The Culture

Chalange in
International
Business
Wawang Putra Nova
Ayu Rahmadhani
 What is culture?
The term of culture was defined in many different ways :
E. B. Tylor (1871)
Complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law,
custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a
member of society.
Kluckhohn and Kelly (1945)
All the historically created designs for living, explicit and implicit,
rational, irrational, and non-rational, which exist at any given time as
potential guides for the behavior of men.
 Herskovits (1955)
The man-made part of the environment.
Downs (1971)
A mental map which guides us in our relations to our
surroundings and to other people.
So, generally what is culture?
Culture is everything that people have, think, and do as
members of their society.
 Have
This means that in order for a person to have something, some
material object must be present.
Think
When people think, ideas, values, attitudes, and beliefs are
present.
Do
When people do, they behave in certain socially prescribed ways.
 As members of society
Tells us that culture is shared by at least two individuals
and, of course, real societies are much larger than that.
Thus, it is crucial that international business managers look
at groupings of individuals within a society.
 The term cultural universals refers to the idea that all
cultures of the worlddespite their many differencesnot
only face a number of common issues, but also share a
number of common characteristics.
 Economic Systems
One of the most obvious and immediate needs of a society
is to meet the basic physiological requirements of its
people.
Since these commodities are always in finite supply, each
society must develop systematic ways of producing,
distributing, and consuming these essential resources.
 Marriage and Family Systems
For a society to continue over time it is imperative that it
develop systematic procedures for mating, childbearing,
and education.
All societies have patterned systems of marriage.
All societies, in order to survive, have patterns of
childbearing and family institutions.
 Educational Institutions
A society must have an organized way of passing on its
cultural heritage from one generation to another.
This universal societal need for cultural transmission
gives rise to some form of educational system in each
society.
 Social Control Systems

All societies must develop mechanisms that ensure that

most of its people obey most of its laws at least most of
the time.
Every society has a system of coercing people to obey the
rules laid out by society, and these are called social
control systems.
 Supernatural Belief Systems
Culture gives people a sense of who they are, of
belonging, of how they should behave, and of what they
should be doing.
Culture impacts behavior, morale, and productivity at
work as well, and it includes values and patterns that
inuence company attitudes and actions.
 Culture and Its Elements
Dress and Appearance
This includes the outward garments and adornments, or
lack there of, as well as body decorations that tend to be
distinctive by culture.
 Communication and Language
The communication system, verbal and nonverbal,
distinguishes one group from another. Apart from the
multitude of foreign languages, some nations have 15 or
more major spoken languages (within one language group
there are dialects, accents, slang, jargon, and other such
variations). Spoken language or verbal communication is
the part of a cultures communication system that is
embodied in its spoken and written vocabulary.
 Sense of Self and Space
The comfort one has with oneself can be expressed
differently according to each culture. Self-identity and
appreciation can be manifested by humble bearing in one
place and macho behavior in another. Independence and
creativity are countered in other cultures by group
cooperation and conformity.
 Food and Feeding Habits
The manner in which food is selected, prepared,
presented, and eaten often differs by culture.
 Time and Time Consciousness
Sense of time differs by culture. Some are exact and others
are relative. In some cultures, promptness is determined by
age or status. On the other hand, there are people in some
other cultures who do not bother with hours or minutes, but
manage their days by sunrise and sunset.
 Relationships
Cultures fix human and organizational relationships by
age, gender, status, and degree of kindred, as well as by
wealth, power, and wisdom.
 Gender
Social values are another dimension of social structure
that determine peoples relationships within a culture, and
more specifically within the work environment.
 Beliefs and Attitudes
Possibly the most difficult classification is determining
the major belief themes of a people, and how this and other
factors inuence their attitudes toward themselves, others,
and what happens in their world.
Knowing how religion affects business practices is
especially important in countries with a religious form of
government
 Christianity
In the sixteenth century, the split in the Roman Catholic
Church resulted in Protestantism. Under Protestantism
several denominations emerged, such as Baptist, Methodist,
and Calvinist. Protestantism, according to Max Weber, has
had the most economic implications. In 1904 he made the
connection between Protestantism and capitalism.
 Islam
In several Islamic countries, fundamentalists are using their
political power to try and make Islamic law the law of the land. In this
context, Islam is not just a religion; it is also the source of law, and,
overall, a way of life that determines social behavior.
Applying this to the banking and financial system of an Islamic country
might discourage international businesses and investors. When an
Islamic bank lends money to a business, rather than charging that
business interest on the loan, it takes a share in the profits that are
derived from the investment.
 Hinduism
The ascetic principles found in Hinduism do not
encourage the kind of entrepreneurial activity needed in the
pursuit of wealth. The traditional Hindu values emphasize
that individuals should not be judged by their material
achievements, but by their spiritual achievements.
 Buddhism
Buddhist monks are involved in various activities in their
geographic regions and in political and social decisions,
international managers working in these areas need to be
aware of what these religious leaders are doing.
 Confucianism
According to this religion, loyalty to ones superiors, such
as an employees loyalty to management, is not blind loyalty.
On the other hand, management is obliged to reward the
loyalty of subordinates by bestowing blessings on them.
 The Study of Cultural Differences

Power distance
Power distance is the level of acceptance by a society of
the unequal distribution of power in organizations. In the
workplace, inequalities in power are normal, as evidenced
in hierarchical bosssubordinate relationships. However, the
extent to which subordinates accept unequal power is
socially determined.
 Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which
people in a society feel threatened by ambiguous situations.
Countries with a high level of uncertainty avoidance tend to
have strict laws and procedures to which their people
adhere closely, and a strong sense of nationalism prevails.
 Individualism
Individualism, refers to the tendency of people to look
after themselves and their immediate family only and
neglect the needs of society. In countries that prize
individualism, democracy, individual initiative, and
achievement are highly valued
 Masculinity
Masculinity do not operate in isolation; rather they are
interdependent and interrelatedand thus complex in
their impact on attitudes and behaviors within the work
environment. Again, international managers must
remember that the evaluation of an entire country on the
basis of any one cultural value dimension is a generalization
and thus a possible over simplification, for variations may
occur according to subcultures, regions, and individuals.
 Culture in the Workplace
An international manager should understand his/her own
culture. This awareness helps guard against adopting
either a parochial or an ethnocentric attitude.
The manager must develop cultural sensitivity.
International managers must appreciate cultural diversity
and should understand how to build constructive working
relationships anywhere in the world.
Cross-cultural Management and
Training
International managers play a powerful role in
determining the relative competitiveness of various
countries in the global arena.
They will be faced with more cultures to understand, more
social responsibilities to master, more time pressures to
juggle, and more relationship store think.
 Culture Shock
The goal of this training is to ease the adjustment to the
new environment by reducing culture shocka state of
disorientation and anxiety about not knowing how to
behave in an unfamiliar culture. The cause of culture
shock is the trauma people experience in new and
different cultures, where they lose the familiar signs and
cues that they had used to interact in daily life and where
they must learn to cope with a great number of new
cultural cues and expectations.
 Conclusion
There are a lot of chalange that facing company wich start to expand
their business in international level. Culture chalange is one of them.
Manager must understand how culture that exsist at those country
such as their economic systems, education, how the people interact
each other, religion, behavior, etc. It must be there are any
difference. They must adapt with their culture. If they need they
must merge or adopting their culture to their branch company.
There is also a culture shock at their first try, but it will help to make
their branch company developed and acceptable by local people. It
was also according to how they manage their branch company.