5. Brief Cultural Analysis
Having selected Germany as the country representing the highest potential for WGI, we then conduct a Cultural Analysis of the country to research important cultural aspects that could influence our Marketing, Operational, Financial and HR/Organizational plans
The methodology we employed was to assess the following cultural characteristics:
Material Culture Technology. Germany's achievements in science and technology have been significant. Germany has been the home of some of the most prominent researchers in various scientific disciplines, notably physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering. For most of the 20th century, Germany had more Nobel Prizes in the sciences (physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine) than any other nation. Scientific research in the country is supported by industry, by the network of German universities and by scientific state institutions such as the Max Planck Society and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The raw output of scientific research from Germany consistently ranks among the world's best. Germany’s greatest strength is its automobile industry. German carmakers focus on computer-based assistance systems that could make driving safer and more comfortable. | Economics. Since the late nineteenth century, the German economy has been shaped by industrial production, international trade, and the rise of consumer culture. Consequently, the number of people involved in agricultural production has steadily declined. At the end of the twentieth century, only 2.7 percent of the German workforce was involved in agriculture, forestry, and fishery combined. Nevertheless, 48 percent of the total area of Germany was devoted to agriculture, and agricultural products covered 85 percent of domestic food needs.

Social Institutions History of Germany. When the Roman Empire failed to conquer the vast region east of the Rhine, it was dubbed Germania by Julius Caesar. Several fierce tribes with names that may sound familiar today – such as the Vandals and the Visigoths – fought back the Romans and eventually contributed to the downfall of the entire Empire. This just goes to show how the real estate that Germany today occupies has been coveted for thousands upon thousands of years. While it does get cold in the winter, the land is replete with farmland, forests, harbors in both fresh and salt water, as well as a variety of natural resources. Of course, Germany is most notably remembered for leading role in WWII, which included one of the most brutal acts of genocide in the history of mankind, the Holocaust. This legacy is and will continue to play a central role in the consciousness of its citizens and leaders, even as major policy is crafted. But it would do a damage not only the German people, but to those who were the victims of the Holocaust themselves to ignore the rest of German history, and focus only on this national tragedy. Germany—that is, the region where the country exists today—had millennia of history before the Holocaust, and since then Germany has worked tirelessly to promote peace and equal rights, without glossing over the hard reality of what the nation both caused and endured. The reason it’s important to examine more of German history than just the Holocaust is because in it one may find lessons about mistakes Germans made that led up to that national tragedy. Also, in its better days in the century before the two World Wars, Germany was a mover and shaker not to be outdone by England and the United States when it came to major breakthroughs of the scientific, philosophical and literary type.
Probably the most notable milestone in German history since World War II was reunification and the collapse of the Berlin Wall. After WWII Germany was split into two nations commonly referred to as East Germany and West Germany. East Germany was part of the Soviet bloc controlled by Russia, whereas West Germany cast its gaze toward the United States. Geographically, Berlin was a pivotal point in the Cold War, and Germany’s reunification, along with the all night block party that accompanied the tearing down of the Wall that divided that city, was a symbol that the war had come to an end, the Soviets had been defeated and the West, in particular the United States, prevailed. So Germany continued to be an important country not only to Europe, but to the entire planet. Despite its dark past in the 20th century, Germany is finally coming into its own, embracing national pride in a healthy way, and realizing its crucial role on the world stage. It is still by far the most powerful country in Europe; it calls the shots in the Eurozone, and is an economic powerhouse rivaled only by the United States, China and Japan. Social organizations. German people value honesty, hard work, and order. They connect more easily with people who they consider to be skilled, prompt, and intelligent. At the same time, they tend shy away from strange or foreign ideas. German men are still considered to be head of the household, even though both the wife and husband work outside the home. German families tend to be small with only one or two children. In many respects, Germans can be considered the masters of planning. This is a culture that prizes forward thinking and knowing what they will be doing at a specific time on a specific day. Careful planning, in one's business and personal life, provides a sense of security. Rules and regulations allow people to know what is expected and plan their life accordingly. Germans take great pride in their homes. They are kept neat and tidy at all times, with everything in its appointed place. In a culture where most communication is rather formal, the home is the place where one can relax and allow your individualism to shine. Only close friends and relatives are invited into the sanctity of the house, so it is the one place where more informal communication may occur.
Education. In Germany school, from the age of 6 through 14, is mandatory, and in public state-run schools, it's free. The school system in Germany is a little different than its American counterpart. All children enter in the same program, but at the age of 10, they go to one of four types of schools. The track that they enter determines which type of school they can next enter, and finally, whether they will go to a university or enter a technical field or trade.
Germany has many universities and technical colleges, almost all of which are self-administered institutions under the authority of the corresponding departments of the individual federal states. University study is still structured according to the humanistic ideals of the nineteenth century, which entrusts students with a great deal of independence. The assignment of grades, for example, is largely independent of class attendance. Grades are given for oral and written examinations, which are administered at the departmental level after the completion of the semester. Students of law and medicine begin with their chosen subject in the first year at the university and pursue relatively specialized courses of study.
Education and Literacy. 99 % literacy rate in population over age fifteen. Education compulsory until age eighteen. At age ten, after primary school (Grundschule), students attend one of five schools: short-course secondary school (Hauptschule); intermediate school (Realschule); high school (Gymnasium); comprehensive school (Gesamtschule); or a school for children with special educational needs (Sonder-schule). At about age fifteen, students choose among a variety of vocational, technical, and academic schools. Higher education consists of any kinds of technical colleges, advanced vocational schools, and universities.
Political structures. Germany is a parliamentary democracy, where public authority is divided among federal, state, and local levels of government. In federal elections held every four years, all citizens who are eighteen years of age or older are entitled to cast votes for candidates and parties, which form the Bundestag, or parliament, on the basis of vote distribution. The majority party or coalition then elects the head of the government—the Kanzler (chancellor)—who appoints the heads of the various government departments. Similarly, states and local communities elect parliaments or councils and executives to govern in their constitutionally guaranteed spheres. Each state government appoints three to five representatives to serve on the Bundesrat, or federal council, an upper house that must approve all legislation affecting the states.
Leadership and Political Officials. Germany's most important political parties are the Christian Democratic Union and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union; the Social Democratic Party; the Free Democratic or Liberal Party; The Greens; and the Party of Democratic Socialism, the successor to the East German Socialist Unity Party. In 1993, the Greens merged with a party that originated in the East German citizens' movement, called Alliance 90. Since the late 1980s, various right-wing parties have occasionally received enough votes (at least 5 percent of the total) to gain seats in some of the regional parliaments. The growth of right wing parties is a result of political agitation, economic difficulties, and public concern over the increasing rate of immigration. The first free all-German national election since 1932 was held on 2 December 1990 and resulted in the confirmation of the ruling Christian Democratic/Free Democratic coalition, headed by Helmut Kohl, who was first elected in 1982. The Christian Democrats won again in 1994, but in the election of 1998, they were ousted by the Social Democrats, who formed a coalition government with Alliance 90 (the Greens). Like his then counterparts in the United States and Great Britain, Gerhard Schröder, the chancellor elected in 1998, described himself as the champion of the new political "middle."
Man and the Universe Belief systems. Germany was the homeland of the Protestant Reformation, but, in the politically fragmented Holy Roman Empire of the sixteenth century, many territories remained faithful to Roman Catholicism or reverted back to it, depending of the policy of the ruling house. Today, 34 percent of the population belongs to the Evangelical (Protestant) Church and a further 34 percent belongs to the Catholic Church. Many Germans have no religious affiliation. This is especially true of former East Germany, where, in 1989, the Evangelical Church had 4 million members (out of a total population of 16.5 million) and the Catholic Church had only 921,000 members. Since 1990, the Evangelical Church has lost even more members in the new federal states. In 1933, there were over 500,000 people of Jewish faith or Jewish heritage living within the boundaries of the German Reich. Between 1933 and 1945, German Jews, together with members of the far more numerous Jewish populations of Eastern Europe, fell victim to the anti-Semitic and genocidal policies of the National Socialists. In 1997, there are an estimated sixty-seven thousand people of Jewish faith or heritage living in Germany. The largest Jewish congregations are in Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. In the postwar era, migratory workers or immigrants from North Africa and western Asia established Islamic communities upon arriving in Germany. In 1987, there were an estimated 1.7 million Muslims living in West Germany.
Aesthetics
Graphic and plastic arts. Due to its historical development and all the pioneering technical inventions that went with it Germany is considered to be the birthplace of graphic art. Throughout history it has always had a double function – on the one hand it serves as a vehicle for creative freedom and, on the other, as a means of reproduction. The techniques used in printing an image, i.e. the reproduction of lines and areas, can be traced back to the bygone days of early man, but for modern graphic art the turning point did not come with the development of printing technology, but with the advent of paper as a medium to print on. The first prints on paper were done with woodcuts in the region of southern Germany at the beginning of the 15th century. A few centuries’ later copperplate engraving and etching started to be used. These early techniques enjoyed their heyday at the time of Albrecht Dürer and Albrecht Altdorfer. A revolutionary turnaround in the development of graphic art came in 1796 when Aloys Senefelder invented lithography (flat-screen printing) in Munich. Within no time at all it spread throughout Europe and was used not only for book illustrations, but also for advertising (e.g. Jugendstil, art nouveau posters). In the 20th century the Bauhaus graphic art workshop generated new impulses by combining the separate entities of advertising art and free graphic art. After the Second World War German artists started breaking new artistic ground with the help of silk-screen printing that had been developed in America.
In the meantime the tide seems to have turned. Graphic art is no longer solely for the purposes of reproduction, the artists are now much more into experimenting with techniques and the genre’s idiosyncratic, formal and aesthetic powers of expression. This has brought about the advent of small, mostly one-off editions that are only available to collectors and graphic art lovers via galleries and art dealers. Folklore German folklore shares many characteristics with Scandinavian folklore and English folklore due to their origins in a common Germanic mythology. It reflects a similar mix of influences: a pre-Christian pantheon and other beings equivalent to those of Norse mythology; magical characters (sometimes recognizably pre-Christian) associated with Christian festivals, and various regional 'character' stories. Documentation and preservation of folklore in the states that formally united as Germany in 1871 was initially fostered in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Saxon author Johann Karl August Musäus was an early collector and study was further promoted by the Prussian poet and philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder. His belief in the role of folklore in ethnic nationalism folklore of Germany as a nation rather than of disunited German-speaking peoples - inspired the Brothers Grimm, Goethe and others. Music, drama, and the dance. Germans are especially well-known for their contributions in the area of classical music, and the heritage of great German or Austrian composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig von Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Richard Wagner, and Gustav Mahler is still cultivated in concert halls throughout the country. Germans developed an innovative film industry in the Weimar Republic, but its greatest talents immigrated to the United States in the 1930s. As of 2006, Germany is the fifth largest music market in the world and has exerted a strong influence on Dance and Rock music, and pioneered trance music. Germany hosts many large rock music festivals annually. The Rock am Ring festival is the largest music festival in Germany and among the largest in the world. German artists also make up a large percentage of Industrial music acts, which are called Neue Deutsche Härte. Germany hosts some of the largest Goth scenes and festivals in the entire world, with events like Wave-Gothic-Treffen and M'era Luna Festival easily attracting up to 30,000 people.

Conclusion. Analyzing the cultural analysis of Germany, we come to conclusion that Germany provides us with good market opportunity for our product. Germany is the country with high technology; it is one of the most developed countries in the world. Population of the country is very educated and music oriented. We believe that Germany will like the product because it has several new features, besides sunglasses, such stereo player and Bluetooth. Germans have six weeks of federally mandated vacation time a year, which will make our product is highly desirable.