14.3 Doing business across cultures

Doing business across cultures

While many similarities exist among businesses, there are dynamics that must be taken into consideration in an increasingly global environment, such as multicultural employees and varying experiences in countries outside that of the business. It is essential to take these differences seriously and not assume that individuals have similar values.

Host country research and cultural implications

Cultural issues can be divided into two categories, explicit and implicit. Explicit culture issues are related to characteristics that one can see or perceive. Implicit culture issues, on the other hand, are related to attitudes and values, symbolized in the figure below.

Exhibit

Explicit culture exists on the outer layer and is the observable reality of the language, food, buildings, houses, monuments, agriculture, shrines, markets, fashions and art. These products are visible in people’s behaviors, clothes, food, music and theater.

The middle layers include norms, values, and attitudes but are not directly visible. Norms are the mutual sense a group has of what is right and wrong that can develop on a formal level such as written law, or on an informal level such as social control. Values determine good from bad, and are closely related to the ideals shared by a group. A value in one culture may differ vastly from that of another, and therefore these differences must be studied and taken into consideration when doing business across cultures.

Cross-culture training

The creation of a stable and healthy workplace made up of people of varying cultural backgrounds is a matter of increasing importance in the global business environment. Employers must take into consideration the impact cultural diversity can have on both the homogeneity of the workplace and potential legal implications for improper discrimination.

The objective of training programs is to foster the four characteristics of preparedness, sensitivity, patience, and flexibility in managers and other personnel (Czinkota et al, 2005). Methods of training may range from factual preparation involving books and lectures to experiential training involving simulations and field experience. Some topics to be addressed in training might be, but are not limited to: