Week 3 1. Discuss how the Internet and culture interact, which most affects the other and how? Give some examples
Culture is the knowledge which acquired by people and use to interpret their experiences and generate certain agreed social behaviour. Certain values, attitudes and behaviours are generated from the knowledge. People under the same culture have the tendency to share values, assumptions and understandings which are obtained from the previous generations.
One of the most important advantages of internet to the world is that the implementation of internet reduces the time for people to acquire information they need, previously, the learning of different culture only can be done via limited forms such as living in a foreign country, reading books and so on, they are both effective ways to learn different cultures but they are also not available for most of people, the implementation of internet provides an time saving method for spreading and learning different culture without going to the foreign country physically, most of the people can obtain and learn different culture even without leaving their home.
The internet becomes an important force to push globalization and cultural harmonization; it provides the speed and convenience for people who are willing to learn and experiment foreign cultures which never exist before, and for instance, people can watch major events like Olympic game online and also learn knowledge about the host country. 2. Discuss the types of operational conflicts that could occur in an international context because of differences in attitudes towards time and individualism, give examples relative to specific countries.
With the development of globalization, more and more multinational companies established their physical appearance in foreign markets, for that reason, the group work which involves people from different cultural backgrounds becomes inevitable, for instance, when an US company has its branch in Japan, the local Japanese employees are more collectivism on cultural value and they prefer group work, it is rare that they will stand up and challenge any decisions made by the group , on the other hand, the western employees may feel more comfortable to raise questions about the group decision ； according to Hofstede’ s value of culture theory, the westerners are more looking at the short term objectives and the Asian people are more focusing on long term business relationship when conducting business negotiation with each other.
For instance, when conducting business with other parties, the westerner employees are more focusing on closing the deal, and the Asian employees are more preferring set up long term business relationship and trust. 3. Identify three stereotypes that foreigners typically hold about Australians, why do you think they might hold these stereotypes? Identify three cultural stereotypes that you hold (about foreign cultures)
Traditionally, foreigners who have not visited Australia believe that Australian people are living on the farm with their cattle; they are farming backgrounds which operate on farm everyday. Their main entertainment is to have a barbeque at their backyard or play footy. The reason for people hold these stereotypes is because people have certain tendency to assign characteristics to an identifiable group and then automatically transfer those features to anyone we believe is a member of that group. The reason for stereotyping is also because of lacking of understanding of the particular culture.
The three cultural stereotypes I hold about foreign cultures: Koreans eat dogs, Japanese eat whales and both of them are cruel, Irish people are all like drinking and they are potato farming backgrounds.
(Word count, 560)

Week 4 discussion 1. Discuss the role of social media in global business communication
The Manpower survey observed that “Younger generation consider social media tools as a prerequisite for doing business” and with generation Y having been in the workplace for around ten years, social media becomes more and more involved in global business communication.
Based on the fact that the widespread use of social media by the public at large, there is no doubt that it has opened up pathway for communicating business messages due to the speed and low cost of this multi-directional communication channel.
One advantage for the social media is that it provides a platform for members to share information and their personal hobbies with other members, for instance, Linkin is a social media platform which assists business professionals to share information with each other, by registering with Linkin, members can invited their business associates to join, naturally they form a online community which enable them to form friendship, share business information and reduce perceptual bias and misunderstanding. This is particular important for conducting business in Asian culture environment, because Asian business people consider the trust and friendship are important to conduct business successfully. The social medium reduces the distance between people, it provides a platform or opportunity for people to know each other better from different prospective, it improves the mutual understanding between people. 2. What is the relationship of language and culture? How is it that people from the same language may still miscommunication

Generally speaking, the particular language cannot be separated from the culture it involved. Language can be viewed as how people express themselves verbally under any particular culture, language can also be defined as custom, idea and beliefs of a community with a unique language involving semantics –everything the speak can think about and every method they implement as a communication medium. For example, Italian people have many different names for their pastas.

In certain way, culture is a combination of practices, customs and ideas which makes a well-functioned society unique. Language becomes an essential part of the culture, by which its members use as a distinct communication medium to interpret its customs, beliefs and ideas. Among each others within the same culture.
But it is not uncommon for miscommunication occurs within the same language, first of all, different dialects exist under the same language, because of the different accents, it is hard for people to understand each other , other seasons include that in certain area, people give a particular meaning for certain words, and it could be demeaning or rude, from the business management prospect, be speak clearly is very important for business communication.

3. Give some examples of cultural differences in the interpretation of body language, what is the role of such non-verbal communication in business relationship?
Under Asian culture, it is very rude to touch other people or tap other people during the business conversation or business meeting; but those kinds of behaviour are totally acceptable in western cultures. People consider it as good gesture and being friendly. For example, the behaviour of making face expression or body touch should be avoided during the business meeting with Chinese, Japanese business people who believe that business meeting should be conducted under mutual respects. Non-verbal language is an essential factor which determine how successful the business communication will be, management under the globalization environment should have a clear understanding of implementing the correct non-verbal communication methods during the business meeting with clients, making sure that the body language is properly accepted by the client’s culture.
(Total word count, 589)

Week 5 discussion topic 1. Discuss the relative use of non-verbal behaviours, such as silent periods, interruptions, facial gazing and touching by people from various cultural backgrounds
The acceptance of non-verbal behaviours such as silent periods, interruptions and so on are different under various cultural backgrounds, for instance, for Westerners who are from low power distance culture, they will face frustrated when they are interrupted even by their bosses, but for people from high power distance culture like Chinese and Japanese, the interruption by their bosses are normally acceptable.
Silent periods also have different meanings for different cultures, for Asian people, Silent periods in business negotiation means the meeting is going to a dead end, but for western culture, silent periods indicates that the both parties are considering their options and strategies.
Facial gazing and touching are impolite and unacceptable in Asian business meeting environment, both behaviours will be treated as less respective and rude, under former western business culture, facial gazing and touching are also not encouraged unless the both parties are familiar with each other, and they both understand the meaning of facial gazing and touching.
It is important for business people to understand that the non-verbal behaviour could cause confusion during the business meeting under the global business environment 2. what are some of the differences in risk tolerance around the world, what is the role of risk propensity in the decision making process?
According to Hofstede’s culture dimension theory, that people in different cultures have different risk tolerance levels, called uncertainty avoidance. it is the degree of which people tolerate ambiguity (low uncertainty avoidance) or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty (high uncertainty avoidance). For example, Japanese, Italians don’t want to take risks in general , on the other hand, people in Singapore can tolerant higher level of risks.
The risk propensity indicates how the management would like to take the additional risks to complete their business objectives, but as people saying, the higher the risk is , so is the return, it really depends on how the management consider the risk and return ratio they prefer. 3. Describe what would you expect negotiation with German and how would you handle the situation?
Business negotiation with German can be conducted via different forms, such as face to face, video conference or even via email.
Before entering into the business negotiation with German, it is helpful to have a basic understanding about how Germans conduct their business meeting, Germans are taking the business meeting seriously and a lot of details will be involved, Germans are meeting for certain results and outcomes, they don’t consider the meeting is a forum for opening discussion. So it is important to make all the preparation before entering into the meeting.
German’s business culture has a strictly observed hierarchy, the decision maker or manager normally enters into the meeting room first and it is rude to call a higher ranking people by first name if you are not asked to do so. Germans prefer direct communication and details, so it is important to avoid providing unclear information or indirect communications.
(Word count, 560)
Week 6 discussion 1. Discuss the merits of the following entry strategies: exporting, turnkey projects and wholly owned subsidiaries:
When the business utilize exporting as the entry strategy for overseas market, the merits associating with the exporting activities are as below:
Exporting products and services to overseas helps build up the brand and business image in the overseas market for the business organization, there is very little risk associated with the exporting activities comparing with other forms of entry strategies, the business organization can expand their market, by exporting the product and services to overseas market, the business organization can gain first -hand experience and knowledge about the particular market, by competing with other products in the overseas market can also improve the competitive advantage of the business organization.
The merits of turnkey project are: turnkey project offers great profit potential for the agent, the party who is actually doing the work for the client, the reason that client hires the agent is because the client did not have the capability or professional knowledge to complete the project, for example, China is planning to sell its high speed railway technology to Thailand. The turnkey project ensures that the profit is clear and lock-in for the agent before it starts the project; everything was fixed in the contract.
The merits of wholly owned subsidiaries are: the business can avoid tariff by directly investing in the foreign countries, the business can gain comparative advantages for assessing low-cost labour, adequate natural resources and potential new markets, or the firm can achieve direct access to good R&D facilities such as a lot of foreign companies invest R&D in South Korea because the country has a large number of educated research professionals and world class research facilities. The wholly owned subsidiaries can also gain local managerial knowledge for the parent company for their future business operation. 2. What opportunities and threats will likely emerge when a firm decides to move from purely domestic operations to global operations?
When a firm decided to switch its domestic operation to global operation, this can be seen as a major strategic change for the firm and the opportunities and threats associated with the change can be summarised as below:
By changing to global operation, the business organization can optimise its different divisions to achieve cost-saving, and geographically close to their main market. For instance, GM set up their joint venture in China, the cost of manufacturing cars reduces, and the product is also close to their targeted market.
The global operation can provide additional overseas market knowledge and experience for the business management, ensuring that the core competitiveness of the business organization is maintaining and improving.
To build up a better brand image, when a firm implements global operation , its brand image will be also change from a domestic brand name to an international brand name; this will not only improve the influence of the brand image, but also increase the brand image value in the long term.
When a firm decides to operate globally, the potential threats can come from almost every direction, there will be more competitors in the global market, the market conditions are more complicated comparing with operating domestically, the firm will have to adapt to different regulations and standards according to the host country’s government requirements.
3, why when do most Korean drive Korean-made cars? What entry strategy would be most appropriate for accessing this culturally –closed market?
Koreans are proud of their own national culture and identity in this own way, this can be seen from that most of Koreans are only using smart phones made by Samsung. To overcome this barrier and be successful in South Korean market, the appropriate entry strategy is to have a joint venture partnership with local Korean companies; the brand name of the product should be in Korean too. Alternatively, the business can lease its licensing rights to Korean business to operate, by doing this , the products and services will have Korean characteristics which makes it easy to be accepted by Korean customers, and the joint venture entry strategy also ensure that the Korean partner can contribute their marketing resource to the business operations. It is a cost saving method for entering into a foreign market.
(Word count, 600)
Week 7 online discussion forum 1. Why are there an increasing number of mergers with companies in different industries? Give some examples
Merge & Acquisition becomes a popular thing in the business world; there is a rising trend for increasing members of mergers with companies in different industries recently, the reasons behind that can be classified as:
Even the companies are in different industries, but they have a natural relationship like suppliers and clients, for instance, the food processing company acquire some fruit farming business, this ensures that they can have steady and quality supply of fruit for their manufacturing, on the other hand, the merging reduces the cost of purchasing raw materials, it enables the company to achieve scale of economies for better profit margin and low operation cost.
On the other hand, the merge of companies in different industries provides an opportunity to enter other market segments, for example, the largest E-Commerce firm in China Alibaba invest in a football club in China to become the co-owner of Guangzhou Evergrande, this enable Alibaba uses its online platform to promote the club franchising product online. 2. What are the common sources of incompatibility in cross-border alliances? What can be done in order to minimize them?
There are numbers of factors can cause the incompatibility in cross-border alliances, when two business organizations of the cross-border alliances both have unique and strong business cultures, it is difficult to decide and implement which business culture to be the dominating culture within the cross-border alliances, different norms exist under different business culture; for example, when Asian employees are more comfortable with following group decision which the Australian employees are more willing to raise their own voices during the group meeting, this will create some confuse among the internal communications.
The following steps can be done to eliminate the incompatibility of cross-border alliance: 1. To maintain effective communication channel between cross-border alliances, when new issues appear, the management should identify the potential conflicts between different corporate cultures, and solve the issues by multi-understanding and negotiation among different parties. 2. Before the formation of the cross-border alliances, both parties should identify the potential cause of incompatibility, such as different company’s cultures, different customs and management styles, certain managerial rules should be designed to ensure the elimination of incompatibility of cross-border alliance. 3. How might the variable of national culture affect implementation of strategy?
National culture can become an important factor which has direct impact onto the implementation of strategy by business management , for example, in the Mittal case, Arcelor , as an European firm did not know too much information about Mittal which was already one of the largest steel producers globally. Meanwhile, the Indian side also have their concerns that the merger will weaken the internal connections between the Mittal and its existing stakeholders from Marwari families; this indicates that when management consider implementing different business strategies, they have to keep national culture factors in mind, because their decision may have direct impacts onto their stakeholders.
(Word Count, 556)
Week 8 online discussion 1. Explain the need for an MNC to be global and act local, how can a firm design its organization to enable this?
When MNCs only concentrate on integrating its global strategy and ignoring the needs of localization to suit the local markets, it will create difficulties at the local management level because the product and services they provide may not meet the needs of local customers, different customers in different markets have their unique cultural backgrounds, and this cultural background cannot be ignored by MNCs if they want to achieve success in local markets.
The purposes of entering into different markets is to integrate the different comparative advantage into the competitive advantage of the MNCs, for achieving this strategic objectives, MNCs should have a clear understanding of the local culture, be aware of the difference between different cultures, when local employees are involved in the business operation and the products and services are targeting at local market, the decision maker should consider seeking assistance from the local management for a better solution , the local management and employees will provide helpful suggestion about how to successfully meet the needs and wants of the local markets. 2. As an international manager, what would make you suggest restructuring of your firm? What other means of direct or indirect monitoring systems could you suggest?
If I were an international manager, I would restructure the firm as following steps: 1. I will make sure that the restructure of the firm fits in its strategic objectives, before doing that, I will ensure that the various factors are taken into consideration such as the size of the firm , the latest technology in the market place, different cultural impacts and business practices and different languages involved. 2. To integrate the firm into the parent company’s global system, this ensures that the business operation is compatible with the parent company’s strategic objectives and standards, this will ensure that decision making process is effective and efficient at different corporate levels 3. By integrating the business structure into global structure of the parent company, it enables the formation of scale economy, it assists the business organization to achieve cost saving and efficiency of information internal inflow.
Face to face meetings are effective direct monitor system and reports and other forms of communications in writings are indirect monitoring system to control the business operation.
What is a transnational organization? Because many large MNCs are moving toward this format, it is likely that you could at some point be working within this structure- how do you feel about that?
Transnational organization is a form of enterprises that operate substantial facilities in different markets and countries, doing business in different countries and does not consider any particular country is its national home, the major advantage of transnational company is that they can remain a quick responsiveness to the local markets where they have their physical appearances, or they can be seen as local business wherever they have their facilities.
If I am working in the transnational company, I will feel more comfortable because that the business offers flexibility of being an international company with localized business practice, the international connections ensure that the business can utilize the latest technology and management methods to improve the efficiency, and on the other hand, the localization means that the firm can react quickly to meet the needs and wants of their customers in local market, the local culture will not be eliminated or ignored within business operations.
(word count, 590)
Week 9 discussion 1. Why is the HRM role so much more complex and important in the international context?
Under the international context, the function of HRM is not merely an administrative unit; it is involved in every part of the business operation as the strategic partner of the business management. Their responsibilities include to recruit the right candidate for overseas assignment , providing the necessary ongoing support and performance management for expatriates and also maintain the talents within the business organization
The role of HRM becomes more and more important and complex because the development of globalization requires that the right candidates need to be allocated to the right position, and HRM is the business unit to ensure this task, in order to achieve this business objective, the HRM should be proactively involved in every step of the business strategic decision making process, providing the right candidate for the right position requires a lot of works to be done, for instance, the HRM should update the talent database to ensure that right candidate with right attitude and skill set is available for the position when there is a need for that role. Meanwhile, the HRM will have to provide different support for overseas assignment from pre-departure preparation to post-assignment relocation. 2. Explain the common causes of expatriate failure
Different reasons can be related to expatriate failure: a) Personal reasons: for instance, the candidate underestimate the potential challenges of the overseas assignment, or the candidate did not have the require skill set to handle the issues in overseas. the candidate may not realize the big difference between different cultures, and he was not aware of the impact of different cultures for business operation and feel frustrated when he faces those issues. b) Family reasons: researches shows that a lot of expatriate failures are related to the family reasons, for example, the spouse of the expatriate find it hard to settle down, the children of the expatriate find it hard to find new friends in their new schools, or they don’t even speak the local languages and this make it hard for them to make friends.

Overall , the failure of expatriate can be contributed to lack of preparation for the overseas assignment or choosing the wrong candidate for the job, this means that HRM should be acting actively to ensure that right candidate receives the right ongoing support for the overseas assignment.

3. Do you have what it takes to make a good expatriate? What are you strengths and what aspects need improvement?

Personally I believe that I can be a good expatriate, the reasons are: firstly, I have been living in different cultural environment, my living experience in China and Australia benefits me a lot , it ensures me to be sensitive to different cultural concepts, be respectful for different cultural concepts; secondly, I am a person who is looking for new things and experiencing new challenges. My can-do attitude fits into the basic character of expatriate.

My personal strengths includes a good organizing and problem-solving skill, I can speak both English and Chinese fluently, and I am familiar with different cultures. But to be a successful expatriate, I need to improve my efficiency on managing multi tasks at the same time and I also need to work on my people skills to ensure that I can effectively negotiate with people with different personalities and values.
(word count, 580)