of growth and product diversification strategy does not guarantee long-term success for business. It is important for any business organization to build a sustainable comparative strength. Since then the concept of “Comparative advantage” was born with the sense that the specific value of the enterprise will help businesses reach high performance and always be unforgettable. There are many factors that create comparative advantages for business and one of the basic elements and also plays the important role is the cultural factors. It is supposed that culture is the promotion of the ability and the fullest expression of human nature. Hence, culture exists in any human activity such as economy, politic, society, communication, behavior, or in the innermost thoughts. Each nation brings its own different cultural values, creating the cultural diversity. This has caused not only difficulties for multinational companies to be able to adapt but also an opportunity for businesses to learn, thus make the particular policies that create comparative...
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