...Some Asian countries are large power distance and western countries are small power distance. Uncertainty Avoidance: When a society has threat from ambiguous and uncertain situations, they try to through providing a safe job, setting up more formal rules and beveling experts’ assessment to avoid uncertain situations. Using weak or strong to describe uncertainty avoidance. Strong uncertainty avoidance is characterized by intolerance for behaviours and ideas that deviate from the norm. Collectivism vs Individualism: The extent to which people define themselves as autonomous individuals or members of groups. An individualist society is a loose organization of social structure. People just care about themselves and their immediate families. Collectivism societies are characterized by a strict social structure. People have their own group and want to get help from group, at same time members put emphasis on groups and be loyal to group. Femininity vs Masculinity: The distribution of emotional roles between the genders. A masculine society has social values such as competitiveness, assertiveness, self-confident materialism, ambition and power. A feminine society has different social values such as nurturing sympathy for the disadvantages, quality of life, friendship and harmonious environment. Time orientation: First called “Confucian dynamism”, it describes societies’ time horizon. Long term oriented societies attach more importance to the future. They foster pragmatic values...
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...INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT QUIZ NAME: CHALI MWAMBA QUESTION 1: Basic ideal types of political systems -explain each and give one country or region as an example to identify its political system. They are the following: ANSWER: A) Totalitarianism= a system where Only one representative party which exhibits control over every facet of political and human life -Power maintained by suppression of opposition -Dominant ideals include media censorship, political representation, denial of rights, and civil liberties An example is People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Burma, Cuba, Vietnam, Libya and Saudi Arabia as well as Kuwait. B) Democracy=a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity ... are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly -Democratic society cannot exist without at least a two-party system -Once elected, representative is held accountable to electorate for actions (which limits power of government) Examples include -Germany, Ghana, Grenada, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kiribati, Latvia, Lithuania C) Dictatorship= A dictatorship occurs when one person has complete control of a nation. Dictators are often associated with brutality, violence and ruthlessness and typically use armed force and fear to keep citizens under control. -Examples include Belarus, Chad, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroun, Kazakhstan, Iran D)...
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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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... •• discuss the possibility of the convergence of HRM across countries, •• explain how the heritage of state socialism continues to influence the context of HRM in transition economies, and •• discuss the effects of cultural and institutional context on the HRM role and on employee expectations. 23 24 ESSENTIALS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Springtime in Paris As she savored the last bite of her croissant, Martha Pereaux, HR director for C3 Technologies, thought about how she would approach her latest “cross-cultural collision,” as she had come to think of them. In the year since she had moved to Paris from Houston, there had been many, but none quite as bizarre as this one. Martha had taken the big promotion to head up the HR division of the joint venture between Houston-based SuperChem and the French company. C3 developed technology for the oil industry, primarily new types of concrete that formed the barrier wall for offshore oil and gas wells. The joint venture was meant to take on the likes of the giant Schlumberger on its own turf and compete with them for valuable technical staff. Everyone said she was the perfect choice, having grown up in a bilingual family in Canada, with a chemical engineering degree and an MBA with an emphasis in international management. But nothing had really prepared her for the day-to-day challenges she faced in Paris. Every time she thought she had the French figured out something new would arise that...
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...Distance (PDI) This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally. The fundamental issue here is how a society handles inequalities among people. People in societies exhibiting a large degree of power distance accept a hierarchical order in which everybody has a place and which needs no further justification. In societies with low power distance, people strive to equalise the distribution of power and demand justification for inequalities of power. < an example of Power Distance by Geert Hofstede 2. Individualism versus collectivism (IDV) The high side of this dimension, called Individualism, can be defined as a preference for a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only. Its opposite, Collectivism, represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. A society's position on this dimension is reflected in whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “we.” < 3. Masculinity versus femininity (MAS) The masculinity side of this dimension represents a preference in society for achievement, heroism, assertiveness and material reward for success. Society at large is more competitive. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation...
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...Topic 1: Analyze the role of cultural factors that can create comparative advantage for a company. Give some relevant examples. CONTENT Facing with the diversity of the market as well as the establishment of more and more enterprises, managers’ pressure is weighed on how to make their firms different and attract more customers compared to other companies. In the opinion of Michael Porter, entrepreneurs who only focus on two objectives of growth and product diversification strategy does not guarantee long-term success for business. It is important for any business organization to build a sustainable comparative strength. Since then the concept of “Comparative advantage” was born with the sense that the specific value of the enterprise will help businesses reach high performance and always be unforgettable. There are many factors that create comparative advantages for business and one of the basic elements and also plays the important role is the cultural factors. It is supposed that culture is the promotion of the ability and the fullest expression of human nature. Hence, culture exists in any human activity such as economy, politic, society, communication, behavior, or in the innermost thoughts. Each nation brings its own different cultural values, creating the cultural diversity. This has caused not only difficulties for multinational companies to be able to adapt but also an opportunity for businesses to learn, thus make the particular policies that create comparative...
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...“Internationalisation of operations is critical to a company’s success in today’s competitive environment” Internationalisation of operations is a huge issue which has faced many companies in today’s competitive business environment. With 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...
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...Hofstede's Dimensions of Culture Geert H. Hofstede was born on October 2, 1928 in Haarlem, the Netherlands. He received his M.Sc. from the Delft Institute of Technology in 1953, his Ph.D. (cum laude) from Groningen University in 1967. Hofstede is most well known for his work on four dimensions of cultural variability, commonly referred to as "Hofstede's Dimensions." These include: Uncertainty Avoidance, Power Distance, Masculinity-Femininity, Individualism-Collectivism, and Long-Term/Short Term Orientation. These dimensions were arrived in his 1980 publication, "Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values." The study took existing survey data (sample size of 116,000) collected from a multinational corporation (IBM). The result was a score in each of the dimensions for 40 different countries. During 1978-83, the Dutch cultural anthropologist Geert Hofstede conducted detailed interviews with hundreds of IBM employees in 53 countries. Through standard statistical analysis of fairly large data sets, he was able to determine patterns of similarities and differences among the replies. From this data analysis, he formulated his theory that world cultures vary along consistent, fundamental dimensions. Since his subjects were constrained to one multinational corporation's world-wide employees, and thus to one company culture, he ascribed their differences to the effects of their national cultures. (One weakness is that he maintained that each country...
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...those in the Canadian market. To begin this assessment of the Polish communication styles and examination of working norms, Biznes Consulting group will analyze how to conduct a business meeting in Poland. This will include the basic “do’s and don’ts”, business etiquette, time frames and dress or attire. Next a complete external and internal analysis will be presented. A STEEP analysis will be studied and human resource management for Poland will be discussed in detail. Following the external and internal analyses, an interpretation of the cultural norms in Canada vs Poland will be examined in the form of a cultural comparison. The cultural comparison is significant in determining family closeness, trust issues, motivation behind employees, issues related to leadership, motivation, group work, organizational culture, communication preferences, and negotiation style. Moreover, the management styles in both Poland and Canada will be contrasted. With the given information, Biznes Consulting is positive that the Canadian construction company will have all the communicational tools required to enter the Polish market. How to conduct a business meeting in Poland...
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... The report is designed to give the Canadian construction company a detailed assessment of the differing communication styles and business norms in Poland compared to those in the Canadian market. To begin this assessment of the Polish communication styles and examination of working norms, Biznes Consulting group will analyze how to conduct a business meeting in Poland. This will include the basic “do’s and don’ts”, business etiquette, time frames and dress or attire. Next a complete external and internal analysis will be presented. A STEEP analysis will be studied and human resource management for Poland will be discussed in detail. Following the external and internal analyses, an interpretation of the cultural norms in Canada vs Poland will be...
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...their similarities. Capitalism is known to come from socialists from the mid-nineteenth century and is also known as Pure Capitalism which is another name for Laissez-Faire. The United States, Canada, and Great Britain are countries whose economies are driven by the principles of Capitalism. The vital features for Capitalism is private ownership, for example you own your own property such as housing and land. The second is market competition which means competing with one another, third is the pursuit of profit, which in this case can mean individuals selling items for more than what they are worth and what they paid for themselves . Capitalism has been criticized for leading to social inequality. Another is that the tiny top layer wields vast political power. Capitalists believe that he only purpose of a government is to protect its citizens from force or fraud. In a capitalist society all people can start any kind of business they want. From a purely economic view a capitalist is a person who buys in order to sell for profit. Socialism is quite different compared to capitalism, almost like an exact opposite Instead of the ownership of private property, the government plays a large role where society owns social property such as banks and factories. Socialism is a term for political and economical theory. Socialism arose in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The...
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...Today I will talk about Greet Hofstede`s cultural dimensions. Every manager should have deep knowledge about culture because we live in globalization time. What is culture? Culture is a system of values, beliefs, and norms shared among a group of people. People`s culture affect the values in the workplace. That’s why management processes should be different according to cultures and according to the people from different cultures in the workplace. The most famous study about how culture relates to values in the workplace was conducted by Geert Hofstede. From 1967 to 1973 he did a long research among more than 1 million employees in IBM company. He identified 5 dimensions. These dimension are 1) power distance, 2) individualism versus collectivism, 3) uncertainty avoidance, 4) masculinity versus femininity 5) Confucian dynamism or long term orientation. Let`s briefly review all these dimensions. Power distance. Power distance is about how much a culture accepts or doesn’t accept authority. If people in high positions or in high status show his or her power, rank or status and other people from lower levels accept this behavior; it means there is a high power distance. For example my country Azerbaijan is high power distance country. You cannot joke with your boss; you have to be careful while talking with people from high status etc. And the boss working room is separated from others. But it is not same in United States. Your boss is not only your boss he is also your friend....
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...removal of the ambiguities. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions US vs. India Geert Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimensions was a result of an analysis of a world-wide survey of employee values by IBM in the 1960’s and 1970’s. This theory describes the effects of a society’s culture on the values of that culture’s members and how those values relate to behavior. This is accomplished by using a structure resulting from factor analysis (Hofstede, 2011). This theory has been used as an example for several fields, particularly in cross-cultural psychology (Hofstede, 2011). Geert Hofstede’s original cultural dimensions theory had four dimensions from which cultural values could be analyzed. These four dimensions were: (a) individualism versus collectivism (IDV); (b) uncertainty avoidance (UAI); (c) power distance (PDI); (d) masculinity versus femininity (MAS). While Hofstede was performing research in Hong Kong he added the fifth dimension, long-term orientation (LTO). In 2010, Hofstede and co-author Michael Minkov wrote “Cultures and Organizations Software of the Mind.” As a result of Minkov’s analysis from the World Value Survey, Hofstede added a sixth dimension, indulgence versus self-restraint (IVR). In the five dimension model, a scale exists for 50 countries and 3 regions for each dimension. See Appendix A. This was later updated...
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...Running head: CANADA TIMBER 1 Canada Timber Case Analysis GRINGO STYLE Core Problems In reviewing the case analysis two core problems are quite evident along with smaller related problems. First the obvious lack of research into Japanese culture and customs by the entire team of Canada Timber and how this directly affected the trip. Subsets of related issues include the way the exchanging of business cards was handled*1, as well as the presentation of gifts*2. Second the bullish way the Canadians made their presentation and expected an immediate response*3, as well as how rather than wait and let the offer be considered the Canadians immediate response was to reduce price undercutting their own value to the Japanese. Analysis Collectivism Canada Timber was on a very promising tract to complete the transaction with the Japanese manufacturer Bonsai. The CEO of Canada Timber committed many business communication errors with the leaders of the corporation. The Japanese culture is a collectivist – oriented culture. According to Ferraro & Briody (2013), it is important to “emphasize your own sense of loyalty other that of your company,” (p. 36). The culture of Japan is one for honoring your obligations and being loyal to your company. The CEO Tim did not demonstrate loyalty to his company by trying to negotiate a discount to gain the business of Bonsai. In the eyes of the Japanese leader...
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...Cultural Challenges When Entering the Global Market Prepared by: Dennis M. Reilly, Regent University, LDSL 724, Cultures & Values I. Executive Summary Globalization can be defined as the inevitable integration of markets, nation-states, technologies and people in a way that is enabling individuals, organizations and nation-states to reach around the world farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before. Culture has become a highly significant factor in determining the success in today's international business environment. In particular, organizations entering the foreign markets either by expansion or mergers and acquisitions (M&A’s) are known to suffer at a high failure rate due to not understanding and preparing for cultural differences. Studies suggest that failure is due to different and often controversial relationships between cultural differences, integration and performance. The purpose of this white paper is to examine the cultural concerns when American corporations/organizations enter foreign markets and the impact cultural understanding or the lack thereof has on their success or failure. II. Culture “Culture is not only all around us but within us as well”. Each individual within an organization comes with a unique background and culture. Culture can be defined as the blending of values, politics, beliefs, behaviors, customs and attitudes that distinguishes one society from another. Since culture is a learned behavior that encompasses...
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