Nowadays, culture has a significant influence not only on the life of modern society, but also on the way how people do their business. During the last decade, access to foreign markets is becoming an integral part of doing business. This is due to the active development of processes such as internationalization and globalization. Internationally, the company's success is determined by the promptness of various factors, among them – the cultural differences that play an important role when conducting business in different countries. In addition to economic and political factors in the negotiation are kindly requested to consider and study the essential cultural differences, among which the main ones are: values, religion, the basic rules of behavior and language. The visibility of unity of business practices around the world is created by globalization and the increasing use of English as the international language of business. However, such thing as a universal business culture does not exist. To achieve competitive advantage, many of the largest companies, rely considerably on the elements of their own national culture.
Some people believe that by adhering and respecting the traditions of other nations and their culture, it is possible to achieve not only the arrangement of of partners, but also get a possibility to build a strong and long term relationship. Others believe that it is better to communicate with business partners based only on the western (European) business standards. I partly agree with the first group of people, because I think that following only national traditions can bring company not only the loss incurred, but also the danger of the loss of market, and there are some reasons and relevant examples for that.
First of all, doing business on an international level affect the values that make up the cultural differences. That value, folding in a different cultural environment, determine what is preferable, and what is not advisable within a particular culture. The failure of the exit social network «Facebook» on the Japanese market can be used as an example of the importance of taking into account the values in the conduct of business in foreign markets. This public spectacle of a private life is not acceptable to the representatives of this culture, so most Japanese are only limited to registration in social network «Facebook» without further use. Based on this example, it can be argued that the study of values and beliefs of different cultures before starting operations in another country is essential. Otherwise, there is a high probability not to reach the expected results.
Second, one of the most important elements of culture that has a significant influence on business strategy in a particular country is religion. "The influence of religion on the activities of international companies has its own peculiarities in each country depending on its legal system, uniformity of citizens' religious beliefs and tolerance of other religious beliefs." If we talk about customers as an integral part of the immediate environment, the religious beliefs have a significant impact on people's preferences when choosing a product. For example, "in the city of Amritsar, which is located in the north of India, McDonald's opened in which it is impossible to taste the meat products, that is to for the majority of the local population cow – saint animal. With regard to the Muslim minority, according to belief, people can not eat pork".
Third, the accounting rules of conduct adopted by the negotiation in order to achieve the desired result becomes necessary since the international business involves negotiating with the representatives of different countries. There is a division of countries into two blocs: the West (America European countries) and the East (China and Asia), where the differences are clearly seen negotiations related to cultural norms and values. For example, representatives of European companies need to be prepared for that before going to the heart of the business agreement in doing business in one of the Asian countries, it is important to build a relationship of trust, which will be held confidential nature in the future. On the other hand, the representatives of the Western bloc is not inherent desire to establish long-term relationship as a consequence of what they prefer to do business through the signing of contracts.
Finally, there is the language barrier, which could adversely affect the company's operations in a foreign country, so the language can also be attributed to one of the components of cultural differences. In particular, "research company" Economist Intelligence Unit "together with the international educational center for English language training" Education First "introduced a global study" Competing Without Borders ", conducted among 572 managers of commercial and non-profit organizations. According to the survey, almost half of respondents (49%) believes that the confusion in communication and inaccuracies in the translation not only interfere with the conclusion of cross-border transactions, but also bring significant financial losses".
On the other hand, I would like to give a clear example of how impact on business culture and show how it has become a critical component of the success of some of the international companies. In his book "Fish can not see water: how national culture can make or break your corporate strategy" Kai Hummer and Richard Lewis describes the history of Samsung Electronics (South Korea) and Toyota (Japan) illustrate how into the work companies penetrate national features.
Samsung Electronics and South Korea
Company Samsung Electronics, Lee Bong Chul founded in 1969 in South Korea, the world's largest electronics manufacturer. Its goal – to become the best in the field of digital convergence and core components, use the same chip to provide a variety of electronic functions in a single product. In 2011, Samsung Electronics has announced revenues of $ 164 billion dollars and a profit of $ 16 billion. Samsung Culture is focused on execution. When Samsung wants to do something, the solution comes from the top, and everyone starts to move at the speed of light in order to execute it. Samsung's strategy – to breathe in the back of the leader, producing products cheaper and versatile than its competitors. With this approach, there is less disagreement. There is no need to offer people grandiose ideas – fast enough to carry out tasks and earn money. Samsung is deeply rooted in Korean culture. It recruits graduates have passed compulsory military service, – they are somewhat older than the traditionally graduates in the West, and more disciplined since grown accustomed to authoritarian hierarchical system. Among few foreign managers. Samsung has a complex matrix organization, all the important posts in which occupied Koreans ready for all the important decisions to apply to headquarters. It encourages competition between the managers and the salary based on individual performance. However, Samsung has a culture of potentially weak point – lack of creativity. If competitors are not shown which way to go, the Samsung would be difficult to resolve this issue itself.
Toyota and Japan
When the Japanese automobile company Toyota began to work around the world, it naturally suffered Japanese principles – focus on the long term – in the international division and take root in them the idea of the business. Under the new conditions, it continued to focus on lean and effected just in time production and partnerships with suppliers. By 2007, Toyota surpassed company General Motors, selling 2.35 million vehicles a year, and has become a world leader in the automotive industry. Even in 2009, when the company was faced with the problem of defective accelerators and was forced to spend a massive product recall, the Toyota responded very Japanese: "Now we understa
nd what the gap is between the virtual and the real world, and are working to eliminate it. We want our machines to perform basic functions – drove, turned and stopped – and our clients trust us "(Akio Toyoda, grandson of the founder). As of March 2013, Toyota occupies the 13th place in the world in terms of revenue. For the success of Toyota are equally important as the production methods and the policy on staff. "The way Toyota» combines respect for people with constant improvement and quality control. The role of a leader is different from that adopted in the United States: its mission – "to create people and machines at the same time." Leaders are teachers. It takes ten years to not-fully understood the Japanese leader "Way Toyota», learned to act properly in the face of unforeseen difficulties, and used this as a platform for training and coaching. Competitors came to the conclusion that it is possible to copy the methods of work of the company, but to implement them fully, without relying on the cultural treasures of Japan, is extremely difficult.
From the above it can be concluded that when faced with new challenges in the foreign office or working in foreign companies, leaders must recognize that it may be ineffective due to the cultural differences of their natural leadership style. In his book "Global dexterity: how to adapt your behavior across cultures without losing yourself in the process" Andy, Molina describes the dangers lying in wait for those who do not adapt their behavior to the new context. If the leader of India will begin to consult with employees, they decide that he does not know how to do their job, and wants others to have a leadership problem. In Germany, an employee who seeks to maintain friendly relations with colleagues may find it ineffective, while in many other cultures, the lack of social exchange is considered rude and indifferent. Most of the studies, Molina took place at the temporary accommodation for the experts from the Soviet Union in Boston, Massachusetts. He found that many Russian feel uncomfortable in a situation of informal communication, when it is necessary to constantly smile and look him in the eye, to advertise themselves and ignore the hierarchy, which is typical for the culture of doing business in the United States and necessary for the successful completion of the interview. One of the biggest challenges faced by many leaders is not that they do not recognize the cultural differences and the fact that they do not want to adapt to the behavior that is unusual for them. Ability to work in different cultures today is an important business skill. Also, it should be noted that cultural differences along with other factors have a significant influence on the conduct of business on an international scale. The study and consideration of cultural differences is necessary in order to achieve high performance and competitive advantage in foreign markets.