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eBook details

• Title: Culture's Influence on Business As Illustrated by German Business Culture (Report)
• Author : China Media Research
• Release Date : January 01, 2009
• Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
• Pages : * pages
• Size : 220 KB

Description

It is still quite common to hear business people assert that business is the same all over the world because all companies need to operate at a profit. In Germany, many business managers are still convinced that an excellent product sells itself. And indeed, if one were to look at the economic statistics, one would tend to assume that this is the case because German companies continue to be very successful with their exports. In fact, Germany has been and currently continues to be the leading export nation in the world (DIHK, 2008, August 18). One would, therefore, be inclined to agree with German business managers that culture is essentially irrelevant in the world of business today. But closer inspection reveals that the influence of culture does play a role in the world of business; a role that is often not apparent at first glance because the influence of culture is often indirect, hidden. Even if the root cause of an existing problem is culture, it is often not perceived as such because other factors are used to provide an explanation for these difficulties (Harris & Moran, 1996; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). The failed DaimlerChrysler merger may serve as a prominent example: While U.S. media cited cultural differences as the primary reason for the failure, even quoting Zetsche, DaimlerChrysler's CEO, in this context (Edmunds Auto Observer, 2007, May 17), German media explained the failure either due to costs (Spiegel Online, 2007, May 14; Capital, 2007, March 3) or disagreement on car models (Capital, 2007, March 3). While the U.S. media are somewhat sensitized to the topic of intercultural communication, German media are typically not; case in point, even though the EU had officially proclaimed 2008 to be the "Year of Intercultural Dialgue," Gemany proclaimed 2008 to be the "Year of Mathematics." This clearly demonstrates that if one is not sensitized to a particular subject, one will not consider it as a factor in the analysis of phenomena and instead consider other explanations (Hinner, 2005). For most people culture is not an apparent issue if the participants appear to be fairly similar to each other (Chen & Starosta, 1998; Gudykunst & Kim, 1997; Samovar et al., 1998). It seems that people need to associate culture with something tangible and visible to realize that differences do exist. And indeed, culture is exhibited through the visible artifacts it creates, including language (Gudykunst & Kim, 1997; Klopf, 1998; Samovar et al, 1998). So when people speak different languages or dialects, it is easier for most people to perceive a (linguistic) difference. However, in today's global economy many international business partners are fluent in English, wear similar business clothes, and often work in similar office environments so that "surface" differences tend to blend into a similar style (Harris & Moran, 1996; Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; Samovar et al,1998; Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, 1998). But culture is more than external appearance and mere artifacts. Culture also includes sociofacts and mentifacts that are not always readily apparent to the observer but are expressed by the actions and behavior of people as well as in the thinking and decision making process (Chen & Starosta, 1998; Gudykunst & Kim, 1997; Klopf, 1998; Martin & Nakayama, 1997; Samovar et al, 1998). These "hidden" differences, though, often emerge and cause problems in the day-to-day routine of constant interaction (Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005; Klopf, 1998; Samovar et al, 1998).

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