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What is culture?

A system of values and norms shared by a group that together constitutes a design for living.

Is culture inherited genetically?

No. Culture is learned through family, education, language, institutions, and social experience.

What did Hofstede mean by software of the mind?

Culture programs familiar ways of thinking, interpreting situations, and behaving.

What are values?

Deep beliefs about what is good, bad, right, wrong, and desirable.

What are norms?

Social rules and expected patterns of behavior.

What are folkways?

Routine conventions, customs, manners, and everyday etiquette.

What are mores?

Norms considered central to morality and the functioning of society.

Which violation brings more serious consequences: folkways or mores?

Mores.

What is cross-cultural literacy?

The ability to understand cultural differences and adapt behavior appropriately.

What is ethnocentrism?

The belief that one's own culture is superior to other cultures.

What is guanxi?

A Chinese network of personal relationships involving trust and reciprocal obligations.

What is a reciprocal obligation?

The expectation that a favor or benefit will be returned in the future.

How can individualism increase managerial mobility?

Managers may change employers more often to pursue personal opportunities.

What is a disadvantage of high managerial mobility?

Firms may lose company-specific knowledge, experience, loyalty, and contacts.

What did Max Weber connect Protestantism with?

The development of capitalism.

Why is English important in international business?

It is widely used as a second language and as a common language across nationalities.

What is power distance?

The extent to which people accept and expect unequal distributions of authority.

What characterizes high power distance?

Strong hierarchy, respect for titles, centralized decisions, and limited disagreement with managers.

What characterizes low power distance?

Flatter relationships, consultation, participation, and willingness to question managers.

What characterizes an individualist culture?

Personal freedom, individual achievement, independent opinions, and individual rewards.

What characterizes a collectivist culture?

Group loyalty, harmony, shared responsibility, and avoidance of open conflict.

What is uncertainty avoidance?

The extent to which people feel uncomfortable with ambiguity, change, and unpredictable situations.

What characterizes high uncertainty avoidance?

A strong preference for rules, procedures, job security, explanations, and predictability.

What characterizes low uncertainty avoidance?

Flexibility, fewer formal rules, openness to change, and comfort with ambiguity.

Being flexible and open to new circumstances indicates what?

Low uncertainty avoidance.

What characterizes a masculine culture?

Competition, ambition, achievement, assertiveness, and material success.

What characterizes a feminine culture?

Cooperation, care, relationships, empathy, and quality of life.

What is long-term orientation?

A cultural focus on persistence, saving, adaptation, future rewards, and long-term development.

What is one limitation of Hofstede's framework?

It describes national averages and cannot predict every individual's behavior.