...Modeling Culture in Trade: Uncertainty Avoidance* Gert Jan Hofstede Wageningen University gertjan.hofstede@wur.nl Catholijn M. Jonker Delft University of Technology c.m.jonker@tudelft.nl Tim Verwaart LEI Wageningen UR tim.verwaart@wur.nl Keywords: trade, culture, agents, uncertainty avoidance, negotiation Abstract A model is presented of the way that our cultural attitude towards the unknown influences the decisions we make in trade. Uncertainty avoidance is one of Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions. The paper presents a model of how this dimension affects trade. This influence has been explicated for the decisions regarding trade: partner selection, negotiation behavior, trust, and the interpretation of the trade partner’s behavior. It has been verified in simulations showing that the generic tendencies as attributed to uncertainty avoidance are reflected in the simulation results. Our approach is an example of instantiating generic knowledge on the influences of culture on decision-making in general. INTRODUCTION The international food economy is rapidly changing. Important issues are concentration and globalization, growing information intensity, consumer demands, and social responsibility [Kinsey 2001]. An important issue in current food trade research is the emergence and performance of international supply chain networks [Lazzarini et al. 2001]. Agent-based modeling extends the understanding of processes in society and economy. It enables simulation of the emergence...
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...Review of the Literature’, it is clear to say that there is not one specific definition to the word ‘Innovation’. According to Schumpeter the term contained the novelty aspect, which makes every new ‘thing’ an innovation. With this in mind, I agree more with the definition stated in this article, because it includes different aspects all in one. Aside from the definition, a great number of papers have been written so far, regarding Innovation. Taking into account this previous research, we can say that there are different dimensions of innovation. However few papers discuss different dimensions across different areas at once, this article provides us with various dimensions of organizational innovation. As written in this paper, we can make several divisions when it comes to innovation. First of all there are two dimensions, namely; innovation as a process and innovation as an outcome. These two can be further divided. We have to remember that innovation as a process explains the why question and innovation as an outcome the what question. The latter is the most important dimension, due to its necessity and sufficiency. Furthermore can we divide three determinants of organizational innovation, namely; innovation leadership, managerial levers and business process. Innovation Leadership can occur on individual or group level. Leaders should possess different skills that enable innovation. Managerial levers connects leadership intentions with organizational results and...
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...saving and uses this money for borrowing purposes. All manner of people from the ordinary laborers and workers to the rich land owners and businessmen can keep their money safely in banks and earn savings on it. People decide which Bank to associate with depending upon its different features or attributes. The importance that customers give to each attribute, however, differs from one consumer to another. The ability to identify the importance of different attributes of banks from the consumers’ perspective is essential for improving an existing bank or establishing a new bank. The purpose of this study is to identify the positioning of major banks in India. The study makes use of the multidimensional scaling technique to identify (a) the dimensions underlying of customers’ evaluation of banks, and (b) the potential opportunities for the new bank in the perceptual map of the consumers’ mind. Keywords: Multi-Dimensional Scaling, Banks in India INTRODUCTION Banks are the heart of a nation’s economy. Firstly they promote savings through offering saving rates. Secondly, they invest this savings either through direct investment or loans to promote the economy of the country. In India, commercial banking has played a vital role in driving the economy for almost 200 years. Pre liberalization, the banks in India where nationalized in order to reach the masses. Later during the post liberalization, retail banking sector saw a rapid growth along with the economy of India. Retail banking...
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...ATENEO DE DAVAO UNIVERSITY – SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND GOVERNANCE | Reaction Paper | FOR ADMINISTRATIVE PROCESSES AND ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR SUBJECT | Mariane P. Salmasan 10/21/2013 | Why Do Employees Resist Change The normal and natural reaction to change is resistance. Every individual has a threshold for how much change they can absorb. This resistance is inevitable and that management must be prepared to respond to it. In his article on why do employees resist change, Paul Strebel described that managers and employees view change differently. Both groups know that vision and leadership drive successful change, but far too few leaders recognize the ways in which individuals commit to change to bring it about. Managers see change as an opportunity to strengthen the business by aligning operations with strategy. However, employees see change as neither something to sought after nor welcome as it is disruptive and intrusive. It changes the balance. In order to fix this difference, managers must put themselves in their employees’ shoes and examine the terms of the personal compacts between the employees and company. Personal compact is the reciprocal obligations and mutual commitments, both stated and implied, between employees and the organization. It has three major dimensions. The first one is the formal dimension wherein employees capture the basic tasks and performance requirements for a job as defined by the company. In return, managers convey the authorities...
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...Pre-service Teacher: KELVIN MARK S. DONGUINES Mentor: PERCIL VELONTA LESSON PLAN in MATHEMATICS Grade 9 I. LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Within the one-hour period, the students are expected to do the following with at least 80% level of accuracy: A. describe a rectangular prism; B. identify the different dimensions of a rectangular prism; C. make use of the formula V = L x W x H in finding the volume of a rectangular prism; D. solve for the volume of a given rectangular prism; and E. perform unity in group discussion. II. SUBJECT MATTER A. Topic: Volume of a Rectangular Prism B. Reference: Geometry III page 34 Mathematics for a Better Life page 236-237 C. Materials: jigsaw puzzle, rectangular prisms, cartolina, manila paper, marker, chalk and blackboard III. PROCEDURE Teacher’s Activity | Students’ Activity | A. Routinary Activities 1. Prayer * Okay everyone let us pray. 2. Greeting * Good morning class! * Kindly arrange your seats and pick up pieces of garbage around. 3. Attendance * Miss Secretary, is there anyone absent today? | * Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen. * Good morning sir. * (Students pick up pieces of trash around them.) ...
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...Annotated Bibliography on Vocabulary Development in EFL Learners Supatranut Singhanuwananon 5506040111 Vocabulary Development in EFL Learners: Optimizing Lexical Competence Vocabulary teaching and learning in English language teaching (ELT) had been long considered unimportant until the light started to gleam gradually on the field in the 1980s to the 1990s (Nation, 2011; Henriksen, 1999). It has become widely known that slow vocabulary development blocks learners’ ability to comprehend L2 content through reading and listening (August, Carlo, Dressler, and Snow, 2005). Studies also show that because EFL learners have very much fewer productive vocabulary than receptive vocabulary, they often encounter difficulties in language production (Zhong, 2011). As an EFL learner myself, I have experienced such problems as well. Oftentimes, my vocabulary limitations interfere with my communication in L2. Therefore, it kindles my personal interest in studies of L2 vocabulary development. Because vocabulary has become one of the key elements in ELT and ELL, through decades, many research have been conducted to identify how vocabulary is learned and developed, and what factors that impede or boost learners’ lexical competence. Hence, this study attempts to respond to the research questions as follow: 1. What are existing vocabulary learning strategies that EFL learners use? 2. What are factors that affect vocabulary development in EFL learners? 3. What are effective vocabulary learning...
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...University of Lethbridge Course: MGT 3650 – B (Introduction to International Business) Instructor: Dr. Rehana Afaqi Research Paper Three Approaches That Will Help in Comparing Cultural Differences By Emmanuel Makoni, Sonia Jerin & Laren Michel Due Date: November 6th 2014 Introduction: There are around 196 countries in the world and the cultures and values differ between the different countries. There are still similarities in some of the culture traits. In today’s world people are more willing to engage in global business and for this reason they need to be able to adapt to the different cultures. As the cultures vary from country to country, people around the world may face many difficulties during their communication. Many businesses have failed due to the fact that they failed to fully assess the market they were entering in. The paper will portray three different approaches that will aid in understanding cultural differences that can be utilized as effective tools in conducting global business. These approaches are known as the context approach, the cluster approach and the dimension approach. 1. Context Approach: This is one of the three main approaches to understand cultural differences. Context approach is considered as the most straightforward as it relies on a single dimension. In addition, there are two parts of the context approach, known as: (i) High context cultures and (ii) Low context cultures. The two types of contexts have different cultures...
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...design the better organizational structure it is needed to clearly define the organizational vision and goals. This paper aims to study the rise of the multidimensional organization as well as some of the changes that are made in the market and costumer behavior. Furthermore, this paper will describe the multidimensional organization change and design and also aims to explain this new form of organization compared to the other forms, its benefits, implications as well as defining its characteristics. The concept of the multidimensional organization was presaged by Ackoff (1977) and Prahalad & Doz (1979) and Prahalad (1980) but has virtual disappeared from the literature since then. Its present emerging can be explained by using Arrow’s (1974) The Limits of Organization, especially Arrow’s prediction of the consequences of a fall in costs of information for the agenda Of the firm. The multi-dimensional organization is an updated view of matrix organization. Multidimensional organizations are organizations that involve many components (products, market segment, etc.) to achieve its goals. In order to track its performance in a multidimensional organization the companies uses different criteria on several levels, reported at the same time. The individual dimensions have their own managers and these managers are responsible for ensuring that their dimensions contribute to the performance of the overall company. The most basic reason for the rise of the multidimensional organization...
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...Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions: A Comparison of Greece and U.S. Human Resource Management Approaches By Kelly M. Mistretta MBOL2 MBA 533, Human Resource in Management Dr. James C. Dumville Saint Leo University – Center for Online Learning September 9, 2012 Name: Kelly Mistretta Title: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions: A Comparison of Greece and U.S. Human Resource Management Approaches Date: September 9, 2012 Abstract Globalization continues to become more important in the business culture in our world. No longer can management focus only on companies within their own country. Businesses are forced to compete with companies from other countries. With the increased global competition, a business must understand other cultures if they hope to remain competitive and have continued success. There are several models that show the influence of cultural differences between nations. Hofstede’s model, called the theory of cultural relativity of organization practices is the most recognized model. Hofstede’s model focuses on cultural influences and work behaviors in five different dimensions. Each dimension has important implications in understanding business. This paper will compare the Hofstede analysis of Greece and the United States. Biographical Sketch Kelly Mistretta is currently an MBA student at Saint Leo University. Mistretta has a BA in Accounting and plans to obtain an MBA to equip her with improved business skills to better contribute to society...
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...Circumplex Model of Marriage and Family Therapy Paper Dindy Williams BSHS/312 APRIL 4, 2011 Sharla Hansen Circumplex Model of Marriage and Family Therapy Paper The Circumplex Model of Marriage and Family Systems was developed in an attempt to bridge the gap between research, theory and practice. The model, together with the assessment tools developed to use with it, are specially designed to assess the functionality of families and develop a treatment plan. The hypothesis of the Circumplex Model is that balanced couple and family systems tend to function better than unbalanced systems. Cohesion, flexibility, and communication are the three dimensions of the Circumplex model. These dimensions were the ones most commonly used out of a cluster of over 50 different concepts describing marital and family structure. A variety of other family models independently focused on similar variables relating to cohesion, flexibility, and communication. These models have been developed in the past 25 years by theorists using a family systems perspective. The theorists concluded that these dimensions were critical to treating families. “Family cohesion is defined as the emotional bonding that family members have towards one another” (Olsen, D. H., 2000, May). Emotional bonding, boundaries, coalitions, time space, friends, decision making, interests, and recreation are some of the concepts used to measure the degree of cohesion within the Circumplex Model. The focus of cohesion is how...
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...Globalization Note Series Pankaj Ghemawat and Sebastian Reiche National Cultural Differences and Multinational Business The eminent Dutch psychologist, management researcher, and culture expert Geert Hofstede, early in his career, interviewed unsuccessfully for an engineering job with an American company. Later, he wrote of typical cross-cultural misunderstandings that crop up when American managers interview Dutch recruits and vice versa: “American applicants, to Dutch eyes, oversell themselves. Their CVs are worded in superlatives…during the interview they try to behave assertively, promising things they are very unlikely to realize…Dutch applicants in American eyes undersell themselves. They write modest and usually short CVs, counting on the interviewer to find out by asking how good they really are…they are very careful not to be seen as braggarts and not to make promises they are not absolutely sure they can fulfill. American interviewers know how to interpret American CVs and interviews and they tend to discount the information provided. Dutch interviewers, accustomed to Dutch applicants, tend to upgrade the information. To an uninitiated American interviewer an uninitiated Dutch applicant comes across as a sucker. To an uninitiated Dutch interviewer an uninitiated American applicant comes across as a braggart.”1 Cultural differences, while difficult to observe and measure, are obviously very important. Failure to appreciate and account for them can lead to embarrassing...
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...The three dimensions of business problems are organizational, technology, and people. To me a good example of organizational dimensions is when companies don’t implement technology. A warehouse that my wife works for has been using pen and paper for their inventory. This process has made them so much slower than other warehouses in the same area. An example of technology dimensions is computers that have older operating systems. At the hospital where I work, we are slowly switching over to Windows 7 from XP. This is a challenge for large companies, especially in the healthcare area. Internet explorer is one of the thorns in our side. When new IEs come out, we have to test all of our programs with it. Last year we finally had all computers upgraded to IE 7. People dimensions is probably the broadest of all of them. Everything from keeping employees trained to the work environment. Also people dimensions can be affected by the other two dimensions. The question is, what is the difference between IT and information systems? Information technology is the hardware and software that supports information systems. This includes computers, servers, NAS, and software like Microsoft Office. An information system is everything together. It is where information technologies are as well as the software. Information systems is where the data is collected, stored, distributed, and used. A good example is a hospital’s electronic medical record system. The data is the patient’s...
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...SAS Global Forum 2008 Reporting and Information Visualization Paper 264-2008 PROC TABULATE® and the Neat Things You Can Do With It Wendi L. Wright, CTB / McGraw-Hill, Harrisburg, PA ABSTRACT This paper starts with an introduction to PROC TABULATE®. It looks at the basic syntax, and then builds on this syntax by using examples on how to produce one-, two-, and three-dimensional tables using the TABLE statement. Some of the examples cover how to choose statistics for the table, labeling variables and statistics, how to add totals and subtotals, working with percents and missing data, and how to clean up the table. The presentation then shows several examples using the ODS STYLE= option in PROC TABULATE to customize tables and improve their attractiveness. This option is versatile and, depending on where the option is used, has the ability to justify cells or row and column headings, change colors for both the foreground and background of the table, modify borders, add a flyover text box in ODS HTML, or add GIF figures to the row or column headings. INTRODUCTION PROC TABULATE is a procedure that displays descriptive statistics in tabular format. It computes many statistics that other procedures compute, such as MEANS, FREQ, and REPORT and displays these statistics in a table format. TABULATE will produce tables in up to three dimensions and allows, within each dimension, multiple variables to be reported one after another hierarchically. There are also some very nice mechanisms...
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...finished plastics products due to changes in humidity is one of the leading causes of product failure. The test lead times associated with measuring changes in dimensions due to humidity changes are prohibitively longer & lot of machine time is consumed in the process. This can become a limiting scenario wherein multiple materials are scaled up for measurements or multiple formulation variables are being analyzed. In this paper, we propose to use the “Swell Index” as the prime factor to be used for evaluating the changes in dimensions. Swell Index of a material is defined as the ratio of difference in dimension to the original dimension as a function of temperature or humidity and is expressed as percent swell index (temperature) or percent swell index (Humidity) respectively. Swell Index is measured using TMA by measuring the dimensional changes as a function of time while cycling the environment of the test sample between dry Nitrogen (~0% RH) and wet nitrogen (100% RH). This analysis can be accomplished using few grams of samples without manual intervention, thereby leading to significant reduction in test lead times. Key words: -Thermo Mechanical Analysis, Swell Index, Dimensional stability Principle When hygroscopic polymeric materials experience humidity, the dimension of the material changes .The dimension changes due to moisture absorption can be measured either by gravimetric techniques (TGA) or by mechanical techniques (TMA or DMTA). Here we discuss about the mechanical...
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...positively to overall organizational effectiveness. Organ’s (1988) definition of OCB has generated a great deal of criticism. The very nature of the construct makes it difficult to operationally define. Critics started questioning whether or not OCBs, as defined by Organ, were discretionary in nature. Organ (1997), in response to criticisms, notes that since his original definition, jobs have moved away from a clearly defined set of tasks and responsibilities and have evolved into much more ambiguous roles. ------------------------------------------------- Multidimensionality The construct of OCB, from its conception, has been considered multidimensional. Smith, Organ, and near (1983) first proposed two dimensions: altruism and general compliance. These two dimensions serve to improve organizational effectiveness in different ways. Altruism in the workplace consists essentially of helping behaviors. These behaviors can both be directed within or outside of the organization. There is no direct link, or one-to-one relationship, between every instance of helping behavior and a specific gain for the organization. The idea is that over time, the...
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