MMS408 LECTURE 2 CULTURE & INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
 Across the globe, people behave differently, even when faced with similar situations.  For example, in the US and the EU drivers automatically stop at a stop sign, but in many third world countries, drivers stop only if there is traffic in the other direction.
 In Mexico, when the president gives a speech (to the nation) on TV or radio, everyone listens.  In the US or the Netherlands, most people switch to a different station and depend on the newspaper to fill them in with the news later.
In France and the UK meetings start on time; whereas in Peru, Zimbabwe, or Saudi Arabia meetings often begin late. In Japan, in most, if not all African and Asian countries, politeness is very important, so people frequently say ‘yes’ when they mean ‘no’.
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In the Netherlands, what you see is what you get. Most people say what they really mean.
 What accounts for these differences?  Culture, which is learned through both education and experience, is passed from one generation to another - so it is enduring.
 To be successful in multinational businesses, one must understand the cultures of other countries and learn how to adapt to them.  To some extent, all individuals are homecountry oriented ; the challenge in international business is learning how to broaden one’s perspective to avoid making business decisions based on misconceptions.
One cause of these misconceptions is ethnocentrism, the belief that one’s way of doing things is superior to that of others. Ethnocentric behaviour can be found in both people and organisations.
In the case of individuals in a society, it often takes the form ‘we’re better than anyone else’. In the case of organisations, it is typified by an MNE that uses the same strategies abroad as it employs at home, because it is convinced that the way business is done in the home country is superior to that used by the competition overseas.
Other examples include : 1) not adapting a product to a particular market’s special needs, 2) bringing profits to the home country without any reinvestment in the foreign market, and 3) filling key positions of overseas subsidiaries with national managers who have done well at home but have no international experience.
 Ethnocentric behaviour can be avoided by learning about the culture where one will be doing business.
Fons Trompenaars , a professor at Leiden University’s Business School, is a Culture Management expert from the Netherlands. He is one of the two most sought after European academics in the field of culture
The other celebrated Culture Management guru, also from the Netherlands, is Geerd Hofstede who wrote the definitive ‘Cultures and Organisations’. He is a professor at Maastricht University’s International School of Management.