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International Business

Cultural Assignment

Shawna Johnson

January 25, 2013

When talking about culture and how it can affect business practices brings up many topics. Culture is a system of values and norms that are shared amount a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living. (“Components of culture”, 2011, p.2) Values and norms have a huge impact on culture within the work place. Values are abstract ideas about what a society believes to be right or wrong, good or bad. Norms also shape culture; they are the social rules and guidelines that lay down the proper behavior in certain situations.
There are several components that define culture; religion, political and economic philosophies, education, language, and social structure. Different countries have different religions views and values. Different religious have different views of work and material goods. Cultural views influence the competitiveness of companies, the way cultures change due to religious and the need to adapt to those changes. For example Mc Donald’s change the main ingredient in their product to lamb instead of beef because of the religious views of Hinduism. (“Components of culture”, 2011, p. 11) The way businesses adapt to different religion in different countries in a major component of how they prosper among many different cultures.
The way different countries are taught education has a great impact on cultures and the way companies conduct business deals. Education is not only something that is taught in schools but also taught by families and society.( “Components of Culture”, 2011, p.14) Schools may teach history of the country, parents may teach religion and respect, and Society will teach a person how to act in public among others peers. For example, in the United States we are taught to be punctual and on time whereas in Mexico they are

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