Business culture is secondary to a country’s general culture, but it provides the rules of the business game and explains the differences and the priorities.
Relationships
Relationships developed over a long period of time are the thing that reduces mistrust. To meet this challenge, you need to understand the countries, their people, and the cultures where you intend to do business.
Language
Ask international business people what language they speak, and they will say that they speak the language of the customer.
Language is one of the things that sets humans off from other forms of life. It is the way you tell others about your history and your intentions for the future. Language is the means of communicating within a culture.
For people in a given culture, their language defines their socialization.
Body Language
Body language is the subtle power of nonverbal communication. It’s the first form of communication you learn, and you use it every day to tell other people how you feel about yourself and them. This language includes your posture, gestures, facial expressions, costumes, the way you walk, and even how you view time, material things, and space.
Religion
Religion plays a major part in the cultural similarities and differences of nations. In itself religion can be a basis of mistrust and a barrier to trade. Religion is often the dominant influence for the consumer of products. Such things as religious holidays determine buying and consumption patterns. Knowing what is forbidden and what a society expects as a result of its various religions influences market strategy.
Values and Attitudes
The role of values and attitudes in international business is difficult to measure, but vital to success. Work ethic and motivation are the intan- gibles that affect economic performance.
Values of a society determine its attitudes toward wealth, consump- tion, achievement, technology, and change, and you must evaluate in terms of the host culture. Researching attitudes about openness and the receptivity to new technology is essential to marketing.
Laws and Legal Environment
The laws of a society are another dimension of its culture. They are the rules established by authority and society. On the one hand, laws provide an opportunity to handle the mistrust of doing business across international boundaries; on the other hand, they can become barriers
and constraints to operations. The laws of nations are often greatly dif- ferent. About half the nations of the world are under a form of code or common law, but the other half are under Muslim, communist, or indigenous laws. In actuality, none of the world’s legal systems are pure—
each nation has its own unique laws, but one can find many similarities and mixtures among each classification.
For most dealings you will be primarily interested in the law as it relates to contracts, but always view litigation as a last resort. Settle disputes in other ways if possible. Litigation is only for the stupid and the rich, because it usually involves long delays during which invento- ries are tied up and trade is halted. Lawsuits are costly, not just because of the money but also because of the broken relationship that results.
Most international commercial disputes can be solved by conciliation, mediation, and arbitration. The International Chamber of Commerce provides an arbitration service that can often be written into a sales contract for use should the unspeakable happen.
Education
Culture shapes our thoughts and emotions. Motivation is influenced by our education as well as other things such as values and religion which we have already discussed. The biggest international difference is the educational attainment of the populous. The next biggest difference is the educational mix. In some countries such as the United States there is little difference in the mix. Practically all Americans are educated from kindergarten through twelfth grade. In the United States educa- tion is no longer a function of wealth, but this is not so in many other countries. It is not unusual to find only the elite of some nations educated to the levels Americans assume for all people. The impact of education is therefore profound for marketing products as well as for establishing relationships, because good communications are often based on relative education capacities and standards.
Technology
The most recent change in technology is our growing control over transportation, energy, and information communications including the
Internet. The word technologybegets concepts such as science, develop- ment, invention, and innovation. Some older languages don’t even have words to express these concepts. Understanding the technological gaps among nations is an essential element to exporting products across bor- ders. Wide gaps still exist between the most advanced nations and those that are still what we call “traditional societies.” The implications are that you might need to consider such things as training needs for tech- nology transfer and the impact of that transfer on social environments.
You should always look at technology from the importing country’s point of view.
Social Organization
Social stratification is the hierarchy of classes within a society—the rel- ative power, social priorities, privilege, and income of those classes.
Each class within a system has somewhat different and distinct tastes, political views, and consumption patterns. Many countries have a socio- religious ideology that allows rank to be intrinsic and inherited biolog- ically. This implies that different categories of humans are culturally defined as if consisting of different worth and potential for performance.
Regardless of how you react to such noncompetitive socialization, such ideas are predictable in some countries. Faced with such a system of socio-religious rank, it is essential that you learn how to deal with it—
not attempt to change it.