Organizing a Business Trip to Chile - Essay Example

The paper "Organizing a Business Trip to Chile" is an outstanding example of an essay on business. Prior to establishing a business in a foreign market, it is critical to understand the cultural context of the target market. Moreover, there is a salient need to understand the business environment defined by the cultural setup of the people. Understanding these aspects enables one to understand the pertinent changes of business in their home country and that of a foreign market. When moving to Chile, which is a country in Latin America, it is critical to carry out intensive research aimed at identifying the most outstanding cultural differences that are likely to affect the way businesses operate. This paper will offer a brief description of such factors as they are evident in Chile.
 As highlighted above, Chile is one of the countries in Latin America that has an outstanding culture, business environment, and business practices. In order to venture into this market, it is important to understand all these aspects. A close analysis reveals that Chile is a collectivist society. According to Hofstede, a collectivist society has different values from those of an individualist society. Therefore, people from Chile regard group interest with a higher priority than individual interest. This is one factor that causes family and society as critical units of consideration of setting up a business in this country. A collectivist society exhibits a high level of loyalty to the “group.” Therefore, Chilean people are likely to respect organizational interests and have a sense of belonging to the business goals established by the organization. When opening a business in Chile, one should understand the different aspects of collectivism and how they affect business practices (Ahlstrom & Garry 97).
The fact that Spanish is the official language used by many people, the language barrier poses a certain challenge for new businesses in Chile. An individual has to familiarize himself/ herself with the foreign language if it is different from their usual language. As a collectivist society, there are rules associated with communication that foreigners should learn and abide by.
Examining Chile according to the Hofstedes’s indices, it emerges that the country registers a high score on the uncertainty avoidance index (97). This is the reason why Chile has numerous regulations, rules, and policies that seek to ensure a high level of predictability to avoid uncertainties. With stringent laws and rules, society avoids the occurrences of any uncertainty.
Further analysis reveals that the Chilean culture requires men and women to dress in a certain defined way and people not abiding by the expected standards are considered outsiders in that society. Moreover, Chile has a unique etiquette standard ranging from greetings, body language, formal and informal speech, a factor that needs intensive interaction with the people in order to learn. The business environment in Chile is quite promising because of the evident stability, which depends on imports of copper.

 Conclusion
As highlighted above, the Chilean culture is different from American culture. Chilean culture places emphasis on collectivism and businesses venturing into this region must be aware of this. Moreover, the Chilean culture accords respect to time and does not promote delays. The country is also governed by many rules in order to avoid uncertainties. Notably, women in this society have access to education and hold significant positions in the business.