INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CULTURES

International Business Cultures

Name of the Writer

Name of the Institution

International Business Cultures

Introduction

Culture has a vital role in international business, particularly because globalization has rapidly increasing, and businesses are expanding their national borders to penetrate in globe business market.

Culture can be defined as a set of mutual values, beliefs, norms and customs, as well as integrated pattern of behaviors such as actions, speech and thoughts that are hold by group of people. According to the framework of Hofstede (2001), cultural dimensions are classified into five based on one's life pattern, behavior and attitude. The dimension of collectivism/ individualism talks to the dialectical association between groups and individuals. The power distance dimension is defined as the extent of hierarchical power sharing in a society. Avoidance of uncertainty defines the extent to which group of people are open-minded to uncertainties. The dimensions of femininity/ masculinity explain the roles of gender in a society. The short-term versus long-term orientation deals with the differences in cultural virtues and values. Values related with short-term orientation are protecting one's face, fulfilling social obligations, and respect for tradition, and values related to the long-term orientation are perseverance and thrift.

Discussion

Key Cultural Differences between China and Romania

Every culture is surrounded by some rules which the members perceive as a fact. In few cultures, cultural values are imprinted at a very early. And, most of culture's phobias, values, beliefs, anxieties, rules and knowledge are absorbed unconsciously and taught explicitly. There is no doubt that we all are individuals and there is guarantee that people belong to a particular culture reacts in a similar way. But, some extent of generalization exist that give indications on how people of a certain culture behaves in a particular situation, as well as how those dissimilarities impact communication.

The culture of Romania and China are low in individualism, and the power distance is high in both cultures, while masculinity is medium. In contrary, to the culture of China, the Romanian culture is low on long-term orientation. The two countries are different in terms of uncertainty avoidance; China has medium avoidance of uncertainties, whereas Romania culture has high extent of uncertainty avoidance. These differences in both countries' cultural dimensions may have an impact on business activities and attitudes, when they get engage in collective business activities. For instance, the higher power distance in both cultures provides an opportunity to business leaders of both countries can persuade communication at the same level. The avoidance of uncertainty may be linked to the cautiousness of business leaders while making a business deal.

The short-term/ long-term orientation has a direct influence on business attitude in the direction of spending or consumption. Reasonably, Romanians are more eager to integrate new things in their lives in comparison to the people in China. Romania leaders are more cautious and thrifty in the direction of investing money than Chinese do.

Cultural Dimensions

Individualism

Long-term Orientation

Masculinity

Power Distance

Uncertainty Avoidance

Romania

Low

Low

Medium

High

High

China

Low

High

Medium

High

Medium

Source: Wang & Toncar, 2008, pp.25-30

One of the key dimensions of cultural difference between cultured of Romania and China ...