1. Different in Culture

2. Chapter Preview
Describe culture, and explain the significance of both national culture and subcultures.
Identify the components of culture, and describe their impact on business activities around the world.
Describe cultural change, and explain how companies and culture affect one another.
Explain how the physical environment and technology influence culture.
Describe the two main frameworks used to classify cultures and explain their practical use.

3. X √ What is Culture? Cultural literacy Ethnocentricity
Set of values, beliefs, rules and institutions held by a specific group of people
Cultural literacy
Detailed knowledge of a culture that enables a person to function effectively within it √
Ethnocentricity
Belief that one’s own ethnic group or culture is superior to that of others X

4. Nations and Culture National culture Subculture
Nation states build museums and monuments to preserve the legacies of important events and people
Subculture
Group of people that share a unique way of life within a larger culture (language, race, lifestyle, attitudes, etc.)

5. Personal communication
Components of Culture
Physical
environments
Education
Personal communication
Religion
Social structure
Manners & customs
Values & attitudes
Aesthetics
Culture

6. Aesthetics
Music
Painting
Dance
Drama
Architecture

7. Values and Attitudes Values Attitudes Freedom Responsibility Honesty
Positive or negative evaluations, feelings and tendencies people hold toward objects or concepts
The Ideas, beliefs and customs to which people are emotionally attached
Freedom
Responsibility
Honesty
Time
Work
Cultural change

8. Manners and Customs Manners Customs
Appropriate behavior, speech and dressing in general
Customs
Traditional ways or behavior in specific circumstances

9. Social Structure
Social structure Culture’s groups, institutions, social positions and resource distribution
Social stratification Process of ranking people into social layers
Social mobility Ease of moving up or down a culture's "social ladder"

10. World Religions Origin of Human Values Christianity Islam Hinduism
Buddhism
Confucianism
Judaism
Shinto

11. Language Blunders
Braniff Airlines’ English-language slogan “Fly in Leather” was translated into “Fly Naked” in Spanish.
Sign in English on a Majorcan storefront read, “English well-talking” and “Here speeching American.”
Sign for non-Japanese-speaking guests in a Tokyo hotel read, “You are respectfully requested to take advantage of the chambermaids.”
English sign in a Moscow hotel read, “If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.”
Japanese knife manufacturer labeled its exports to the United States with “Caution: Blade extremely sharp! Keep out of children.”

12. Mixed Signals "Crazy" "Vulgar gesture" "Very clever" "Okay"
"It's a secret"
"Crazy"
"Vulgar gesture"
"Very nosey"
"Very clever"

13. Education Education level Brain drain
Cultures pass on traditions, customs, and values through schooling, parenting, group memberships, etc.
Education level
Well-educated attract high-paying jobs, while poorly educated attract low-paying manufacturing jobs
Brain drain
Departure of highly educated people from one profession, geographic region or nation to another

14. Problem of Illiteracy

15. Physical and Material Culture
These influence a culture’s development and pace of change
Topography
Physical features characterizing the surface of a geographic region
Climate
Weather conditions of a geographic region
Material Culture
Technology used to manufacture goods and provide services

16. Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck Framework
Relation to nature
Time orientation
Trust and control
Material or spiritual
Responsibility to others
View of personal space

17. Hofstede Framework Individualism vs. collectivism Power distance
Uncertainty avoidance
Achievement vs. nurturing

18. Power Distance & Individualism

19. Power Distance & Uncertainty Avoidance

20. Chapter Summary
This chapter explains the significance of culture to international business. Culture is one of the most challenging elements that managers face in international business. Managers must have cultural literacy, or detailed knowledge about a culture that enables people to live and work within it. The main components of culture are aesthetics, values and attitudes, manners and customs, social structure, religion, personal communication, education, and physical and material environments. A culture’s aesthetics is important to formulating strategies, as are people’s values because they influence attitudes toward time, work, achievement, and cultural change. Knowledge of manners and customs is necessary for avoiding offensive behavior. Knowing the basics of other religions helps managers understand people’s behavior. The ability to speak the local language and understand unspoken language allows managers to understand a people. A culture’s educational aspects are important to a company, as is its material culture. Two tools to analyze and classify cultures include the Hofstede framework and the Kluckhohn-Strodtbeck framework.