...paper for “International Culture Management” Winter Semester 2012 Introduction This paper is divided into three parts. The first section of the paper reports about the personal experience of different cultural backgrounds from the perspective of turkish and German people. It refers to the different cognition of both parties during the first migration wave. Further it deals with the issues of integration into German society and the failure which caused isolation into turkish community districts like Koeln-Mühlheim. Today, Turks represent about 4-5% of Germany’s total population. What does the word “guest workers” exactly mean? A guest worker is defined as “An individual with special permission to work on a temporary basis in another country when a shortage of labor is an issue” (Business dictionary, 2012). Everything started when the recruiting agreement was signed on the 31th of October in 1961 by Turkey and Germany. By this time, Germany faced the highest demand on labour in history. The ”economic miracle”, the rapid reconstruction and development of the economy of West Germany after World War II, lead to the highest demand on the labour market in german history. To the same time Turkey suffered under mass unemployment and a constant growth in population. The recruiting agreement between Turkey and Germany was the start for a large-scale immigration of guestworkers. The requirements for acceptance were a passed health check proofed by german doctors and being unmarried...
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...Cross Cultural Negotiations Lecture 3: “The Incredible Shrinking World.” Culture in Negotiations Cross-Cultural Negotiations: An introduction When two people communicate, they rarely talk about precisely the same subject, for effective meaning is flavored by each person’s own cognitive world and cultural conditioning. When negotiating internationally, this translates into anticipating culturally related ideas that are most likely to be understood by a person of a given culture. Discussions are frequently impeded because the two sides seem to be pursuing different paths of logic; in any cross-cultural context, the potential for misunderstanding and talking past each other is great. When one takes the seemingly simple process of negotiations into a cross-cultural context, it becomes even more complex and complications tend to grow exponentially. It is naive indeed to venture into international negotiation with the belief that “after all people are pretty much alike everywhere and behave much as we do.” Even if they wear the same clothes you do, speak English as well as (or even better than) you, and prefer many of the comforts and attributes of American life (food, hotels, sports), it would be foolish to view a member of another culture as a brother in spirit. That negotiation style you use so effectively domestically can be inappropriate and when dealing with people from another cultural background; in fact its use can often result in more harm than gain...
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...insight of different cultures. These elements give a country’s behaviour tendencies rather than an exact prescription. There are weaknesses to Hofstede’s Five Dimension theory as it may too easily encourage stereotyping. Even in countries as small as the UK, not all citizens are alike – e.g. it is argued that the culture in the North of England is quite different to the South. Hofstede has also been criticized for being too simplistic; however Hofstede’s theory does give us a general base to work from. 74 countries are listed on Hofstede’s website from which information can be drawn to make comparisons not only between countries but against the world average to give a broader picture. The following graph gives a comparison between Germany and China. It also allows for assessment against the Asian average and World average and our own British culture as benchmarks. Hofstede Comparison: UK, Germany, China Asian Average and World Average [pic] Comparison of Germany and China [pic] Power Distance Index Germany 35 LOW China 80 HIGH Individualism Germany 67 HIGH China 66 LOW Masculinity Germany 66 HIGH China 66 HIGH Uncertainty Avoidance Germany 65 HIGH China 30 LOW Long Term Orientation Germany 31LOW China 118 HIGH Power Distance Index – PDI Power Distance measures equality of power in society and how much people are willing to allow or give in to superiority. Countries with high scores tend to operate with power being given to...
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...Propaganda in Nazi Germany The Nazi party emerged in the late 20s and early 30s, led by a charismatic right wing leader, Hitler led the Nazis to power as the Nazis offered many ideals that were attractive to the German people who were ready to accept any help after the disaster the Treaty of Versailles and Weimar Republic brought onto them. By 1932 the Nazis had around 200 seats in the Reichstag (parliament) and their power kept on growing until Hitler was appointed as Chancellor of German in 1933 giving him and the Nazis virtually complete control over Germany as Germany became a single party state, meaning that the Nazis had no opposing parties that could challenge their power. The Nazi’s strong grip over Germany was a product of their vigorous and effective use of propaganda that was able to alter the opinions of the German public and eliminating any potential threat to their power. Hitler was very concerned with propaganda; he made sure every citizens was exposed to it from children to the workers. He even hired individuals to take care of these matters such as Joseph Goebbels who was Minister for “enlightenment” and propaganda, Goebbels was a fanatic of Hitler believing he was the “savior” of Germany, the book describes Goebbels saying “Goebbels constantly kept his finger on the pulse of public opinion and decided what the German public should and should not hear” though the book might not be very reliable as it is a western book who may hold very exaggerated views on the...
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...German business culture tips Keep in mind most of this is copy and pasted and has not been reworded and extracted yet. Background of German business culture In Germany, much greater attention has been paid to academic, technical education and its value to business in general. Therefore, companies tend to be run by technical experts rather than lawyers and accountants and this is reflected in the high regard in which engineers are held by other Germans. Diligence and competence are characteristics which are held in high esteem by colleagues and are seen as the key indicators of performance. Appraisal systems based on the softer competencies as favoured by many U.K. and U.S. firms are still not common in traditional German companies. German business structures Most of the power in German companies is vested in the hands of a few senior managers. Larger companies (AG & GmbH) have a Supervisory Board (Aufsichtsrat) which appoints the Management Board (Vorstand). The management board is the final decision-maker on policy matters which affect management. However below Vorstand level, companies tend to have a strictly hierarchical approach within which individual's specific roles and responsibilities are tightly defined and compartmentalised. This results in a methodical approach to most business issues where procedures and adherence to well-defined rules are respected. This methodical approach has both good and bad points. On the plus side, everybody knows what is expected...
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...AT EUROPEAN UNION AND TURKISH IMPRESSION IN GERMANY Introduction Countries tried to show their power and sovereignty with hard power. But now we are living in a century that soft power can be more powerful than hard power. Cultural diplomacy is one of the strongest soft power items of last century. With right strategy of cultural diplomacy, a new image of a country can be created at other countries. This can affect so many statistics of a country in a positive way, such as tourism and trade. There are still many countries which are not aware of the strength of soft power and cultural diplomacy. In the other hand there are countries which are aware of this strength and it is easy to see how they are successful to create an impressive image. United Kingdom, Germany and United States can be three examples to see success and power of cultural diplomacy. Turkey has been trying to attempt to European Union since so many years. All of attempts were not successful. What can be the reason for that? , Culture? , Impression of Turkey? , Politics? , Population? , Economics? , Religion? Or another question can be asked is, what is Turkey’s image at European Countries? What is Culture? The origin of the word “culture” in Latin “cultura” is a modern concept based on a term first used in classical antiquity by the Roman orator, Cicero: “cultura animi.” The term “culture” appeared first in its current sense in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, to connote a process of cultivation...
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...Journal of Comparative International Management 2009, Vol. 12, no.2, 73-89 ©2009 Management futures Printed in canada Cross-cultural Communication and Multicultural Team Performance: A German and American Comparison by Steven W. Congden University of Hartford, U.S.A. Alexei V. Matveev College of Staten Island – CUNY, U.S.A David E. Desplaces College of Charleston, U.S.A. This study builds on work by Matveev & Nelson (2004) which investigated the relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance using American and Russian managers. This study examines the impact of national culture on German and American subjects. While a relationship between cross-cultural communication competence and multicultural team performance was found, it did not differ by overall national culture. Of the four dimensions of cross-cultural communication competence, only Cultural Empathy was found to be significantly different between Germans and Americans. No differences were found for the dimensions of Interpersonal Skills, Team Effectiveness, and Cultural Uncertainty. 1. Introduction Worldwide intercultural cooperation drives corporate growth and development across the globe resulting in a heightened demand for a qualified but diverse workforce. researchers have documented that the successful performance of multicultural teams is a vital and contributing factor to organizational success (Jackson, may, & Whitney, 1995; Snow, Snell, davison, & hambrick...
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...paper Wal-Mart’s culturally and institutionally flawed entry into the German retail market Joakim Holsten Leren s105710 Julianne Øien s106222 Mirko Wichmann s145433 Lara-Caterina Buggert s145400 Eloise De Bont s145611 22 pages Table of Contents Introduction 2 Case presentation 2 The Wal-Mart concept 3 Institutional challenges [to be deleted] 4 Cultural challenges [to be deleted] 4 German market 5 Theoretical Background 5 The cultural perspective 6 The institutional perspective 9 Case Analysis 12 The cultural perspective 12 The institutional perspective 15 Recommendations 19 Cultural 19 Institutional 20 Limitations 22 Cultural 22 Institutional 22 Conclusion 23 References: 25 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to address and analyze the challenges Wal-Mart faced during its entrance into the German market in the late 1990s. We have analyzed this with the following problem in mind: “Which aspects, both cultural and institutional, led to Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany and what should they have done instead?” We will approach this problem by outlining theoretical frameworks for analyzing cultural and institutional aspects of a company. We will then employ said theories in order to analyze the case of Wal-Mart’s failure in Germany. Finally, we will come to a conclusion concerning what they should have done as they entered into the German market. Different forms of distance CAGE, Taste and deep-seated preferences...
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...Culture Impact on German Negotiation Style Chen Shuqi SEIB Abstract As the increasing frequency of international trades， international negotiation skills draw a lot of attention. Regarded as a major barrier for cross-cultural communication, understanding culture difference is of signification . This essay will firstly introduce the study history and relevant definitions of international negotiation and how culture factors impact on negotiation style. Considering the gradual closed trade relationship between Germany and China and the commonly acknowledged differences of national cultures between them, this essay would firstly analyzes images of Germans for the general Chinese in a book, Die Langnasen . Further, it clarifies German negotiation style basing on analysis from Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory. We find out that some of German business behaviors from the theory don’t fit with our general impression as the book concludes. After discussion about the deficiency of the theory or possible stereotype of the book, we try to present a modification of the prevalent impression about German negotiation style, and give some suggestion about how to carry out a better international business negotiation with Germans. It may be possible to provide us a better understanding in successful negotiation process with Germans. Key words: International negotiation, German culture, German negotiation style 德国文化对其谈判风格的影响 陈舒祺 国际商务英语学院 2011级国际商务管理 摘 要: 随着跨国贸易的频率迅速增长，国际商务谈判技巧尤为重要。...
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...Wal-Mart had decided to exit the German market after trying to penetrate it for about eight years. The company undertook its international expansion in the early 1990s to rejuvenate sales and growth. However, on July 30th, 2006, Wal-Mart had announced that it was selling its operations to German retailer Metro. In May of same year, Wal-Mart had also announced that it was selling its 16 stores in South Korea, admitting another internationalization failure. What went wrong with Germany? Wal-Mart had underestimated its German competitors, the power of German shoppers, cultural differences and the power of labor unions in Europe. The company did not expect that these differences would impede its ability to apply in Germany what worked so well in the United States. German competitors offered very low prices, while German shoppers had shown how demanding they can be and that they buy products predominantly based on price; even if that meant going to a few different retail stores during their shopping trip. German shoppers were also not accustomed to workers putting their groceries in shopping bag. Moreover, German regulations limited Wal-Mart’s ability to offer extended weekend hours and sell merchandise below cost. Strong labor unions limited the ability to contain operation costs. During its time in Germany, Wal-Mart had four presidents in eight years, which marked an organization disaster. But it is also not the only company that found German retail market challenging. Uniliever...
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...Introduction In order to obtain an impression of how culture possibly affects the businesses, it is reasonable to have a closer look at the differences among cultures. The representation of business culture is not only, multidimensional but also a socially constructed theory. It reflects how the members of various organizations accomplish their goals and work with commitment for the organization. An analysis of business culture is essential as it defines the set of values, beliefs, assumptions of the employees belonging to diverse organizations. Our analysis of the cultural shaping of people from Germany and Russia reveals a large cultural distance between the two countries. There are a number of models, which facilitate the comparison of...
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...in what is now known as the United States of America, people from all the countries of the world have migrated to it. This paper will describe the migration of people from Japan and German-speaking nations to the United States. Each had significant impact on modern-day America and struggled with power, cultural relations, racial relations, and assimilation. Japanese Immigrants Immigration for the Japanese began in the 1880’s in Hawaii. These first Japanese migrants were brought here as part of a U.S. trade treaty to work as laborers on the sugar plantations. In the two following decades more than 400,000 Japanese people migrated to the United States, primarily in the western states, mostly California. At that time around 28,000 of them went to Hawaii because they felt relationships with other races were better there than in the continental United States. The Japanese migrated to the United States following dreams of better opportunity, peace, and prosperity. Their homeland was unstable and they wanted to provide better lives for their children. The Japanese that migrated to California were not just farmers and laborers, but also became miners and shopkeepers. They were not treated well by the whites there. Whites felt that the migrants would not be able to assimilate to the culture and were competing with them for jobs. The all-white legislature in California passed a resolution calling for exclusion of the Japanese. During World War II the Japanese community...
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...parts of the world in a classroom. However, even with this more frequent contact, there are some important distinctions on the learning process and teaching styles between individuals from different cultures that would explain how these people act and interact with each other on the educational environment. The behavior of an individual, student or teacher, in a classroom may have much to do with the cultural background that this particular person comes from. Each society will think about education considering their own needs, and in this way their adopted systems and methods to train their students might differ from each other (Barmeyer, 2004). On this mindset, the present study will be conducted in comparative terms between a German student, who was interviewed by me, a Brazilian student, highlighting the differences and possible similarities in educational experiences in our home countries. In order to conduct these comparisons, I will use Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of Power Distance – referring to the power distribution in our societies - and Individualism vs. Collectivism – the degree of integration of each country into groups - to explain our behavior patterns and opinions in each subject. In order to do that I divided this work into subgroups to better explain each point examined. The first one will be a comparison between the educational systems highlighting how they work, the second will explore the learning process and interaction between teacher and students...
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...international headlines on June 7, 2005, when it acquired the money-losing mobile phone division of Germany’s Siemens and launched the brand, BenQ-Siemens. Subsequently the acquisition proved to be a strategic mistake, as the two companies could not successfully integrate. This article tracks BenQ’s acquisition of Siemens, from the perspective of BenQ, through a qualitative case study. The analysis focuses mainly on culture and communication issues in what became an unsuccessful acquisition. The results indicate that the German Siemens and Taiwanese BenQ are different in important ways, from national culture to organizational culture. BenQ’s failed acquisition of the Siemens handset was a wakeup call, providing a valuable lesson to other companies planning to create their own global brand recognition. The issue here is the extent to which the two companies’ incompatible cultures made it unlikely that they could add value and create synergy. This study concludes that an international merger and acquisition has a better chance of success when managers consider the host country’s culture and allocate enough time and resources for assimilation. Furthermore, managers need to communicate and clearly define objectives and performance expectations during the integration and implementation process. Taiwan has spawned many top-tier electronic component vendors and contract manufacturers. As profit margins for contract manufacturing...
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...the increase in communications and ability to reach other countries being cheaper and easier in the 21st century, many companies have chosen to internationalise and expand on the domestic market in order to generate greater profits and become household names internationally. This essay will look at how American born company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc has grown and seen successes and failures in the international environment. It also will look at reasons behind the failures in relation to culture, using the venture into the world’s third largest retail market, Germany as the main focus for the essay. Firstly, this essay will look at culture and some theories that surround it and also look at different dimensions that make up culture. The definition of culture according to the Oxford Dictionary (1992) is: “the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively or a refined understanding or appreciation of culture”. The theory that has been chosen to outline culture is Geert Hofstede’s five dimensions. The reason Hofstede’s theory has been used as an example in this case is because of the extensive research that he has put into developing his theories, as well as its relevance to the Wal-Mart failure in Germany. Between the years of 1967 and 1973, while Hofstede was working at international company IBM as a psychologist, he did a survey of over 100,000 employees in 40 different countries. From these results he was able to come up with four dimensions...
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