I N T E R N A T I O N A L M A R K E T I N G

CULTURE, MANAGEMENT STYLE, AND BUSINESS SYSTEMS

CHAPTER:05

Submitted by: Hira AbbasSubmitted t0 : Nudrat Ishaque

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Topics To Be Covered

1. Required adaptation2. The impact of American culture on management style3. Management Style around the world4. Communication Styles5. P-Time versus M-Time6. Culture’s Influence on Strategic Thinking7. A Synthesis, Relation-ship Oriented vs. Information

oriented Cultures

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• Culture, including all its elements, profoundly affects management style and overall business systems

– Max Weber (1930)• Americans

– Individualists• Japanese

– Consensus oriented & committed to the group• Central & Southern Europeans

– Elitists and rank conscious

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

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• Knowledge of the management style existing in a country and a willingness to accommodate the differences are important to success in an international market

– Business culture– Management values– Business methods– Behaviors

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• Culture not only establishes the criteria for day-to-day business behavior but also forms general patterns of values and motivations

• A lack of empathy for and knowledge of foreign business practices can create insurmountable barriers to successful business relations

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REQUIRED ADAPTATIONAdaptation is a key concept in international marketing.

Ten basic criteria for adaptation.

1) open tolerance2) flexibility3) humility4) justice/fairness5) ability to adjust to varying tempos6) curiosity/interest7) knowledge of the country8) liking for others9) ability to command respect10) ability to integrate oneself into the environment

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• Essential to effective adaptation

―Awareness of one’s own culture and the ―Recognition that differences in others can cause anxiety,

frustration, and misunderstanding of the host’s intentions.

• The SELF-REFERENCE CRITERION (SRC) is especially operative in business customs.

• The key to adaptation is to remain American but to develop an understanding of and willingness to accommodate the differences that exist.

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• “Master of destiny” viewpoint

• Independent enterprise as the instrument of social action

• Personnel selection and reward based on merit

• Decisions based on objective analysis

• Wide sharing in decision making

• Never-ending quest for improvement

• Competition producing efficiency

THE IMPACT OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON MANAGEMENT STYLE

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MANAGEMENT STYLES AROUND THE WORLD

• Authority and decision making

• Management objectives and aspirations

• Communication styles

• Formality and tempo

• P-time versus M-time

• Negotiation emphasis

• Marketing orientation

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• Influencers of the authority structure of business:– High PDI Countries (power Distance Index)

Mexico, Malaysia– Low PDI Countries

Denmark, Israel• Three typical authority patterns:

– Top-level management decisions– Decentralized decisions– Committee or group decisions

Authority and decision making

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Communication styles

Face-to-face communication–Managers often fail to develop even a basic understanding of just

one other language–Much business communication depends on implicit messages

that are not verbalizedInternet communications

– Nothing about the Web will change the extent to which people identify with their own language and cultures• 78% of today’s Web site content is written in English• An English e-mail message cannot be understood by 35% of all Internet

users– Country-specific Web sites– Web site should be examined for any symbols, icons, and other

nonverbal impressions that could convey and unwanted message

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HIGH CONTEXT CULTURE:

• Middle East, Asia, Africa, and South America

• emphasize interpersonal relationships and trust.

Context over words: speaker’s tone of voice, facial expression, gestures, posture—and even the person’s family history and status.    • High-context communication tends to be more indirect and more

formal.• Flowery language, humility, and elaborate apologies are typical.

 

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• (North America and much of Western Europe)

• logical, linear, individualistic, and action-oriented.

• Decisions are based on fact and Discussions end with actions.

• communicators are expected to be straightforward, concise, and

efficient in telling what action is expected.

LOW CONTEXT CULTURE:

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Monochronic time– Tend to concentrate on one thing at a time– Divide time into small units and are concerned with

promptness– Most low-context cultures operate on M-Time

Polychronic time– Dominant in high-context cultures– Characterized by the simultaneous occurrence of many

things– Allows for relationships to build and context to be

absorbed as parts of high-context cultures

Most cultures offer a mix of P-time and M-time behaviorHave a tendency to be either more P-time or M-time in regard to the role time playsAs global markets expand more businesspeople from

P-time cultures are adapting to M-time.

P-Time versus M-Time

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• British-American– Individualistic

• Japan & Germany– Communitarian

• In the less individualistic cultures labor and management cooperate

• A competitive, individualistic approach works well in the context of an economic boom

• Fourth kind of capitalism – – Common in Chinese cultures– Predicted by culture

CULTURE’S INFLUENCE ON STRATEGIC THINKING

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A SYNTHESIS – RELATIONSHIP-ORIENTED VS. INFORMATION ORIENTED CULTURES

• Studies are noting a strong relationship between Hall’s high/low context and Hofstede’s Individualism/Collective and Power Distance indexes• Not every culture fits every dimension of culture in a precise way• Information-oriented culture

– United States• Relationship culture

– Japan• Synthesis of cultural differences allows us to make predictions

about unfamiliar cultures

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DIMENSIONS OF CULTURE, A SYNTHESIS

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• Understanding the culture you are entering is the only sound basis

for planning.

• Some cultures appear to emphasize the importance of information

and competition while others focus more on relationships and

transaction cost reductions.

• No matter how long in a country, the outsider is not a local – in

many countries that person may always be treated as an outsider

• Assuming that knowledge of one culture will provide acceptability

in another is a critical mistake.

SUMMARY