National Business Cultures - in Theory and Experience - Essay Example

National business cultures: in theory and experience Most of the nations have something unique with them. This state of being peerless attracts the others, but as well deters them from having interactions, business and other relations. Particularly when the difference is in ideology, religion, and business strategies, everybody turns acutely aware to the degree of difference. On the other hand, successful business requires a perfect understanding of the consociate society. There are several sources to teach the mode of communication in business negotiations. However, instead of help, these sources sometimes may prove pannier for a number of reasons. Most important of them all is that a source requires you to memorise several things, one might feel it ‘difficult’, and a minute mistake may become a cultural hazard, causing unwarranted alienation. Then, formation of a theory is based on some research, but it takes a lot of time meanwhile, causing sufficient changes in the situations. Secondly, the authors of these ‘sources’ see the things from a theoretical point of view, which may differ from the ground realities. Thirdly, even the theories are created with an ‘alien’ eye, and that makes all the difference. Thus, is it much better to re-check the theories with the recent experiences. Particularly the shift in ‘evidences’ used in researched is necessary to be re-examined. The news sources can be quite a help in this process. Here we take case studies of Japan and France, two very important countries from the business point of view, yet culturally ‘sufficiently peculiar’ to a common westerner, say a British. Understanding national business culture of Japan In order to understand the difference between theory and practice in comprehending Japanese business culture, we first of all take a view of the theoretical position. There are countless books, articles and websites which attempt to teach people how to communicate with the Japanese in business negotiations. It is assumed that in order to better understand and negotiate with the Japanese, learning about both the Japanese and their own national culture and history through literature, folktales and religion is essential. Morrison et al. (1994), examined UK and Japanese business cultures and the resulting behaviours. Similarly, Geert Hofstede (1993) and Trompenaars (1993) observe to varying degrees how business culture is closely tied to national culture. Morrison, Conaway, and Borden (1994) summarise specific behaviours of people in different nations. They focused mainly on specific actions in varied situations, from ordinary life to business negotiations. They organised the data into similar formats for each country, so that the reader may draw comparisons between the nations. Their studies establish not only the differences between the British and Japan in the way they conduct business, but also strongly place a clear link between business and everyday behaviours, establish that business culture is closely tied to national culture. Hofstede defines organizational culture as “the collective programming of the mind, which characterize the members of one organization from others,” (1991, p. 237) and national culture as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members in one human group from another” (1991, p. 21). According to Hofstede culture and can be viewed and explained by four concepts : symbols, heroes, rituals and values. Hofstede concludes that “ the organizational culture can best be studied and compared by its practices, while national culture is best suited for study and comparison at the values level. As people within an organization are influenced both by shared practices and co-workers, they are prone to act in a way that separates them from people who work in another company or even sub- culture in the same organization.” Certainly, symbols, heroes, rituals and values - all ingredients of history, are not the only source of national culture. Studies have also examined how technology affects national culture. An study by Straub, Keil & Brenner (1997) compared the impact of TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) on the Information and Communication Technologies across three different countries: Japan; Switzerland; and the United States. The same instrument - email - was administered to employees of three different airlines. The results indicate that TAM holds for both the U.S. and Switzerland, but not for Japan, suggesting that the model may not predict technology use across all cultures. All said and done, yet the theory and research can not provide the fool-proof model of business relations across national cultures. Hofstede himself has acknowledged that the core organizational culture is the common understanding of day-to-day practices. These practices might be emanating ultimately from the values, but that is hazardous to conclude. As values are difficult to measure, because they are unconsciously manifested, one is compelled to measure national cultural differences by inference from current practices. In fact, the national culture can only manifest itself through verbal and/or non-verbal behavior of individuals in a society. Else, there is no way to probe into the collective unconscious values of an entire culture. There we come to the empirical aspect. Here is a case of a group who had gone to Japan for business, although with an added tourism component and took help from books about etiquette especially for business persons. They picked Etiquette Guide to Japan by Boye De Mente, and two other similar guides. See what Phil Stripling says about the experience and the books in his book review. “We found the books helpful, but Japan is changing very rapidly, and all of the books had information was contradicted by what we saw during our brief week in Osaka, Kyoto, and the surrounding towns. Please keep in mind, though, that these books are written by people who have spent considerable time there; we have not.” (stress added) “We had problems with names, mixed up telephone messages, and train schedules. Our hosts took us to traditional restaurants where our food included raw fish and what was called "the reproductive organs of tuna." We had a wonderful time. ” (stress added) “Etiquette Guide to Japan is a small book.. a nice guide … and … mentions that Japanese have a "strongly negative" attitude toward Japanese and foreign couples dating. (on the contrary)We saw many mixed couples, with none attracting any obvious attention. Handholding, arms around each other, and embraces seemed to be as common in Osaka and Kyoto as in the U.S. … I feel it never hurts to be conservative, and if the book promoted "old fashioned" behavior, no harm was done. ” (stress added) In internationalbusiness.suite101.com, Bhumika Ghimire writes – “But due to cultural misunderstandings and many myths about the Japanese market and society, American and European companies have been rather hesitant about investing in Japan unless absolutely necessary. Some of the myths about Japan and its business environment are: You need billions to enter the Japanese market, … the fact is that for any technology company, Japan is the best market to enter because consumers are very quick to adapt to new gizmos, they have larger disposable income and there is opportunity to integrate new technology from Japan's highly sophisticated local companies. In Japan it takes a foreign company a long time to break into the scene because of the strong local companies. It is true that Japan has some very strong local companies, but if you are prepared to make changes according to the customer's taste and requirements, it is one of the most rewarding markets. ….. Japanese culture is very distinct from the European and American cultures, and the information available to learn about it is often far removed from reality. Japanese life and culture is more often portrayed wrapped in the oriental mystique, far from the actual modern day life. Some common social practices are: While entering a temple, shrine and homes you are expected to take off your shoes. So it's always a good idea to wear slip-on shoes with clean socks Gift giving is a very important part of Japanese culture. Do not forget to bring something for the host, your business partner and also for your colleagues Unless you are expressly asked, never use a first name to address someone Japan is a family-oriented society, where people believe that they are a part of a group. The group is the nation, family, school, office, etc. So sometimes the decision-making process is long and tedious because people seek the approval of the group before making the decision Ways of doing business in Japan are also very different from the US or European ways. Decision making is lot slower because people tend to seek approval of everyone in the group, especially the elders. Japan is a high context culture, where more is understood and less is expressed explicitly. For a person from a low context culture, sometimes it is difficult to understand what is actually meant. There are also questions about the participation of women in business. For most Japanese women it is common to leave their jobs after getting married or having children. So in many companies they try to hire fewer women, thus lowering the number of women in business and decision-making positions. Japanese are very hardworking and punctual people and expect the same from their partners. To arrive late is seen as disrespect.” Here are some news reports on the incidents of impact of culture on the business environment, business decisions and issues with particular reference to Japan and France. Japanese are known as tough negotiators and, as we have seen above, they take considerable time in taking a decision, for cultural reasons. Here is an example: “Mr. Toshihiko Takeda, Director, Economic Affairs Division, Health Policy Bureau, Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor & Welfare, ….spoke about the Ministry’s “new vision” for the future of the pharmaceutical industry in Japan.” “He said the Ministry will discuss fundamental changes to the pricing system starting next year that are expected to accelerate industry consolidation in Japan. The result will be at least one or two Japanese global megapharma companies within five to 10 years.” (Stress added) “ Mr. Hasegawa (from the discussion panel)commented on the need for critical mass in order to compete: “There are many hurdles to deal with in the Japanese market, including the continual price cuts from the Ministry of Health, Labor & Welfare, the slow review process and the restricted clinical study environment. The Ministry is trying to make improvements, but it takes time. The minimum critical mass needed for a Japanese company to globalize its operations is $5 billion in sales. However, even the fifth largest company in the Japanese market can’t make this critical mass, so there must be a lot more consolidation in the Japanese pharmaceutical industry so that globalization can occur.” Listening to Mr. Takeda and Mr. Hasegawa, one could conclude that economies of scale do indeed matter in Japan.” (Stress added) The above are the paragraphs quoted from the press release issued on Dec. 10, 2007 about the Pharma Forum Symposium held in New York, sighting clear cultural and even demographic aspects in a business preposition. However a still more interesting story appeared in Financial Times Deutschland. In its Business English section von Gwen Robinson wrote “A national passion speaks volumes about a country's collective psyche. Consider the English love of football, India's of cricket, Australia's mania for just about any sport, and Italy's and France's worship of food, wine and fashion. But on all things gastronomic, perhaps no country is as passionate - and exacting - as Japan, where tea-making is a semi-religious ritual, pastry chefs can gain rock star status, and people will queue for hours to buy courgette-flavoured macaroons or the first special mushrooms of the season.” “ But there is more to Japan's food obsession than a huge array of top-quality restaurants. Consider a few facts: More than one third of Japanese commercial television is devoted to food-related themes, from wacky eating competitions to earnest cooking programmes. On a per-capita basis, inner Tokyo (population 8.5m) boasts the highest concentration of eateries among the world's major cities - just under 200,000, according to the Tokyo government, compared with about 20,000 restaurants for Paris and 23,000 for New York City. Japan now draws more Michelin-starred chefs than any country apart from France. The simple reason for this dine-out culture is Tokyo's population density: people tend to live in small places, entertain rarely at home and eat out frequently. Entertainment expenses are still generous in Japanese business and Tokyo's vast financial industry. Further down the scale, one can eat heartily - and well - for just Y600 ($5.50). The lessons to be gleaned from all this start with Japan's insatiable curiosity - the kind that prompted Admiral Togo to bring back what is now one of Japan's best-loved dishes, niku jaga, a Japanised version of beef stew, from England in the late 1800s. New food trends or interesting restaurants immediately draw crowds. In the broader scheme of things, it is also what drives the Japanese to innovate. Then there is Japan's love of quality, seen in its precision manufacturing and worship of top brand names. It is much harder in Japan for chefs to get away with shoddy cooking. So, to training and Japan's famously harsh apprenticeship system. A trainee sushi chef may spend years gutting fish before being allowed to cut it. Then there is the drive for technical perfection and attention to detail. As Joseph Sampermans, a food and beverage manager at Tokyo's Peninsula Hotel, remarked: "As westerners, we always want to give it our own twist, but if Japanese are reproducing something, they just want to reproduce it perfectly." As with food, so with all things. (Financial Times Deutschland.de, 10.12.2007) ” (stress added) One more adds to this example of mixing up of culture and commerce. Corydon Ireland reports in Harvard university gazette online the story on Harvard historian and a Radcliffe Fellow Andrew D. Gordon. Gordon was a specialist on Japan and on Japan’s big labor, big steel, and big management. The sewing machine, made, marketed, and sold by the early 20th century Singer Manufacturing Co. caught his attention. Gordon said “ It was a Western prototype of global selling that changed little when inserted into the cultural crosscurrents of Japan. At the same time, Singer’s retail selling system helped introduce to Japan the ideal of middle-class life. Singer’s signature sewing schools offered women a measure of financial and cultural independence.” However the machine was pretty expensive to ordinary Japanese and ultimately, Singer failed to adapt its sales strategies to Japanese culture, or to address Japan-based competition. Singer also accounted for the “birth of the salesman” in Japan “as a key figure in modern society,” he said. This fundamentally is a story on shifts in social-cultural parameters with the introduction of a particular economic tool, more so if it has some aspects appended to it. Not all the peculiarities are with Japan. Japan does not make an oriental myth for being a Far Eastern country. In fact a lot of mystery is emanated at the fact that Japan was never a western colony. Thus the difference in taste and needs of Japanese customers, requires a special understanding on part of western companies. Japan is changing very fast as well. This change is brought about by a number of factors and most of them are economic in nature. There has been a decade of zero or negative growth, negligible returns on capital in most industrial conglomerates and so on. Still, among all the advanced industrial countries, Japan has the least of foreign investment. In fact less than one percent. Japanese companies are everywhere, but Very few Japanese people (less than 3% - 5%) speak good English. For these and other reasons, Japan sounds like a mystery to most of the westerners. However, the flip side too need be seen. Rather, the cultural difference is seen and shown as a sign of awkwardness, and this poses a major hindrance in understanding. A story by Dave Gardner of Northeast PA Business Journal gives a good account of these assumed awkwardness. In his article titled ‘Cultural differences create matters both humorous and weighty’, he writes “Mike Horvath, international trade manager, Enterprise Development Division with the NEPA Alliance, says that the ability to weather these cultural storms is a prime factor in global business success. A prime example is how the Saudi flag has a statement about their God written in Arabic. "This fact can have obvious implications for many Americans, and a potential for conflict," says Horvath” Doesn’t matter who wanted Mike Horvath to learn Arabic and gaze at the Saudi flag to feel offended, the story further mocks other cultures. Here are a few more quotes: “Another international shock cited by Dailey (Nadia Naismith Dailey, president and COO of Life Science Analytics) is that in Japan, after a business card exchange, you must "carry on" a bit and not simply ram the card into your pocket American style. This would be considered an insult….. Food may be served that a traveler cannot identify, and much of the third world is dirty with insects, contaminated water and a potential for disease.” He further calls it ‘worrisome.’ Similarly, in many news and views articles, solace is searched in possible dooms-day type of assessments for other nations. This is certainly a strong disincentive to learn and understand the other culture. For example, Murcury news in an atrcle published on 11/26/2007, titled ‘Valley's edge: Success hard to copy’ says “China's prospering coastal cities have impressive new skylines and numerous technology parks.”But they are still at a stage of doing a lot of copying and process innovation," observed Bill Miller, co-director of the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship.” Similar predictions are made for India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia in the same article. A clash of cultures is similarly searched in France as well , although with lesser success. Deregulation is easily translated into “greed”. However, The Press Association in its publication cited a survey, saying “British firms are seen as the easiest to do business with by a majority of continental companies.” This survey even discounts the resistance to political integration with the rest of the European Union. According to the survey “ 82% of the UK sample said they felt they were operating in a "borderless business culture" in Europe - compared with 70% in the other six countries who felt the same way.” Not only this, the survey say “(and)If there are difficulties establishing business relationships with firms in some other European countries, they are caused by bureaucracy.” Does not mean the the French culture is spared from sarcasm. Quoting the chef/owner of Glasgow's award-winning Chardon D'Or restaurant Brian Maule , The Herald on December 12 2007 says “"In France, they live to eat. Here, we eat to live," Maule told The Herald. "That is the fundamental difference. I read Cousin's comments and while there may have been an element of misquotation, it is inevitable that you have to adapt when you are in a new country.” The list is long. In the conclusive part only this much can be said that the global business has provided a good opportunity for the mankind to learn and understand different cultures. If the business has to go across cultures, the man will definitely have to do the same. To achieve it, one first of all must study one’s own culture, so that he or she may be sure of the ‘eyes’ which will behold the other culture. Secondly, the disdain or apathy part of thinking must be done away before one peeps into other cultures. References: Morrison, T., Conaway, W., & Borden, G. (1994). Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands. Masachuettes: Adams Media Corporation Hofstede, G. (1993). ‘Cultural Constraints in Management Theories’, Academy of Management Executive, 7(1): 81-94 Hofstede, G. (1991). Culture and organizations: Software of the mind. London, UK: McGraw Hill Straub, D. W., Keil, P., & Brenner, A. (1997). Testing the technology acceptance model across cultures: A three country study. Information & Management, 31 (1), 1-11 The Civilized Explorer.1997 http://www.pharmalive.com/News/index.cfm?articleid=499431&categoryid=63 http://www.ftd.de/karriere_management/business_english/:Business%20English%20However%20Tokyo/289838.html http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2007/12.06/09-gordon.html Northeast PA Business Journal, 11/29/2007 http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_7560066?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1 The Herald, December 12 2007 http://www.theherald.co.uk/sport/headlines/display.var.1894992.0.0.php Read More