Importance of culture in international business

Learn about the importance of culture in International Business.

In the book Management Across Cultures: Challenges and Strategies, the author uses a grasshopper to explain how it is seen in different cultures.

Academic questions

Management (MBA) question on the importance of culture in International business:

Question: “Global marketers must study and understand the sociocultural environment of the markets in which they are doing business. Discuss this statement. Include the following”

• Explain what ‘culture’ means and discuss some of its complexities.
• Discuss why it is important to study the socio-cultural environment from a global marketing perspective.
• Discuss and compare two prominent analytical approaches to study culture: 1. Hall’s (1976) concept of high and low context culture, and 2. Hofstede’s (1983) cultural typology.
• Explain what marketers can learn from these two approaches for their global marketing strategies.

Q. George Bush gave Chinese Premier Li Peng a gift of cowboy boots embroidered with the American and Chinese flags in it. This act was criticized widely by many diplomats on account of a significant miss on the part of administration protocol experts. Discuss the above case highlighting the importance of culture in international business.

Q. Analyze the impact of dimensions of national culture on the employee selection process.