RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Research Proposal

Research Proposal

Research Background/context

The expansion of multinational corporations has led to an increase in cross-national business interactions in which people are clearly labelled by nationality. Product design teams include engineers from French, German, and Japanese subsidiaries; Mexican manufacturers sell to Swiss companies. Popular writing in international business indicates that this national identification is likely to lead to biased perception. Adler (2001:75), for example, warns of a tendency to reinterpret incoming information to make it more stereotype consistent. Lane and DiStefano (2002:22) worry that managers might discount creative input from managers of countries associated with negative stereotypes -- interpreting their ideas as "primitive" or "lazy." That concern is certainly bolstered by research in psychology. Diehl and Jonas (2001:9) found that people do stereotype national groups.

Organization background

Historically, international companies have been run from home offices with the monocultural spirit of the native country. Numerous French companies, for example, proudly bore the slogan, "Made in France", as a symbol of "quality, good taste and tradition." Yet, the history of the monocultural policy was short-lived. Today, only certain French companies specializing in the fields of cosmetics, fashion and alcoholic beverages retain such policies. By choosing not to emphasize aspects of their foreign identity when working abroad, a majority of today's international companies avoid considerable risks of overwhelming local customs and of clashing with local mentalities.

Society's modern technological advancements force international businesses to formulate global strategies that balance the concepts of globalise and localism. The expansion of mass media such as television, satellites and, most recently, the Internet, has encouraged the development of international communication, rendering large-scale marketing indispensable. Today, companies encounter expanding markets, migrating populations, and the global diffusion of their products. They have modified their campaign strategies accordingly, seeking to promote images that are monolithic in regard to company culture with no regard to nationality.

Rationale for the chosen topic

The reason for choosing this topic is because stereotypes based on accent (Bodenhausen & Wyer, 2005:16), sexual orientation (Weissbach & Zagon, 2005:96-105), and socioeconomic status (Darley & Gross, 2003:74-88), among others, have been shown to bias evaluation of individuals associated with those stereotyped groups which impacts the international businesses. International businesses may include the schools, organizations, etc.

Statement of the problem

A significant number of common elements found in stereotypes held by international managers from different cultures could provide an indication of the existence of a common cultural code among international managers. If all participants came from industrialized nations, these findings would support the arguments of the convergence approach that managers in industrialized nations will embrace the attitudes and behaviours common to managers in other industrialized nations despite cultural differences.

Research questions

Under what circumstances are international businesses cultural factors helpful, or, creates negative impact?

Whether stereotypes held by businesspeople who come from different backgrounds reflect the culture of those holding the stereotype or reflect other elements, such as common professional experiences, which cut across the boundaries of culture.

Research Objectives

The objective of this proposal will be to discuss the cultural factors that have impact on doing business ...