Global Insights Chapter 3.1, 4, and 5

Corruption

An exchange between two partners, the demander and the supplier, which has an influence on the allocation of resources either immediately or in the future, and involves the use or abuse of public or collective responsibility for private ends.

New Zealand is the least corrupt county. Somalia, North Korea, and Afghanistan are a 3-way tie for the most corrupt countries.

Corruption rankings.

Corruption is proposed to come from two key factors:

Developing or transitional economies that have weak infrastructure, weak legal systems, and inadequate enforcement. A high of government involvement with industry and business and a low public sector payment amount. Corruption is also attributable to culture.

The Netherlands

Least-likely Bribe paying country

Smuggling

Smuggling is the illegal, clandestine transportation of goods, people, or information across borders to bypass taxes, regulations, or prohibitions. —> Corruption Practice.

Money Laundering

the concealment of the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by means of transfers involving foreign banks or legitimate businesses. Corruption practice.

Piracy/Counterfeiting

Piracy and counterfeiting are considered a corruption practice because they represent the illegal, unauthorized reproduction and sale of intellectual property (IP)—such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights—that relies on, enables, or stems from corrupt actions like bribery, collusion, and the breaking of legal regulations. 

Bribe Paying

The act of offering, giving, or promising something of value (money, gifts, or favors) to a person in a position of trust—typically a public official or business agent—to illegally influence their actions, decisions, or duties.

FCPA

Make corruption and corrupt practices illegal in the United States.

Culture

The collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group or category of people from another.

Cultural Frameworks

Tools for analyzing the pattern of norms, behaviors and customs that are common in a given society.

Ronen and Shenkar’s Country Clusters

Countries are grouped by patterns of similarity in employees’ attitudes toward work and how well it met their needs. Countries within a cluster are geographically close and share the same language and some basic cultural values.

Some of the Country Clusters

Anglo, Germanic, Nordic, Latin European, Latin American, etc.

Limitations of Ronen and Shenkar’s Approach

Clusters that are missing countries; misrepresentation of developing nations; assumed cultural homogeneity in regional clusters; within-country differences that cannot be ignored.

Wa 和

The value that Japanese people place on group cohesion and group loyalty above individual needs.

Guanxi 关系

Describes the business relationship building process in China that provides connections to influential persons and educates through sharing of information.

Inhwa 인화

Refers to the ‘harmony’ engendered by relationships between individuals of unequal status and power in South Korea.

Individualism-Collectivism

Whether people tend to view themselves primarily as individuals or as members of a group.

Masculinity-Feminity

Whether success and assertive acquisition or people and relationships are more highly valued.

Power distance

The extent to which people can accept large differences in power between individuals or groups.

Uncertainty avoidance

The extent to which people tolerate uncertain or ambiguous events.

Long-vs Short-Term Orientation

Distinguishes between cultures that have a forward-looking perspective on life and those that are more concerned with the past and present.

Indulgence-Self Restraint

Distinguishes between cultures that are free to enjoy life and have fun vs. cultures with strict social norms.

Limitations of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Cluster efforts overlook key countries; clustering ignores differences between countries within a specific cluster or quadrant; wider generalizations made from Hofstede’s work are not tempered or qualified enough.

British People—a cultural mosaic

Creative, inventive, reserved, multicultural, and resourceful

French people—a cultural mosaic

Generally dislike authority, we always complain but we enjoy life (good food, wine).

German people

Hard-working, punctual, accurate, tidy-minded, thirst for knowledge, open to new technology, enjoy food/wine.

Italian people

Chic, passionate, and stylish.

Dutch people

Dutch people are direct and tolerant. Belgian people are more modest and always friendly.

Outer-directed

People who tend to accommodate their behavior to their situation in life.

Inner-directed

People who tend to believe they control their own destinies.

Outer vs inner directed; neutral-emotional; achievement-ascription; individualism-communitarianism; specific-diffuse; universalism-particularism.

What are the parts to the Bipolar Cultural Dimensions.

Uncertainty (middle), Power distance (low), collectivism (middle), Collectivism-family (low), Gender egalitarianism (middle), Future oriented (high), Assertiveness (middle), Performance orientation (high), humane orientation (middle)

Where does the US rank on the bipolar cultural dimensions

Work centrality

How important work is in the lives of employees. Depends on and is affected by culture. Varies across countries in its centrality.

Most important work goals in the US

Interesting work tops the list and good pay is a close second.

Cultural Convergence

The view that people around the world are increasingly thinking and acting alike.

Perception

The selective mental processes that enable us to interpret and understand our surroundings. This is an automatic process. Living in another culture can alter an person’s perception.

Nonverbal Behavior

The subtle cues used to communicate within and across cultures, including facial expressions, appearance, and body movements.

Personal Space

The distance we have between ourselves and others when we talk and interact; different spaces are preferred by different cultures.

Context

Background information—other than what is said or written—that helps one understand and perceive others.

High context vs low context cultures

High context cultures put great weight on background information whereas low-context cultures view it as extraneous.

Clock Time

In Western cultures, time is perceived as a commodity; time schedules people.

Event Time

In Eastern cultures, time is seen as more flexible and fluid; events schedule people.

Pace of Time

A person who perceives time differently also perceives other business factors differently.

Monochronic-Time cultures

Prefer paying attention to one thing at a time. Have an economic view of time as ‘money’. Believe schedules are sacred.

Polychronic-Time cultures

Prefer to do many things at once. Take a more flexible view of time and punctuality. Do not hold an economic view of time.

Attribution Theory

A model of how we come to perceive others’ behavior as internally or externally caused.

Self-Serving Attribution Bias

The tendency to take credit (internal attribution) for success but to blame failure on other causes (external attribution).

Self-Effacing Behavior

The tendency among some cultures to be modest in taking credit for success but accepting responsibility for failure.

Attitude

A learned tendency to react emotionally toward some object or person.

Independent self

The view of oneself as an autonomous or unique individual who values self-reliance and achievement.

Interdependent Self

The view of oneself as closely linked toward others and groups that value paternalism and group cohesion.

Abstract Self-Descriptions

General views of the self that are context-free.

Concrete Self-Descriptions

Descriptions of self that are imbedded in concrete social situations.

Face

The need for self-respect, pride, and dignity that varies dramatically across cultures.

Job Satisfaction

Is lower for Japanese workers than American workers.

Measures of Employee Engagement

Degree of confidence in firm leaders. Employee importance on management’s to do list.

Organizational Commitment

A measure of differences among employees in their attachment and allegiance to their organization.

Work Commitment

A measure of differences among employees in their commitment to their work separate from their organizational commitment.

Research Findings

Culture is not as strong a predictor of work commitment as it is for organizational commitment.

Stereotypes

The tendency to infer traits from individuals based on their national, racial, or cultural group memberships.

In-Group as a cause of Stereotypes

The tendency to rate an individual’s in-group higher than an out-group. Increased contact with the out-group results in greater heterogeneity of opinions.

Mirror Imaging

Occurs when groups perceive their traits as positive and stereotype the traits of other groups as negative.

Attitude Differences

May impact whether and how business is conducted. May change dramatically over time.

Country-of-Origin Stereotype

The belief that the country of origin of various products or services is associated with certain attributes such as quality.