International

culture
By Falcons Group

Introduction
Culture: the sum total of the beliefs, rules,
techniques, institutions and artifacts that
characterize human populations or the collective
programming of the mind.
Socialization Process: The process of
enculturation or the adoption of the behaviour
patterns of the surrounding culture.

Elements of culture

Language
Language is critical to culture because it is the
primary means used to transmit information and
ideas.
Knowledge of local language can:
permit a clearer understanding of a situation;
provide access to local people;
allows the person to pick up nuances, implied
meanings, and other information that is not stated
outright.

Religion
Religions influence lifestyles, beliefs, values and
attitudes and can have a dramatic effect on the
way people in a society act toward each other and
towards those in other societies.
Religion also influences:
the work habits of people;
the work and social customs (from the days of the
week on which people work to their dietary habits);
politics and business.

Values and attitudes

Values: basic convictions that people have
regarding what is right and wrong, good and bad,
important and unimportant.
Attitude: a persistent tendency to feel and
behave in a particular way toward some object.

Customs and manners

Customs: common or established practices.
Manners: behaviour regarded as appropriate in a
particular society.

Corporate culture
Corporate culture is a term used to characterize,
how the managers and employees of particular
companies tend to behave.
Corporate culture is also used by human resource
managers and senior management in their
attempts to proactively shape the kind of
behaviour (innovative, open, dynamic, etc.)
they hope to nurture in their organizations.
Promoting a distinctive corporate culture is also
expected to enhance the sense of community and
shared identity that underpins effective
organizations.

The importance of culture

in different business contexts

Influences of culture
on international management
Culture influences strategic management in a number of
ways:
Work attitudes
for example, work ethics, organization commitment, etc.

Achievement motivation

the desire to accomplish objectives and achieve

Time and future

for example: punctuality, decision-making time

expectations on implementation of
plans, etc.

Ethics

standards of conduct and morality.

success.
constraints, time

Culture and strategic

management
Cross-cultural management issues arise in a
number of situations, including:
Within a firm: Work attitudes, achievement
motivation, time and future and ethics, etc.
Between firms: M&As, joint ventures, alliances
and buyer-supplier relationships.
Between a firm and customers: Dealing with
customers.

Cf.) Dealing with national institutions.

Figure 5.1

Cross-cultural business contexts