4-1 chapter 4 The Role of Culture International Business, 6th Edition Griffin & Pustay Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

4-1

chapter 4

The Role of Culture

International Business, 6th E

dition

Griffin & Pustay Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Chapter Objectives

• Discuss the primary characteristics of culture

• Describe the various elements of culture and provide examples of how they influence international business

• Identify the means by which members of a culture communicate with each other

Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Chapter Objectives (continued)

• Discuss how religious and other values affect the domestic environments in which international businesses operate

• Describe the major cultural clusters and their usefulness for international managers

• Explain Hofstede’s primary findings about differences in cultural values

• Explain how cultural conflicts may arise


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Culture

Culture is the collection of values,

beliefs, behaviors, customs, and

attitudes that distinguish one society

from another. A society’s culture

determines the rules that govern how

firms operate in the society.


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Characteristics of Culture

• Learned behavior

• Interrelated elements

• Adaptive

• Shared


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Figure 4.1 Elements of Culture

Culture

Language

Communication

ReligionValues/attitudes

Socialstructure


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Social Structure

Individuals, families, and groups

Social stratification

Social mobility


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Language

• 3000+ different languages worldwide

• 10,000+ different dialects

• Primary delineator of cultural groups


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Map 4.1 World Languages


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Map 4.2 Africa’s Colonial Legacy


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Translation Disasters

• KFC’s Finger Lickin’ Good

– Eat your fingers off (China)

• Pillsbury’s Jolly Green Giant

– Intimidating green ogre (Saudi Arabia)


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Caterpillar Fundamental English

Caterpillar has developed its own simplified language instruction program


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Yes and No Across Cultures

• Latin America

– meaning of “mañana”

• Japan

– meaning of “yes” versus “yes, I understand”


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Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication

may account for 80-90 percent of all

information transmitted among

members of a culture

by means other than language.


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Table 4.1 Forms of Nonverbal Communication, Part 1

• Hand gestures

• Facial expression

• Posture and stance

• Clothing/hair style

• Walking behavior

• Interpersonal distance

• Touching

• Eye contact

• Architecture/ interior design

• Artifacts and non-verbal symbols

• Graphic symbols


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Table 4.1 Forms of Nonverbal Communication, Part 2

• Art and rhetorical forms

• Smell

• Speech rate, pitch, inflection, volume

• Color symbolism

• Synchronization of speech and movement

• Taste, symbolism of food, oral gratification

• Cosmetics

• Sound signals

• Time symbolism

• Timing and pauses

• Silence


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Gift Giving and Hospitality

Gift giving is an important means of communication, but what is appropriate varies.


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Religion

• Imposes constraints on roles of individuals in society

• Affects the types of products consumers may purchase

• Varies from country to country


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Religion

Christianity

Hinduism

Buddhism

Islam


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Map 4.3 Major World Religions


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Religion

Two million Muslims annually descend on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia as part of the Haij


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Values and Attitudes

Values are the principles and

standards accepted by the members;

attitudes encompass the actions,

feelings, and thoughts that result

from those values.


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Values and Attitudes (continued)

Time Age

Education Status


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Theories of Culture

• Hall’s Low-Context, High-Context Approach

• Cultural Cluster Approach

• Hofstede’s Five Dimensions


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Hall’s Low-Context High-Context Approach

An approach to understanding

communication based on the relative

emphasis on verbal and nonverbal

cues to transmit meaning


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Figure 4.2 High- and Low-Context CulturesG

erm

an

Sw

iss

Sca

ndin

avia

n

U.S

. /

Can

adia

n

Brit

ish

Ital

ian

Spa

nish

Gre

ek

Ara

b

Vie

tnam

ese

Japa

nese

Kor

ean

Chi

nese

LowContext

HighContext


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The Cultural Cluster Approach

An approach to understanding

communication based on meaningful

clusters of countries that share

similar cultural values


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Map 4.4 A Synthesis of Country Clusters


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Hofstede’s Five Dimensions

Social Orientation

Power Orientation

Uncertainty Orientation

Goal Orientation

Time Orientation


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Social Orientation

Individualism Collectivism

Relative importance of theinterests of the individual versus

interests of the group


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Power Orientation

Power Respect Power Tolerance

Appropriateness of power/authority within organizations


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Figure 4.4 Social Orientation and Power Orientation Patterns


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Uncertainty Orientation

Uncertainty Uncertainty Acceptance Avoidance

Emotional response to uncertainty and change


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Goal Orientation

Aggressive Passive

What motivates people to achieve different goals


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Time Orientation

Long-term Short-termoutlook outlook

The extent to which members of a culture adopt a long-term or a short-term outlook

on work and life


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Understanding New Cultures

Self-referencecriterion

AcculturationCultural literacy


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Copyright © 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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4-1 chapter 4 The Role of Culture International Business, 6th Edition Griffin & Pustay Copyright 2010 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall