Culture in International Business - Essay Example

Culture in International Business: An Article Review
The author of this particular article, “Culture and International Business”, sets out to discuss and understand the unique way in which international business must not only impart the objectives of foreign ownership, but must also work to incorporate key cultural factors of the domestic region within which the firm is operation (Pamaro 2011). This juxtaposition requires a business/firm to be both fluid and adaptive to the way it understands and appreciates the cultures of its contributing units. However more than a mere vague familiarity and appreciation for the culture in question, the author goes on to state that a solitary determinant of success with relation to international business is the ability of the participating individuals, especially management, to understand and appreciate the importance of cultural determinacy on the work process.
In this way, the author advocates additional training for upper level management so that they will be able to understand and appreciate key cultural nuances which can help to increase the overall efficiency and dynamism of the firm’s international operations. Although a level of cultural understanding has become common place within many firm’s training regimens as a function of knowing and appreciating the unique cultural aspects that are exhibited between the personnel of a foreign branch. In this way, management’s ability to understand the levels of nuance and meaning that exist within such a group is a key determinant as to whether the employees themselves will feel an overall sense of appreciation and inclusion with respect to the company as a whole.
Such an emphasis on attempting to relate to and understand the cultural considerations with relation to foreign operations is something that likely cannot be overemphasized due to the primal nature of how human beings identify with their culture and then project these identifications within the workplace environment (Lung et al 2012). As such, rather than seeking to change the culture of the given workplace as a means to reflect a more domestically centric version of the firm’s operations, it is the duty of the manager to ensure that equal consideration is given to the unique cultural needs of the employees that he/she is responsible for.
Although there already exists a large body of scholarship on the needs of the international business to recognize and focus upon the unique cultural needs of their component parts, as previously stated, this is truly something that cannot be underemphasized. Moreover, due to the fact that the author helps to lay out a quantifiable and descriptive list of ways in which such a process can be effected in order to achieve a better quality of product from the component parts of an international firm’s units.
Reference
Lung-Tan, L. (2012). Etic or Emic? Measuring Culture in International Business Research. International Business Research, 5(5), 109-115. doi:10.5539/ibr.v5n5p109
Páramo Morales, D. (2011). Culture and international business. Pensamiento & Gestión, (30), 1. Read More