1. International Business Culture
Dr Susan Bridgewater

2. International Business
Environment
Strategy
Structure

3. Culture
Objectives
To identify and understand frameworks for analysing national culture
To understand the concepts of psychic and cultural distance
To evaluate the measures of psychic and cultural distance

4. Theoretical Cultural Classification
Hall's Silent Language of Overseas Business
Hofstede's Work Related Values
Trompenaars
Farnham Castle Culture Model P

5. Hall's High and Low Context Cultures
More reliance on "how"
business is done i.e:
non verbal elements
Chinese
Korean
Japanese
Vietnamese
Arab
Greek
Spanish
Italian
English
North American
Scandinavian
Swiss
German
High
Context
More reliance on "what"
is said and done i.e
verbal elements:
Low
Context
Source: Edward T Hall 1964; 1976 P

6. Symbolic Meanings "Green, America's favourite colour for freshness
and good health is often associated with disease
in countries with dense green jungles. Black is not
a universal colour for mourning; inmany Asian Countries
it is white; in Brazil it is purple, yellow in Mexico and
dark red in the Ivory Coast. Red suggests god fortune
in China but death in Turkey... in every culture, things,
numbers and even smells have meanings.
Lemon scent in the United States means freshness.
in the Philippines lemon scent is associated with
illness. In Japan the number 4 is like our 13; and
7 is unlucky in Ghana, but lucky in Kenya and Singapore."
Source: Copeland and Griggs 1986 P

7. Farnham Castle Cultural Briefings
Social
Organ
isation
Religion
Language
Values
Education
Culture
Law
and
Politics
Tech-
nology
Ethnic
Mix P

8. Trompenaars Model of Culture
Explicit
Culture
Artefacts and Products
Norms and Values
Basic Assumptions
Implicit
Culture

9. Trompenaars
Outer layer: Artefacts and Products = what people principally associate with that country e.g: clothes, food, language, housing
Middle layer: Norms and Values = what does the community consider right and wrong?
Inner layer: basic assumptions = the set of rules and methods a society has evolved to deal with the problems it faces. So frequent they have become unspoken assumptions

10. Universalism versus particularism
Universalists - inclined to follow the rules even informally and among friends. Assume these standards are the “right” ones.
Particularists - particular circumstances considered more important than general rules

11. Examples of Universalists and Particularists
Predominantly protestant
High = Canada (93%), USA, Scandinavian countries (Nor = 97%)
Mid-level = France (72%) and Japan (68%)
Particularists
Predominantly catholic or taoist
Low = South Korea (25%), China (48%)

12. Trompenaars’ advice on reconciling cultural differences
“International management is not a process of replacing one orientation by another but understanding one in the context of the other.”

13. Hoftede's Work Related Values
Power Distance
Measures of inequalities in organisations e.g: managers' decision-making style, employees fear of manager
Low Power Distance - respect for individual
High Power Distance - privileges with influence
Uncertainty Avoidance
Anxiety felt in a situation with conflicting values
Low uncertainty cultures have fewer rules and accept diversity
High Uncertainty have greater resistance to change
Individualism
Degree to which people are part of group or alone
Low Individualism = collectivism
High Individualism values autonomy
Masculinity versus Femininity
How roles are distributed between the sexes
Masculine = aggressive, competitive
Feminine = intuitive, emotional P

14. Culture Dimensions for 10 CountriesPD ID MA UA
USA
40L
91H
62H
46L
Germany
35L
67H
66H
65M
Japan
54M
46M
95H
92H
France
68H
71H
43M
86H
Netherlands
38L
80H
14L
53M
Hong Kong
68H
25L
57H
29L
Indonesia
78H
14L
46M
48L
West Africa
77H
20L
46M
54M
Russia
95H*
50*M
40*L
90*H
China
80*H
20*L
50*M
60*M
PD=Power Distance; ID=Individualism; UA =
Uncertainty Avoidance; MA =Masculinity
H = Top Third; M = Medium; L=Bottom Third
of 53 countries. *=estimated P

15. Psychic and Cultural Distance
"Psychic Distance: "Factors which hinder the flow of
information between two countries."
Beckermann 1956
Cultural Distance: "An Aggregate Score base on
Hofstede's Work related values. Tends to use the
Kogut and Singh 1988 method. P

16. Operationalising Psychic Distance
Complex as it combines geographic, technological and cultural dimensions
Only operationalised once, using statistical data of various sorts by Swedish researchers
Difficult to replicate
Based on individual perceptions.
May differ depending on...

17. Influences on Psychic Distance
Previous international experience
Ethnic origin
Education
Speaking other languages
Frequent international travel
Personal characteristics e.g: open-minded, friendly, risk-taker

18. Measuring Cultural Distances

19. Conclusions
Insights can be gained into different cultures using analytical frameworks proposed to classify these on the basis of different dimensions.
The real issue for international managers is to understand the distances that can exist as a result of cultural differences.
These distances have also been measured and may offer some insights.
International managers are best advised to understand the underlying “basic assumptions” that may explain these differences.