Good Cultural Considerations In International Management Critical Thinking Example

CULTURAL CONSIDERATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT

Understanding the culture is one of the most important aspects when deciding to invest in a country or deciding whether to enter in a new country. It is critical to understand the cultural factors that could impact the business in the new country (Svetlicic, 2010). These factors not only include the consumer preferences, consumer behaviour, but even different aspects that impact human resource. Hofstede theory is very helpful in this regard as it presents the general idea of the cultural of the people in the country such as individualism vs team work, long term orientation or short term etc (Hofstede, 1984).
Many researchers have conducted research on understanding the culture of the country and their impact on the success of the business. In this regard, there are some countries that are considered as difficult countries and these countries have different cultural background than other countries. Thus it makes difficult for people of the home country to come and adapt to the culture of the host country. Because of these cultural differences, many businesses have failed over the years. For instance, many large MNEs have failed in countries like Japan and China only because they were not able to understand the norms and values shared by the people in these countries (Dunning, & Lundan, 2008). However, this does not mean that one cannot invest in such countries and make his business successful. Though, in order to make the business successful, the management has to understand the cultural factors that could impact the success and then train employees accordingly (Thomas, & Peterson, 2014). Moreover, the management has to formulate strategies in accordance to the cultural differences of the host and home country so that the best output can be achieved.

References

Dunning, J. H., & Lundan, S. M. (2008). Multinational enterprises and the global economy. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hofstede, G. (1984). Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications. 
Svetlicic, M. (2010). Multinational Enterprises and the Global Economy.Transnational Corporations, 19(3), 103-107.
Thomas, D. C., & Peterson, M. F. (2014). Cross-cultural management: Essential concepts. Sage Publications.