Cross cultural Business Behaviour

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Cross cultural Business Behaviour
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Starting questions

• Has culture an influence on business?
• Is culture a manageable thing?
• On an indivdual level? (micro)
• On a interprise level? (meso)
• On a structural level? (macro)
• How does culture function?

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Functions of Culture

• Define membership and identity
• Create exclusion of non members
• Regulate external adaptation
• Regulate internal integration
• Maintain norms that create order
• Hence favour survival
• and resist or absorb change

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Functions of Culture

• Cultural differences are chellenging
• Challenge creativity
• Open minded
• Stimulate communication
• Never the same
• Attractive
• Boost change

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Culture in business

• Cultural awareness is absolutely essential to
  trading abroad
• Cultural awareness helps you to
• Adapt your product
• Understand your costumer

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Culture in business

• Two Iron Rules of International Business
• the Seller Is Expected to Adapt to the Buyer.
• the Visitor Is Expected to Observe Local Customs

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Culture in business behaviour

• What is culture?
• Management of diversity
• Identity

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Culture as an iceberg
manners, customs, language, history
explicit
1/9
tacit
Values, vision of the world, presumptions,
way of thinking
8/9
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Culture onion-diagram
symbols
heroes
rituals
values
practices
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Symbols
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Symbols
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Heroes
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Rituals
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Symbols
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Stereotypes, prejudges and discrimination

• real judgement
• supposition (hypothesis) 
• premature judgement 
• stereotype judgement 

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Stereotypes, prejudges and discrimination

• prejudice- prejudgement
• discrimination
• racism

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Racism

• Racism different forms
• Three components (Fernandes Mendes, 1983)
• the belief that mankind can be divided into
  well-defined races.
• the belief that some races are superior to
  others.
• the belief that superior races have to dominate
  inferior ones

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Culture Hofstede

• Culture 1 ( C writ large)
• Civilisation refinement of the mind
• Culture 2 ( c writ small)
• Anthropologists
• The software of the mind (mental programming)
• Collective programming distinguishing group
  members
• Learned, not inherited ()

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Culture Hofstede

• Levels of cultural programming

Inherited and learned
Specific to individual
Personality
individual
Specific to group or category
Culture
Learned
Inherited
Human nature
Universal
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A cultural survey

• Based on Hofstedes theory

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Cultural DIMENSIONSHofstede

• Power Distance (PDI)
• Individualism (IDV)
• Masculinity (MAS)
• Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)
• Confusian Dynamism (CDI)

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Dimension Models Hofstede

• Power Distance
• Uncertainty Avoidance
• Individualism
• Masculinity
• Long Term Orientation (later added)

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Power distance

• To what extent do we accept that some people have
  more power than others?
• High Low
• hierarchical egalitarian
• top-down top-down / bottom-up
• Latin Germanic

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Individualism vs collectivism

• Individualism
• I
• small group
• independence
• personality
•  Western 

• Collectivism
• we
• extended family, group
• interdependence
• harmony
• Portugal, Greece, Spain, Africa, Asia, Latin
  America

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Masculinity vs femininity

• Femininity
• don t be different
• sympathy for the weak
• solidarity, caring
• environment
• Scandinavian countries, The Netherlands, Africa

• Masculinity
• be the best
• ambition, competition
• money, performance
• success, technology
• Italy, Germany, UK, Belgium, USA

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Uncertainty Avoidance

• Strong UA
• uncertainty threat
• the unknown danger,
• risk averse
• distrust, stress
• Greece, Latin countries, German speaking
  countries, Finland

• Weak UA
• uncertainty normal
• the unknown interesting
• risk taking,  open 
• relax,  cool 
• Scandinavian, Anglo-Saxon, Dutch

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Culture Hofstede

• Cultural Differences are programmed
• ex. Interpretation of State Regulations
• Every thing what is not forbidden is allowed
• ? FR
• Every thing what is not allowed is forbidden
• ? D
• Many things which are forbidden are allowed if
  not controlled
• ? B

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Culture Hofstede

• Cultural Differences
• programmed ex.
• Universal theory of needs ? universal
• Maslovs theory in US (low collectivism)
• dimensions are based on world statistics
• explanations for obvious differences

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Culture in business behaviour

• What is culture?
• Management of diversity
• Identity

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Management of diversity

• Increased cultural diversity in local societies
• ethnicity
• gender
• age
• sexual orientation
• physical abilities
• ...

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Ethnicity

• Migration
• 25 of Londons labour market
• 30 of schoolchildren in Oslo
• 50.000 businesses in Germany owned by Turks
• 14.000 new jobs in Stockholm in one year
• Resource of people effective in multicultural
  environment

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Gender

• Growing participation of women in the labour
  market
• in Northern Europe 50 of married women with
  children
• rates for men static, increase for women

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Age

• The growth in number of older people
• ageing baby-boomers
• next 10 years 3 workers over 45 for 2 in their
  twenties in Germany
• next 20 years half the population older than 50
  in Italy
• De-activating early retirement schemes60 of
  55-64 years old unemployed in EU loss of skills
  and experience (knowledge) social cost
  unsustainable after 2010

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The needs of specific groups business
opportunities

• gay community
• advertising in UK the  pink pound 
• political forces in Denmark and The Netherlands
• people with disabilities 19 million in EU
• changes in work structures and technologies(telew
  orking)

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Culture in business behaviour

• What is culture?
• Management of diversity
• Identity

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Exercise on identity
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Unique Personality
- education
religion -
- sexe
City/rural -
- gender
-
- black/white
- ethnicity
unique personality
Social - economic -
- nationality
- age
-
- decent
Physical/mental condition -
- profession
family -
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Cultural identity
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Cultural identity
We are all exciting immigrants
Cultures dont meet, people do!
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Intercultural Reflections

• The forces that bring people from other cultures
  into your life are dynamic, potent and ever
  present.
• Myron W. Lustig, Jolene Koester

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Cross Culture business behaviour

• Cross ????
• Travel to another culture
• Stay in another culture
• Move to another culture

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Culture onion-diagram
symbols
heroes
rituals
Own culture
values
New culture
practices
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Language

• Reflect
• will promote and disseminate the importance of
  language skills in SMEs by developing
• Easy Trader