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japanese society and culture
japanese society and culture
japanese society and culture
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Culture The following sections explore the cultural differences encountered by all businesses desiring to expand their organizations internationally. For most, international culture is typically associated with visible and/or audible elements such as language, food, music and fashion. The “Iceberg Theory” provides a good visual model to broaden ones understanding of all cultural elements which should be considered. The iceberg (Figure 1) depicts both visible (on the surface) and invisible (below the surface) cultural elements (MacLachian). In an international setting, the elements below the surface are the most significant and all too often overlooked. The subsurface elements include cultural aspects such as thought processes, gender …show more content…
Awareness of culture when traveling to a foreign country is invaluable knowledge which only serves to enhance one’s travel experience. “There is no more noble calling than to help the people of the world live together in peace and understanding with a fully developed spirit of inquiry about other cultures and their ways (Kohls).” As it relates to international business, cultural awareness will significantly impact intercultural management for the organization within the desired host country. Therefore, an organization starting and/or expanding their business in a new country should consider cultural factors as a hedge to success. The first factor to consider is cultural sensitivity, which is the awareness of and concern for others culture. The empathy resulting from this sensitivity is necessary for effective cross-cultural management (Payne). Remember, culture is not inherited. On the contrary, culture is learned …show more content…
In the case of Snap Fitness’s target country Japan, the culture has evolved significantly over the last millennia. Historically speaking, the first recorded Japanese culture, the hunter / gatherer culture, dates back to approximately 12,000 BC. Today, Japan is regarded as having a contemporary hybrid culture with influences from Asia, Europe and North America (Wikipedia). Typically, a country with a long established cultural history would be resistant to the idea of cultural convergence. On the contrary, Japan seems quite willing to adopt western culture. Surprisingly, Japan seems eager to adopt American culture, despite the horrendous acts of man which ended World War II. Since WWI the Japanese people are continuing to readily adopt western culture and are actually quite fond of
Constant technological and global changes create challenges that forces leaders to manage different cultures in different countries. People, goods, services, and ideas are moving today at greater speeds which mean our labor force is becoming more diverse and multicultural by the day. Effective leaders need to understand such global dynamics in order to successfully manage organizational cultures. The cultures of leaders and their core assumptions might be different from the values and assumptions of employees in a different country. Two managers working for the same global company might see things differently due to their backgrounds and cultural values. The different countries, in which the organization operates, will have different cultures depending on the social, economic, and political history of the country. Managing and understanding these differences need an effective cross-cultural thinking leader (Yukl, 2013). Some research questions that Yukl, 2013 suggests are: 1) how behavior differs across cultural values and for different countries? 2) How values and behaviors are influenced by personality across company and country? 3) What types of traits, skills, and experience are most useful to prepare a leader being assigned to a new country? 4) How does the fast-changing culture in developing countries affect and relate to
Understand and heed cultural differences - cultural variables in transacting international business. (1991, January 28). Business America. FindArticles.com., Retrieved March 20, 2009, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1052/is_n2_v112/ai_10412261/pg_4?tag=content;col1
middle of paper ... ... titutions, and organizations across nations", Thousand Oaks, 2001 Hofstede, Geert H.: "Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind", New York, 1997 Marx, Elisabeth: "Breaking through culture shock: what you need to succeed in international business"; London, 1999 Mendenhall, Mark E./ Kühlmann, Torsten M../ Stahl, Günther K./ Osland, Joyce S.: "Employee Development and Expatriate Assignments" in Gannon, Martin J./ Newman, Karen L. (Editors): "The Blackwell Handbook of cross-cultural management", Oxford, 2002 Simpson, J.A./ Weiner, Edmund S.C. (prepared by): "Oxford English Dictionary", 2nd edition, Oxford, 1991 Wagner, W.: "Kulturschock Deutschland", Hamburg, 1996 Ward, Colleen: "Acculturation" in Landis, Dan/ Bhagat, Rabi S. (Editors): "Handbook of Intercultural Training", Thousand Oaks, 1996
This means that the business needs to understand the culture of the foreign market and develop cultural literacy (Wild & Wild, 2016, p. 43). Business managers must understand the values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviours of the foreign market (Wild & Wild, 2016, p. 44). Failing to understand the foreign market’s culture can be detrimental to a business. It can result in offending foreign business managers, destroying business relationships, and failing to achieve market opportunities abroad.
The act of crossing cultures can be as simple as being the new kid in school just across town or as complex as belonging to a family who has recently moved half-way around the world. Each of these examples will invariably hold familiarities as well as polar opposite situations. Having the ability to adapt to new environments, people, and their culture will give a person a unique skill set that many people do not have undoubtedly making them invaluable as friends and ambassador’s. So the question is, “Where does this cultural proficiency originate and is it possible for anyone to become an expert at intercultural competence?”
Culture of a society represents the customary beliefs, values, and social constraints that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation. Culture includes all the common characteristics to the member of a particular group or society. It is through culture that a particular group define themselves, conforms to society’s shared values, and contributes to the society. Culture incorporates all the societal aspects which include language, customs, values, norms, mores, rules, policies, tool, technologies, products, associations, organizations, and institutions.
The initiation of intercultural effectiveness can be derived from behaviour impacted by its cultural differences and “cultural self-awareness includes recognition of one’s own cultural influences upon values, beliefs, and judgements, as well as the influences derived from the professional’s work culture” (Winkelman, 2005, p. 9)
Our economic development will forever be defined as our ability to succeed internationally. PwC forecasts India’s real annual GDP growth until 2050 at 8.9 percent, Vietnam’s at 8.8 percent, and China’s at 5.9 percent. The list of fast-growing emerging markets goes on and on. The U.S. forecast is a meager 2.4 percent, comparable with most Western economies. The domestic companies that are likely to see incremental growth in the coming decades are those that are not only doing business internationally, but that are developing the strategic skill set to master doing business across cultures. Cross-cultural core competence is at the crux of today’s sustainable competitive advantage. For example, political environment will tell us, as to how and why political leaders control, whether and how of international business. Legal environment, both national and international will tell us about many kinds of laws by which business firms must work. The cultural environment will tell us about attitudes, beliefs and opinions important to business people. Economic environment will tell us about the economic system being followed by the host country, which may or may not be different from home country. It will also explain the variables such as level of development, human resources, Gross Domestic Per Capita and consumption patterns that determine a firm’s ability to do business. Geography will tell us about location, quantity, and quality of the world’s resources.
International travel can enable people to exchange ideas, gain valuable life experience and achieve a greater wisdom that can only be obtained in the course of their travel. However, despite the possible benefits of international travel, it can, however, potentially harm the countries that are strongly attached to their own culture. In this case, Brunei Darussalam, as a country strongly emphasise on the Malay Islamic Monarchy philosophy. Because the nation's philosophy plays a vital role in Bruneian lifestyle, the exchange of viewpoints from other countries may pose as a threat to its traditional cultures particularly in areas of language, Malay custom as well as environment.
As companies grow and put heavier weight on the importance of globalization, the need for companies to partake in cultural learning becomes more and more vital. With the various cultures worldwide, companies will find it highly beneficial to not only learn what makes the people within these cultures tick, but more importantly, apply it to their business strategies. In order to successfully manage, merge, or trade with other countries, one must understand how cultures differ from each other and what steps they need to take to be successful when conducting business with these cultures. The use of cultural anthropologists has proven beneficial for companies like Google, Intel, and Microsoft in implementing their business
Globalisation and global flows of culture have redefined the processes in which we share and connect to ourselves, others, and the world. From its onset, globalisation had both proponents’ and critics; some believed that it leads to a rich, hybrid global culture. Others saw it as the west versus the rest, an imprint of Western values and ideologies upon the world’s rich and diverse cultures. In exploring global flows of culture, we can observe these major assumptions about globalisation as well as its changing nature. New, ‘reverse’ cultural flows have begun to emerge and question these traditional assumptions. The case study of Japan’s ‘pink globalisation’ is one such reverse flow.
Explain the concept of culture. Why is it important to avoid ethnocentricity and gain cultural literacy?
a company can familiarize itself with cultural nuances which may impact the design, packaging or advertising of the product. Moreover, traveling abroad allows one to locate and cultivate new customers, as well as improve relationships and communication with current foreign representatives and associates
There is no doubt that the business world is changing rapidly and that many factors are also simultaneously interacting. Perhaps these factors are created by cultural diversity.
Sonderberg, A-M & N Holden. (2002), Rethinking cross cultural management in a globalizing business world' International Journal of Cross Culture Management 2(1): 103-121