最新国际商务精品电子教案Chap003

International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace Fifth Edition Chapter 3 Differences in Culture
∙Introduce culture as a complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, art,
morals, law, customs, and other
capabilities acquired by people as
members of society.
∙Explain the significance of national cultures and subcultures within
nations.
∙Explain the different religions and their influence on business styles.
∙Describe the different components of culture This chapter is dedicated to exploring how differences in culture across and within countries can affect international business. It examines the underpinnings of culture – norms and values. The heritage and philosophies of the major religions of the world are described and interpreted in terms of their impact on the practice of business. One of the objectives in this chapter is to give the reader a sense of cross-cultural literacy and an appreciation of the impact of cross-cultural literacy on the competitive advantage of a business. Critical business decisions like the location of plants can be driven by the connection between culture and competitive advantage.
The opening case “Guanxi –Ties that Bind” emphasizes the importance of relationships and the relationship network in China.
The closing case “McDonald’s and Hindu
Cul ture” describes some of the challenges of global expansion faced by McDonalds in India where the majority of the population consists of vegetarian Hindus
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OUTLINE OF CHAPTER 3: DIFFRENCES IN CULTURE
Opening Case: Guanxi-Ties that Bind
What Is Culture?
Values and Norms
Culture, Society, and the Nation-State
The Determinants of Culture
Social Structure
Individuals and Groups
Social Stratification
Religious and Ethical Systems
Christianity
Islam
Hinduism
Buddhism
Confucianism
Language
Spoken Language./ Unspoken Language
Education
Culture and the Workplace
Cultural Change
Implications for Business
Cross-Cultural Literacy
Culture and Competitive Advantage
Culture and Business Ethics
Chapter Summary
Critical Discussion Questions
Closing C ase: McDonald’s and Hindu Culture
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
One approach to trigger interaction is to ask a number of questions related to the students’ cross-cultural experiences. Have you experienced a culture that was totally alien to you? Where and how did you have this experience? How did you cope with the situation? Is it necessary to leave North America to experience a culture that is alien to you?
Another way to launch into a discussion is to ask questions related to the ways in which relationship can help bridge the gap between cultures. Have you been in a situation where a friend, relative, or acquaintance helped you deal with a culture that was alien to you? Describe the situation. Explain how your friend helped you.
TRANSITION
After this brief warm-up designed to get students engaged, you can transition to the opening case by asking:
Have you had a friend, or relative introduce you to a business opportunity or a social relationship that you would not have access to on your own?
.In the above situation, what role did your friend play and how did he/she introduce you? Does “Guanxi –ties that bind”, the opening case, remind you of the way people around you use their social connections in their business, religious, and ethnic interactions?
An alternative to using this transition is to ask students to come to this class session prepared to answer the following questions about the opening case “Guanxi –ties that bind”.
More and more students seem to have traveled internationally. When traveling, however, most seem to fin d their way to a McDonald’s. A sk students to describe different menu items they have observed in different McDonald’s. In Germany they may have noted several pig or sausage based products. In Norway a salmon burger (McLox) has sometimes been available, and in New Zealand a Kiwi burger with a fried egg. Students have been amazed that a McDonald’s in central Canada would not accept the US dollar. LECTURE OUTLINE FOR CHAPTER
This teaching outline follows the Power Point presentation provided along with this instructor’s manual.
Introduction
This chapter explores the impact of differences in culture across and within countries on international business. Business success in a variety of countries requires cross-cultural literacy. Managers must gain an understanding of the culture, or cultures, that prevail in the countries where they do business. Sometimes the cost of doing business in a country is influenced by culture – different cultures are more or less supportive of the capitalist approach to production. Culture is dynamic. Managers must be sensitive to trends in the evolution of a culture in order to maintain their effectiveness in the workplace. This chapter concludes Part 2 of the book dealing with Country Fac tors. 3 cases, “Nike: The Sweatshop Debate”, “Qualcomm’s Chinese Odyssey”, and “Royal Dutch/Shell: Human Rights in Nigeria” provide the integrative experience for Part 2.
Slide 3-2 Guanxi-strength of relationship
The opening case uses the experience of M cDonald’s corporation in Beijing to illustrate the role of relationships and relationship networks in the Chinese culture. Western managers rely on contract law to govern business transactions. In Chinese society the concept of guanxi supercedes the legal infrastructure. An individual or corporation that is well-connected can defy contract law with impunity. Although McDonald’s Corporation still had 18 years to run on its 20 year lease, it had to vacate its prime location in Beijing to make way for a complex planned by Hong Kong developer Li Ka-Shing who is extremely well connected with the Chinese authorities. Although the lease was executed according to the law, that concept was not as strong as guanxi, which dominates the business practices of many Ch inese. McDonald’s thought that the legal document was protection and prompted took the argument to court. Although the court did not specifically rule on the lease, it simply refused to enforce it, making it essentially worthless. Without a legally enforce able lease, McDonald’s was forced to close.
While it may seem logical to advise Western managers to get smart and use the guanxi system to their advantage, this can raise fundamental ethical issues. For example it is very difficult to make a clear distinction between exchanging favors in a reciprocal relationship – a requirement in the guanxi system – and bribery which is illegal in most Western settings.
Which brings us to an interesting question: What should McDonald’s have done to avoid its problem? Obviously, McDonald’s should have been more aware that contract law was not as strong in China as the concept of guanxi. After executing the lease, it should have set about to develop the same kind of relationships that existed with Li Ka-Shing. Presumably, those relationships, together with the lease, may have been enough to allow it to prevail. If McDonald’s was unwilling or unable to begin to build those kinds of relationships, it should have sought an intermediary or consultant to provide help in that area.
Slide 3-3 what is culture?
Culture has been defined a number of different ways. In this course we will view culture as a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living.
While culture is a characteristic of society as a whole, it shapes individual behavior by identifying appropriate and inappropriate forms of human interaction. In a sense culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one human group from another.
Slide 3-4 Different components of culture
Values and norms are the basic components of culture. Norms can be further divided into folkways and mores.
Slide 3-5 Values and norms
Values are abstract ideas about what a society believes to be good, right, and desirable. Values include attitudes towards concepts like freedom, honesty, loyalty, justice, responsibility, and personal relations including marriage.
Norms are social rules and guidelines that prescribe the appropriate behavior in particular situations. Norms shape the actions of people towards one another. Norms can be divided into folkways and mores.
Slide 3-6 Folkways and mores
Folkways are the routines conventions of everyday life, but generally have little moral significance. Examples would be dress, eating habits, and social graces. An outsider can easily be forgiven for being ignorant of a folkway.
Timeliness is a good example. (One way to reinforce the understanding of this concept is to ask individuals in the class what time they would choose to arrive at a party if the party invitation specified that the party starts at 8pm. It is not uncommon for different individuals in the class to have widely varying positions on the “right” time to arrive for an 8pm party. )
Mores are serious standards of behavior. The term comes from the Latin mos (customs), and although mores are fewer in number than folkways, they are more coercive. Negative mores are taboos, usually supported by religious or philosophical sanctions. Whereas folkways guide human conduct in the more mundane areas of life, mores tend to control those aspects connected with sex, the family, or religion.
Mores can vary greatly between countries: what in one country may be viewed as an innocent flirt in another may constitute a serious affront to someone's dignity or even harassment. While it is acceptable, and even expected, to consume alcohol with business associates in Japan, where evening business contacts often border on drunkenness, such actions would be disallowed in the United Arab Emirates.
Slide 3-7 Culture, society and nation states
While it is possible for a nation-state to have a uniform culture, this is not always the case. Within a nation-state multiple cultures can easily exist (as we can only too painfully see in the former Yugoslavia), and cultures can also cut across national borders. That can often be easily illustrated by describing the differences that exist between people in a country. It is quite easy to get a class of students in the Western US to agree that the people in New York are really different and generally rude, while Eastern students will comment on Californians or Southerners, etc. Likewise, students in Stockholm will have clear opinions about how different Swedes are from the far North or far South. In virtually any country or state students will easily be able to describe the differences between city-folks and country-folks, and some students will “defend” their culture while making disparaging remarks about the other.
Slide 3-8 Determinants of culture
Culture is an evolutionary product of a number of factors. Political philosophy, economic philosophy, education, dominant language, social structure, and dominant religion are all determinants of culture. The chain of causation, however, runs both ways. For example, just as social structure and religion can influence the values and norms of a society, the values and norms of a society can shape its social structure and religion.
Slide 3-9 Social structure
The social structure of a country can be described along two major dimensions: individualism vs. group and degree of stratification into classes or castes.
A focus on the individual and individual achievement is common in many Western societies. An emphasis on individual achievement has positive and negative implications.
On the positive side, the dynamism of the US economy owes much to people like Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates - people who took chances, tried new things, succeeded, and encouraged others to do likewise. On the other hand, individualism can lead to a lack of company loyalty and failure to gain company-specific knowledge, competition between individuals in a company rather than team building, and limitation of people's ability to develop a strong network of contacts within a firm.
In sharp contrast to the Western emphasis on the individual, in many Asian societies the group is the primary unit of social organization.
While in earlier times the group was usually the family or the village, today the group may be a work team or business organization. In a social setting, Asian employees may often say they work for Sony, while a Western employee may say he/she is an electrical engineer. In Asia, the worth of an individual is more linked to the success of the group rather than individual achievement.
This emphasis on the group may discourage job switching between firms, encourage lifetime employment systems, and lead to cooperation in solving business problems. On the other hand, it tends to suppress individual creativity and initiative.
All societies have some sort of stratification, where individuals in higher strata or castes are likely to have a better education, standard of living, and work opportunities.
Social structure is linked to the ease (or difficulty) with which an individual can move between strata. Additionally, the social structure created by the strata levels and the social significances of each strata level can have implications for the way business is conducted.
The mobility permitted by culture affects whether individuals can move up (or down) in strata, and can limit the types of jobs and education available. In the US individuals are
very mobile ("anyone can become president"), in Britain there is less mobility, and the caste system in India used to limit mobility. Despite the laws against it, the effects of the caste system in India still exist today, and are especially prevalent certain rural areas.
The significance of the social strata can have important implications for the management and organization of businesses.
In cultures where there is a great deal of consciousness over the class of others, the way individuals from different classes work together (i.e. management and labor) may be very prescribed and strained in some cultures (i.e. Britain), or have almost no significance in others (i.e. Japan).
The class of a person may be very important in some hiring and promotion decisions, particularly in sales organizations where the person will be dealing with customers that may also come from a particular class.
Slide 3-10 Religious and ethical systems
Religion can be defined as a system of shared beliefs and rituals that are concerned with the realm of the sacred. Ethical systems refer to a set of moral principles, or values, that are used to guide and shape behavior. The ethical practices of individuals within a culture are often closely intertwined with their religion.
Christianity, the largest religion, is common throughout Europe, the Americas, and other countries settled by Europeans and has three major branches: Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox.
The "Protestant work ethic" – a focus on hard work, wealth creation, and frugality - is considered the driving force of capitalism. In the workplace this work ethic translates into a significant emphasis on quality and productivity. However, Catholicism with its emphasis on salvation and rewards in the hereafter is not consistent with the approach to work that is associated with Protestants.
Islam has the same underlying roots of Christianity (Christ is viewed as a prophet), and suggests many of the same underlying societal mores. Islam, however, extends this to more of an all-embracing way of life that governs one's being. It also prescribes many more "laws" on how people should act and live. These are laws that are entirely counter to the US "separation of church and state."
In Islam people do not own property, but only act as stewards for God and thus must take care of that with which they have been entrusted. They must use property in a righteous, socially beneficial, and prudent manner; not exploit others for their own benefit; and they have obligations to help the disadvantaged. Thus while Islam is supportive of business, the way business is practiced is strictly prescribed. For instance, no interest may be paid on business loans.
Country focus case: The Koran, the holy book of Islam, condemns interest because it is considered exploitative and unjust. In July 2001, Pakistan became the 3rd nation in the world (after Iran and Sudan) to require its banks to adopt Islamic banking methods.
Since interest is not acceptable the banks cannot earn a profit on the spread between the interest rate the bank pays depositors and the higher interest rates banks charge borrowers. Instead, Pakistani banks either use the mudarabah system in which the bank gets a share
of the profits earned by borrower. Alternatively, Pakistani banks use the murabaha system in which the bank acquires the asset selected by borrower and the borrower subsequently buys it from the bank at a higher price than the bank paid.
Hinduism, practiced primarily on the Indian sub-continent, focuses on the importance of achieving spiritual growth and development, which may require material and physical
self-denial.
Since Hindus are valued by their spiritual rather than material achievements, there is not the same work ethic or focus on entrepreneurship found in some other religions. Likewise, promotion and adding new responsibilities may not be the goal of an employee,
Buddhists also stress spiritual growth and the afterlife, rather than achievement while in this world. Buddhism, practiced mainly in Southeast Asia, does not support the caste system, however, so individuals do have some mobility not found in Hinduism and can work with individuals from different classes.
Confucianism, practiced mainly in China, teaches the importance of attaining personal salvation through right action. Unlike religions, Confucianism is not concerned with the supernatural and has little to say about the concept of a supreme being or an afterlife. The needs for high moral and ethical conduct and loyalty to others are central in Confucianism. Three key teachings of Confucianism - loyalty, reciprocal obligations, and honesty - may all lead to a lowering of the cost of doing business in Confucian societies. The close ties between Japanese auto companies and their suppliers, called keiretsus, have been an important ingredient in the Japanese success in the auto industry.
They have facilitated loyalty, reciprocal obligations, and honesty. In countries where these relationships are more adversarial and not bound by these same values, the costs of doing business are probably higher.
Slide 3-11 World religions
Slide 3-12 Language
The language of a society allows it to communicate but also directs the attention of people towards certain features of the world and human interactions. A good
example is how the Inuit have 24 words for snow, but no word for the overall concept. Language helps describe how different people see the world.
While English is clearly the language of international business, knowing at least some of the local language can greatly help when working in another country.
In some situations knowing the local language can be critical for business success. Knowledge of the local language is often taken as an indication that the businessperson is willing to meet the local firm “on its own court.”
Unspoken language can be just as important for communication. Using a few facial expressions and hand gestures to the class can illustrate the point. The fact that these can have different interpretations in different cultures, and that many of these actions may be automatic or reflexive, obviously complicates international communication. Not only may the person you are dealing with be unintentionally sending non-verbal signals that you do not understand or find misleading, you may be unconsciously sending your own signals.
Slide 3-13 Education
Schools are a part of the social structure of any society. Since students are exposed to schools in their formative years, schools are instrumental in shaping many cultural values and norms.
The knowledge base, training, and educational opportunities available to a country's citizens can also give it a competitive advantage in the market and make it a more or less attractive place for expanding business.
In nations that have a ready trained workforce for particular types of jobs, it is easier to start operations than in nations where an investor will also have to undertake time-consuming and costly training. Nations like India, Singapore, and Malaysia are well-positioned to grow rapidly in the knowledge-intensive industries such as computers and software.
Map 3.3 shows the literacy rates in the world. Although there is not a perfect correspondence between educational spending and literacy rates, a relation does exist, and spending on education does give an indication of a country's commitment to education. Slide 3-14 Percentage of GNP spent on education
Map of GNP spent on Education
Slide 3-15 Adult literacy rates
Map on adult literacy rates
Slide 3-16 Culture and the workplace
Geert Hofstede conducted what is probably the most famous study about the connection between culture and values in the workplace. Hofstede made a study of IBM employees worldwide, and identified four dimensions that summarize different cultures: power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity vs. femininity.
Table 3.1 shows some of the findings of his study and can be used to discuss sets of countries, outliers, and differences between the primary country of the students and other countries. While critics have concerns about Hofstede’s methodology, and it is important to caution students from taking it all too seriously, the study does suggest what individuals should consider when doing business from individuals from another country. Slide 3-17 Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
Hofstede summarizes culture in terms of 4 dimensions: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity versus femininity.
Slide 3-18 Power distance
Power distance deals with how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and mental activities.
Slide 3-19 Individualism versus collectivism
Individualism Vs Collectivism focuses on the relationship between the individual and his or her fellows. In individualistic societies the ties between individuals are loose and individual achievement is highly valued. In collectivism, everyone is supposed to look after the interests of the collective
Slide 3-20 Uncertainty avoidance
Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which different societies socialize their members into accepting ambiguous situations.
Slide 3-21 Masculinity versus femininity
Masculinity Vs Femininity looks at the relationship between genders and work roles. Slide 3-22 Work related values for twenty countries
Table Work Related values for 20 countries
Slide 3-23 Problems with Hofstede’s findings
While Hofstede’s results are interesting, one should be careful about reading too much into them because:
He assumes a one-to-one relationship between culture and nation-state. It seems clear that a nation can include multiple cultures. The reality of culture in the workplace is considerably more complex than Hofstede’s results would suggest.
His research team was composed of Europeans and Americans. This shaped their questions as well their analysis of the answers could be shaped by their own biases.
All of his respondents were from a single industry – the computer industry – and were employees of a single company, IBM!
Slide 3-24 Cultural change
Culture is not a constant, but does evolve over time. What was acceptable behavior in the US in the 1960s is now considered “insensitive” or even harassment. Language and sensuality that was not allowed on American TV in the 1960s is now commonplace.
As countries become economically stronger and increase in the globalization of products bought and sold, cultural change is particularly common.
Management focus case: Matsushita, the Japanese consumer electronics giant grew into a major player in Japanese industry during a period in which Matsushita was considered a bastion of traditional Japanese values: strong group identification, reciprocal obligations, and loyalty to the company.
Accordingly Matsushita employees w ere taken care of by the company from “cradle to grave”. In the 1990s the Japanese economy entered a prolonged slump from which it did not recover even as late as 2004. The tremendous economic pressure created by the slump coupled with a workforce born in the affluent 1970s and 1980s brought Matsushita to a turning point in 1999.
First Matsushita changed the pay system from a seniority system to a pay-for-performance system. Second, Matsushita began dismantling the life-time employment system by offering employees 3 salary categories: the lowest salary category had the highest level of company subsidized services and a retirement bonus.
Next was a category with subsidized services and a mid-level salary without a retirement bonus. The highest salary category came with no subsidized services and no retirement bonus. As a sign of the changing times and the dynamic nature of culture, only 3% of Matsushita’s new recruits in 1999 chose the top salary category, but 41% chose the mid-level category.
Slide 3-25 Changing values
Diagram of changing values
Slide 3-26 Managerial implications
Individuals and firms must develop cross-cultural literacy. International businesses that are ill informed about the practices of another culture are unlikely to succeed in that culture. One way to develop cross-cultural literacy is to regularly rotate and transfer people internationally.
One must also beware of ethnocentric behavior, or a belief in the superiority of one's own culture. Perhaps in our presentation of this material we are guilty of this, and have been unable to find some of the obvious weaknesses in US culture and strengths of other
cultures. Some students are unaware of the uniqueness of their American culture and are hard pressed to identify American cultural peculiarities.
One good lead-in for a discussion on the uniqueness of American culture is to point out that the second free cup of coffee, so common in American restaurants, is unheard of in many European or Asian countries. Students who have traveled internationally can often identify many other examples.
Cultural values can influence the costs of doing business in different countries, and ultimately the competitive advantage of the country. The text suggests some positive and negative aspects of US and Japanese culture than may have contributed to the economic success of these countries. Understanding what countries may have a competitive advantage has implications both for looking for potential competitors in world markets and deciding where to undertake international expansion.
ANSWERS TO CRITICAL DISCUSSION QUESTIONS IN CHAPTER 3 QUESTION 1: Outline why the culture of a country influences the costs of doing business in that country. Illustrate your answer with examples.
ANSWER 1: (Since in a sense the entire chapter is about this question, there can be numerous reasons and examples of how culture influences the costs of doing business. Several are highlighted in the following sentences, but there could be numerous others.) When there are simply different norms between how individuals from different countries interact, the costs of doing business rise as people grapple with unfamiliar ways of doing business. For example, while in the US we may get down to business first, and then get to know each other socially later, in many Asian and South American countries it is important to develop a good social relationship before trying to discuss business issues. Different class structures and social mobility also raise the costs of doing business, for if there are inhibitions against working with people from different classes, then the efficiency with which information can flow may be limited and the cost of running a business increased. A country's religion can also affect the costs of business, as religious values can affect attitudes towards work, entrepreneurship, honesty, fairness, and social responsibility. In Hindu societies where the pursuit of material well being can be viewed as making spiritual well being less likely, worker productivity may be lower than in nations with other religious beliefs. Finally, a country's education system can have important implications for the costs of business. In countries where workers receive excellent training and are highly literate, the need for specific worker training programs are decreased and the hiring of additional employees is facilitated.
QUESTION 2: Do you think that business practices in an Islamic country are likely to differ from business practices in the United States, and if so how?
ANSWER 2: A number of aspects of the cultural differences between an Islamic country and the USA will cause business practices to differ dramatically. The role women can。