1. Differences in Culture
This is a test

3. Differences in Culture
Societies’ differ along cultural dimensions
What is culture?
How/why do social structure, religion, language influence cultural differences?
What are differences between culture and values in the workplace (corporate culture)?
Culture changes over time. What are some reasons behind this?
Implications for business managers

5. Cultural Appreciation
Values
Customs
Aspects of
culture
Symbols
Language

6. What is Culture?
Culture: a society’s (group’s) system of shared, learned values and norms; these are the society’s (group’s) design for living
Values: abstract ideas about the good, the right, the desirable
Norms: social rules and guidelines; guide appropriate behavior for specific situations
Folkways: norms of little moral significance
dress code; table manners; timeliness
Mores: norms central to functioning of social life
bring serious retribution: thievery, adultery, alcohol

7. Basic U.S. Business Values

8. Cultural Diversity
Values represent personal or socially preferable modes of conduct or states of existence that are enduring.
Why doesn’t McDonald’s sell hamburgers in India?

9. Cultural Diversity
Customs are norms and expectations about the way people do things in a specific country.
Why were 3M executives perplexed concerning lukewarm sales of Scotch-Brite floor cleaner in the Philippines?

10. What is Culture?
“the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group over another… Culture, in this sense, includes systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture”
Geert Hofstede

11. National Culture “Nation” is a useful:
Definition of society
similarity among people a cause -- and effect -- of national boundaries
Way to bound and measure culture for conduct of business
culture is a key characteristic of societ
can differ significantly across national borders
also within national borders
laws are established along national lines
Culture is both a cause and an effect of economic and political factors that vary across national borders

12. Social Structure and Culture
Unit of social organization: individual or group?
Society may be stratified into classes or castes
High-low stratification
High-low mobility between strata
The individual: building block of many Western societies
Entrepreneurship
Social, geographical and inter-organizational mobility
The group:
Two or more associated individuals with a shared identity
Interact with each-other in specific ways on the basis of a common set of expectations.

13. Individual vs Group Societal Characteristics
Managerial mobility between companies
Economic dynamism, innovation
Good general skills
Team work difficult, non-collaborative
Exposure to different ways of doing business
e.g., U.S. companies
Group
Loyalty and commitment to company
In-depth knowledge of company
Specialist skills
Easy to build teams, collaboration
Emotional identification with group or company
e.g., Japanese companies

14. Religion, Ethics and Culture
Religion: system of shared beliefs about the sacred
Ethical systems: moral principles or values that shape and guide behavior; often products of religion
Major religious groups and some economic implications
Christianity protestant work ethic
Islam Islamic economic principles
Hinduism anti-materialistic, socially stratified
Buddhism anti-materialistic, social equality
Confucianism hierarchy, loyalty, honesty

15. Language: Culture Bound
Language, spoken
“private” does not exist as a word in many languages
Eskimos: 24 words for snow
Words which describe moral concepts can be unique to countries or areas
Spoken language precision important in low-context cultures
Language, unspoken
Context... more important than spoken word in high context cultures

16. Non-Verbal Gestures

17. Non-Verbal Gestures

18. Non-Verbal Gestures

19. Non-Verbal Gestures

20. Cultural Diversity – “Chevy Nova Award”
Dairy Association’s huge success with the campaign “Got Milk?” prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico
It was brought to their attention the Spanish translation read, “Are you lactating?”

21. Cultural Diversity – “Chevy Nova Award”
Clairol introduced the “Mist Stick”, a curling iron into Germany
Only to find out that “mist” is German slang for manure.

22. Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used US packaging with the smiling baby on the label.
In Africa, companies routinely put pictures on labels of what’s inside, since many people can’t read.

23. Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
Pepsi’s “Come Alive With the Pepsi Generation” in Chinese translated into
“Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back From the Grave”
              

24. Cultural Diversity Chevy Nova Award
Coca-Cola’s name in China was first read as “Kekoukela”, meaning “Bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse stuffed with wax”, depending on the dialect.
Coke then researched 40,000 characters to find a phonetic equivalent “kokou kole”, translating into “happiness in the mouth.”

25. Cultural Stereotypes Are they valuable?
Cultural stereotypes: values and behaviors considered typical of a culture
       
Are they valuable?
Yes, if they reduce uncertainty about what expatriate can expect.
No, if used to label an individual unlike the stereotype

26. High/Low Context Cultures

27. Education and Culture Education
Medium through which people are acculturated
Language, “myths,” values, norms taught
Teaches personal achievement and competition
Critical to national competitive advantage
Education system may be a cultural outcome

28. Culture and the workplace (Hofstede)
Finds national culture dimensions meaningful to business
Basis:
Work related values not universal
National values may persist over MNC efforts to create corporate culture
Home country values often used to determine HQ policies
MNC may create morale problems with uniform moral norms
Purpose: understanding of business situations across-cultures
MUST understand own culture AND other culture(s)

29. Culture and the workplace
Geert Hofstede – sampled 100,000 IBM employees
Compared employee attitudes and values across 40 countries
Isolated 4 dimensions summarizing culture:
Power distance
Individualism vs. collectivism
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity vs. feminity

30. Power Distance -- (Hofstede)
Degree of social inequality considered normal by people
Distance between individuals at different levels of a hierarchy
Scale: from equal (small power distance) to extremely unequal (large power distance)

31. Individualism Vs. Collectivism (Hofstede)
Degree to which people in a country prefer to act as individuals rather than in groups
Describes the relations between the individual and his/her fellows

32. Uncertainty Avoidance (Hofstede)
Degree of need to avoid uncertainty about the future
Degree of preference for structured versus unstructured situations
Structured situations: have tight rules may or may not be written down
High uncertainty avoidance: people with more nervous energy (vs easy-going), rigid society, "what is different is dangerous."

33. Masculinity Vs. Femininity (Hofstede)
Division of roles and values in a society
Masculine values prevail:
assertiveness, success, competition
Feminine values prevail:
quality of life, maintenance of warm personal relationships, service, care for the weak, solidarity

34. Confucian Dynamism (Hofstede)
Attitudes towards
Time
Persistence
Status in society
“Face”
Respect for tradition
Gifts and favors

36. Cultural Change Over Time
Change is slow and often painful
Shifts away from “traditional values” towards “secular values”
Changes with shift from “survival values” to “self-expression values”

38. Cultural Distance
Geographic and cultural (or pshychic) distance among countries may not be the same
Key concept which can affect IB strategy and conduct

39. Managerial Implications
Ethnocentrism vs Polycentrism
Must a company adapt to local cultures or can corporate -- often home-country dominated -- culture prevail?
Cross-cultural literacy essential
Do some cultures offer a national competitive advantage over others?

40. Applying Cultural Analysis
1.   Describe culture using Hofstede’s Model
2.    Estimate cultural impact on management  
  • Strategic planning: Futile? How much information needed?
  • Employee motivation: Security or money reward? Immediate or long-term rewards?
  • Employee monitoring and control: Rules or trust?
  • Decision making: overcoming problems or seizing opportunities?