Cultural Differences And International Business

Stepping Outside the Box; Cultural Differences and International Business

Gittel Prero

Written Assignment 7

International Management

The word culture has always been a word that is hard to give an exact definition. There have been many people who tried and succeeded to give a good definition, but there was always argument about it. I believe the reason the word culture is hard to define, is because it’s more than a definition, it is being a part of something that has a deeper and inner meaning. The book, International Business; Competing in the Global Marketplace, defines 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.” Each culture includes their own beliefs, morals, laws, knowledge, customs, art and sometimes language. They each have their own unique was of living and take pride in what they do.

The values of a culture is the foundation on which they rest on. The values are the thought through set of ideals which defines for a culture what they believe is good or positive behavior and what they believe is bad or negative behavior. Values show the people amidst the culture what is proper behavior and what is the desirable way to act. The economic and political systems of a culture are usually based on their values. The way they do business and the way their government runs is based on their values. Their values show them and guide them in the ethical way of life.

The differences between different cultures is very drastic, due to the fact that there are so many aspects of a culture and people come from different areas. Each culture lives with their own values, beliefs and traditions and are not affected by the world aroun...

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...ould keep in mind are the cultural and ethical differences between cultures. The differences can lead to a disaster in some cases and can end very negatively. When choosing a country to work with, he should choose one with minimal differences and they should be differences he would be willing to work with and adapt to.

Cultures each have their unique ways, values and business manners. When doing business internationally, one has to keep in mind these differences and many times adjust to the differences. Ethics in international business is very hard to define because each culture has their own set of ethics and each strongly believe that their way is the right way. When entering into a business venture internationally, one should be aware of what he is walking into and be ready to compromise, because that is the only way to successfully do business internationally.