to define the culture
to introduce the models of business cultures and organizational models
to explain behavioral practices affecting business
to mention the possibilities of cultural analysis
Introduction
The good knowledge of culture is necessary not just for the firms operating on a foreign market but for an individual as well. If a person is travelling to other countries, primarily on the other continents, the differences between the cultures could be really huge. Sometimes, it can bring a lot of problems.
Some of them are small, innocent misunderstandings, like when you order coffee and want the “Czech Preso” and they bring you an Italian small “espresso”. But some problems can really bring one in trouble – if taking photos of some places or people without permission, if making jokes on some politicians etc. This kind of problems can cause that the person could be arrested.
The same problems face the companies. For example showing up for a business meeting without a tie
might be acceptable in Israel, but it would be completely out of place in Switzerland. Demonstrating great respect to a superior would be appreciated in Indonesia, but it would send the wrong signal in the Netherlands, where equality among individuals is valued. (Rue, Byars, 2009) It is necessary
to know the country
- the economical, political and legal, social, technological and economical factors of the environment. But we can´t forget on the culture and with the culture connected etiquette. According to Ferraro (1998), one of the most common factors contributing to failure in international business assignments is the erroneous assumption that if a person is successful
in the home environment, he or she will be equally successful in applying expertise in a different culture. For example, when American firms try to market their products in other countries, they often assume that if a marketing strategy or slogan
is effective in Cleveland, it will be equally effective in other parts of the world. Like the General Motors corporation, when advertising its “Body by Fisher” in Belgium they used words translated into the Flemish language as “Corpse by Fisher”. An airline offering service to Brazil advertised that it had comfortable “rendezvous lounges” in its business-class section. Unfortunately, it failed to realize that the word “rendezvous” in Portuguese referred to a room for illicit sexual encounters. (Ferraro, 1998) These are just a few examples but together with other experiences of the multinational companies prove the existence of cultural differences and the need for greater awareness of the cultural environment.
