Asian Business Culture - Case Study Example

How Do Asian Cultures Impact on Management Practices in Asia? Introduction: Since the last few decades the Asian countries have shown a great endeavor towards the growth and advancement towards the business. The cultural differences have given a diversified looks to the Asian countries. There are many numbers of religions, languages and people are residing in the Asian countries. Few of the powerful nations Asia are China, India, Korea, and Japan etc. There are many religions, languages, cultures, people in Asia, but the charismatic beauty remains untouched while the harmony among the diversity is observed. Asian Business culture: Business culture is a blend of cultural heritages and the business of the country. Business culture is a phenomenon which has been developed with the passing of the time and it is been introduced repeatedly with the spread of the commercialism. (Ikeo 1997, 48). It is a mixture of spiritual content and materialistic form created by the merchants or the businessmen through their business acclivities. It has been practiced since the inception of the commerce and the human civilization. There are many religions and thoughts are available in Asian Countries, most of them are Hindus, Muslims, Buddhist and Christian. Most of the powerful nations in Asia mostly south eastern Asian countries follow the teaching of Confucius. In China the ideas and values of the Confucius ideology is still taken very seriously and it is very important for any other country to know the basic idea behind the Confucian to understand basic behavior of the Chinese. (Bucknall 2002, 12). Confucius wanted a political system where the emphasis was given to the properly ordered relationship in the human society. The main aim was to sustain the harmony among the different society. Confucian Ideology: Confucianism is mainly of a socio-cultural behavior than a religion which has given a great boost towards the business culture in S. Korea, China and many other South East Asian countries. The basic Confucian ideologies focus on five types of relations, each of them has clear duties. They are “Ruler to people”: The ruler demands absolute loyalty and obedience from his people. “Husband to wife”: Husband rules over the wife. “Parent to children”: Children should always obey their parents without asking any questions. “Older to younger”: Aged people should always be respected by the young people. “Friend to friend”: Friends should be loyal to each other and should be helpful to each other, dishonesty is a social crime and demands punishments. These Confucian thoughts are smoothly blended within the business culture and environment. (Genzberger 1994, 137-139). In any Asian company in these countries, the boss is the ruler and the father figure within the organization, workers have to obey the boss and work accordingly for the betterment of the company. Women are not given much importance in the work culture, most of the time they are given inferior roles such as secretary, however extra ordinary talents may differ some cases for the women in business environment. (Genzberger 1994, 137-139). Chwulsin or social affiliation is given a great importance in Korean business culture. It is extremely important to know one’s social affiliation or the chwulsin in S. Korea. When an organization hires manpower they may tend to hire applicants with same chwulsin. (Song, 2005, 12-14). Asian companies have high level of vertical hierarchy and centralization where decision making power depends on higher authority. However, even though the ruling power is hierarchical it is also glorified with the Korean concept inwha, which focuses on harmony between the same rank of people or employees. (South Korean Management Style, N.d). It is very much well known to most of the people that Buddhism has been originated from India and it has been accepted with honor in most of the Asia Pacific countries. However, each of these countries has different culture and religion which has given a different business looks to these countries. Quanxi in China: The Quanxi is basically referred to the connections. And that is called the social market economy with Chinese characteristics. The Quanxi has a magical ability of speeding thing up. This particular subject is practiced in all over China and it is in the blood of Chinese society. It is a known as the social and business resource and every Chinese think it should be practiced irrespective of its low publicity. (Cushman and King. 2001, 114). Ringi in Japan: Japan is having the religion mainly driven by the Buddhism, however, there are few more religions and one of them is Shinto religion founded in 1814 by the priest Kurozumi Munetada. It is one of the oldest of the new religions in Japan and it has combined aspects of new and established types. (Hardacre. 1988. 3). Ringi is very much followed in the business culture in Japan it literally means group discussion. This is one of the most common processes of making decision in Japan. The Ringi is normally practiced in the lower level managers in Japan. (Nishiyama. 2000. 122). Promotion system: in most of the Asian countries the promotion system is based on the achievement, examinations and obviously upon the collective result of performance and cultural behavior within the organization. However, in Korea the influence system may work sometimes. In this case the senior manager can put some influence on the promotion. However, other factors like tenure and performance do matter. (Mody,and World Bank, 1997, 120). India and Hinduism: India is another powerful nation in the Asia. India has given birth of many religions some of them are Indian- Brahmanism or Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. Most of the Asian countries are politically and culturally influenced by Indians. (Thakur 1986, 1). Hinduism and Geeta have given a tremendous potential to the Indian business culture. Hinduism is the world’s oldest known religion and it has over ninety million followers all over the world. (Albertson, 2007, 62). The spiritual effects are all over the places in business in India and it has shown a different paradigm in the business field in India which has attracted many foreigners to enjoy the spiritual healing. There are many Gods and Goddesses are there in the Hindu culture and they are respected in the business field even Lord Ganesha is treated as the God of Trade Goddess Laxmi is treated as the Goddess of wealth. These sacred rituals are followed strictly in most of the business institutions in India. Conclusion: With the help of the through study it is very much prominent that, culture has a great effect on the business. The rich teaching of Confucius has a great value even today. It is very true that the highly diversified cultures have shaped the countries in Asia and it has attracted many foreign countries for the international business. The harmony in the diversified cultures in Asia has modernized the Asia countries. (Pye and Pye 1985, ix). Business has essence of money and a great flavor of culture with the proper blend it can show many miracles and ultimate success which have been already proved. References: Albertson Todd. 2007. The gods of business: the intersection of faith and the marketplace. Texas: Trinity Alumni Press. Bucknall Kevin 2002 .Chinese Business Etiquette and Culture. North Carolina: C&M Online Media, Inc. Cushman Donald P and King Sarah Sanderson. 2001. Excellence in communicating organizational strategy. New York: SUNY Press. Genzberger, C. 1994. Korea-business: the portable encyclopedia for doing business with Korea. California: World Trade Press. Hardacre Helen. 1988. Kurozumikyō and the new religions of Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Ikeo, A. 1997. Economic development in twentieth century East Asia: the international context London: Routledge. Mody Ashoka and World Bank. 1997. Infrastructure strategies in East Asia: the untold story. Washington: World Bank Publications. Nishiyama Kazuo. 2000. Doing business with Japan: successful strategies for intercultural communication. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. Pye Lucian W and Pye Mary W. 1985. Asian power and politics: the cultural dimensions of authority. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. Song, J. 2005. The Korean Language: structure use and context. London: Routledge. Thakur, Upendra. 1986. Some aspects of Asian history and culture. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications. N.d. “South Korean Management Style”. WorldBusinessCulture.Com. http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/South-Korea-Management-Style.html. Accessed on: July, 16. 2010. Read More