Welcome to class of Sociocultural aspects of International Business by Dr. Satyendra Singh University of Winnipeg Canada

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Welcome to class ofSociocultural aspects of
International BusinessbyDr. Satyendra
SinghUniversity of WinnipegCanada
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Learning Objectives
Objectives

• Explain the significance of culture for
  international business
• Identify the sociocultural components of culture
• Discuss the importance of unspoken language in
  international business
• Discuss Hofstedes four cultural value dimensions

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Rules of Thumb for Cross Culture Business

• Be prepared?know the country
• Slow down?do not watch time
• Establish trust ?avoid American style
• Understand the importance of language
• Respect the culture ? host is not a foreigner
• Understand the components of culture
• Surface?food, style..
• Latent?attitude, values, beliefs

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What is Culture

• The sum total of beliefs, rules, techniques,
  institutions, and artifacts that characterize
  human populations
• Learned
• Interrelated
• Shared
• Defines the boundaries

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Ethnocentricity

• Ethnocentricity
• Belief in the superiority of ones own ethnic
  group
• Country of origin effect

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Sociocultural Components

• Culture is
• Aesthetics
• Attitudes and beliefs
• Religion
• Material Culture
• Language
• Societal organization

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Aesthetics

• Cultures sense of beauty and good taste
• Art conveys meaning
• Colors and numbers have different meanings
• Architectural style differences
• feng shui ? Objects should be in harmony
• Music and Folklore
• Musical tastes vary
• Folklore discloses way of life

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Attitudes and Beliefs

• Attitudes Toward Time
• Vary across cultures
• Difficult area for some Americans
• Directness and drive
• Perceived to be rudeness (rather than being
  efficient)
• Deadlines
• Liability abroad

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Attitudes and Beliefs

• Some put leisure first and work second
• The demonstration effect
• Result of having seen others with desirable goods
• Job Prestige
• The distinction between blue-collar workers and
  office employees
• Upward mobility in society

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Religion

• Responsible for many of the attitudes and beliefs
  affecting human behavior
• Work ethics

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Religion
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Material Culture

• Material Culture
• All human-made objects
• concerned with how people make things
  (technology) and
• who makes what and why (economics)

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Language

• Most apparent cultural distinction
• Spoken languages demarcate cultures
• Many cultures avoid saying anything disagreeable
• Technical words do not exist in all languages
• Many languages can exist in a single country, but
  one usually serves as communication vehicle
• Lingua franca or link language
• English primary language of business?

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Language

• Nonverbal communication
• Gestures vary from one region to another
• Closed doors convey different meanings
• Office size has different meanings
• Conversational distance small in East
• Gift giving has specific etiquette in each
  culture
• Gift or bribe?
• Questionable Payments

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Societal Organization

• Associations
• Age is important market segment criterion
• Gender
• As nations industrialize, more women enter the
  job market and assume greater importance in the
  economy
• Free association
• people joined together by a common bond
  political, occupational, religious or recreational

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Understanding National Cultures

• Hofstedes Dimensions of Culture
• Individualism versus Collectivism
• Large versus Small Power Distance
• Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance
• Masculinity versus Femininity

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Individualism versus Collectivism

• Collectivistic cultures
• people belong to groups that are supposed to look
  after them in exchange for loyalty
• Individualistic cultures
• People look after only themselves and the
  immediate family

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Large versus Small Power Distance

• Power distance
• the extent to which members of a society accept
  the unequal distribution of power among
  individuals
• In large-power-distance societies
• employees believe their supervisors are right
  employees do not take any initiative in making
  non-routine decisions

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Strong versus Weak Uncertainty Avoidance

• Uncertainty avoidance
• Degree to which members of a society feel
  threatened by ambiguity and are rule-oriented
• Employees in high uncertainty-avoidance cultures
  tend to stay with their organizations
• Japan, Greece, and Portugal
• Those from low uncertainty-avoidance nations are
  more mobile
• United States, Singapore, and Denmark

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Masculinity versus Femininity

• the degree to which the dominant values in a
  society emphasize assertiveness, acquisition of
  money and status
• Masculinity
• achievement of visible and symbolic
  organizational rewards
• Femininity
• emphasize relationships, concern for others, and
  the overall quality of life

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Scores for Hofstedes Value Dimensions
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Plot of Nations Power distance and Uncertainty
Avoidance
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Plot of Nations Individualism and Power Distance