-
Table of Contents
1.
Introduction.............
..................................................
............................2
2.
Something about China..................
..................................................
.....3
2.1
Basic Information.................................
..................................................
.............3
2.2 Cultural Idiosyncrasy..............
..................................................
............................3
3.
Compare of the
Four Countries
’
Cultural
Trait.....................................4
3.1 Using
Hofstede Framework................................
................................................4
3.2 Critical
Approach Toward Hofstede Framework................
.................................6
3.3 Using Hall framework...
..................................................
....................................6
3.4 Critical Approach
Toward Hall Framework.............................
............................7
4.
Differences of
the Four Countries as Regard to the
Marketing.............7
5. Conclusion..
..................................................
..........................................9
6. Reference List......................
..................................................
...............11
1
1. Introduction
Cultural
analysis
of
countries
in
which
international
enterprises
would
want
to
put
their money has now taken a more and
more important part in a
company
’
s overseas
management
strategy.
Ambitious
and
visional
companies
usually
have
the
tend
to
adopt
autonomy policies toward their overseas branches,
while there are also negative
examples
which
could
serve
as
a
lesson
of
how
great
the
loss
could
be
when
one
underestimates
the
affects
of
culture
in
this
globalized
yet
still
multiplex
business
environment, like
Disneyland
’
s dilemma in
France and the situation Wal-Mart faced
when a big market campaign was launched
in China. It is not at all excessive to regard
cultural
strategy
as
the
software
of
a
multinational
company
’
s
overseas
expand
progress if brand and ability are the
hardware. That
’
s why the
inter-cultural dinner is
designed, for
the students to better reckon on the significance
and participation culture
has in
contemporary management in
this
globalized world.
And in
my dinner,
I
am
lucky
enough
to
have
invited
three
other
countries
to
come,
they
and
their
dishes
respectively are, Saudi, a relatively
conventional nation and their jarish; Britain, who
are strict with etiquette and their
fish and chips;indolent Italy and pasta and then
there
is my own country,
China
’
s Chinese food. There
would also be the using of theoretical
frameworks to analyze and compare the
cultural differences of the four countries. And
to complete the whole report, a
conclusion would be drawn in the last.
2
2.
Something
about China
2.1 Basic
Information
China has a
history of more than 5000 years, and it took the
same 5000-year history
for it to
transfer from a hereditary regime country to a
republic regime one, while it
took only
50 years for the population to rise above the 60
billion line. Its diversified
terrain
helps
generate
56
nations,
of
which
the
minority
mainly
residents
in
the
western
and southern part of the country in the form of a
group. Chinese are basically
religious
to Buddhism, while some minority profess Moslem,
and even less are keen
to Christianity.
Religious and national differences lead to
cultural diversity within the
country.
And typical things like Kofu, China, low labor
cost, high storage of natural
resources
and the world No.3 GDP may help to form the image
of China, however, for
business
management in China, there are more need to be
known.
2.2 Cultural
Idiosyncrasy
An Ascian
continental history of 5000 years certainly means
very much, and a culture
which has
lasted the same long time and withstood the
transition of times, invasion
and
dynasties
is
absolutely
marvelous.
Featured
Confucianism,
and
originated
from
the cultivation
culture, Chinese culture is about reverence for
the elderly, rule by man
of virtuous
and convention for steadiness(Liu,
2013).
In the meantime, long
history
gives Chinese language a trait
that not everything and every information are
conveyed
by
words,
instead,
by
the
implication
of
thousands
of
years
of
accumulation
of
tradition and cultural suggestibility.
On one hand, the three characteristics of Chinese
culture
lead
to
the
phenomenon
that
the
nation
is
more
apt
to
accept
the
unfair
distribution of power
and the role power plays in business and
management. Under
this condition, caste
system is considered accepted and people have a
conception of
where
they
should
be
and
how
to
stay
within
their
position.
Take
a
very
common
3
scene for
example, new-comers of a company would usually
face the pressure of the
old employees
because the old ones have got the power,
what
’
s more, the promotion
and bonus systems rely largely on the
power one gets. On the other hand, the idea of
rule
by
man
causes
many
cooperations
to
resort
to
personal
or
private
relationship
while not on fair relationships.
However, it is also true that this closely-knit
personal
bond enables Chinese to get
more humanistic care. All these are due to the
fact that
China is a country who is
enormously influenced by its historic past and
ideas.
3. Compare of the
Four Countries
’
Cultural
Trait
3.1 Using Hofstede
Framework
Hofstede
’
s
Model
of
Cultural
Dimensions
is
Geert
Hofstede
’
s
theory
of
evaluating
different
cultures(Hamid,
2011).
It
consists
of
five
dimensions,
individuality
or
collectivism,
power
distance,
uncertainty
avoidance,
masculinity
or
femininity
and
time orientation. And Britain, China,
Italy and Saudi will be brought under the latter
four dimensions to reveal their culture
traits.
1.
Power distance index
Britain
The index is low.
Its citizens look down on power, they believe
power can
only
be
used
under
law
and
they
tend
to
resort
to
the
power
of
legislation(Minkov & Hofstede, 2011).
China
The
index
is
high.
In
this
country,
although
caste
system
is
no
longer
popular,
the
role
power
plays
in
a
management
is
publicly
reckoned
as
strong and people are
peaceful to accept the unfair power distribution
which,
the underlings relying much on
their bosses is a typical manifestation.
Italy
The index is low.
Italy is an indolent country, they advocate
cooperation to
solve problems and they
can
get
access
to
their
bosses and get
interaction
4
easily.
Saudi
The index is high, and caste system is
prevalent here, citizens see power as
one part of the society and attach high
priority to the compulsive usage of
power.
ainty avoidance index
Britain
The
index
is
low.
There
are
less
regulations
and
rules,
people
are
calmer,
quieter and more at
ease when faced uncertainty. Thus new ideas could
be
generated under this atmosphere.
China
The
index
is
modest.
Not
too
much
rules
while
there
are
certain
anxiety
toward uncertainty.
Italy
The index is low. People are less
anxious and worried but more tolerant with
uncertainty arising.
Saudi
The
index
is
relatively
high.
There
would
be
lots
of
regulation
to
avoid
uncertainty, and in
the meantime, people here have the quality of
precision.
inity/femininity
dimension index
Britain
Typical femininity country. People are
happy to
adopt negotiation to solve
the organizational issues.
China
A
traditional
masculinity
one.
However,
with
times
changing,
China
is
reverting into a
femininity society.
Italy
Features femininity. Here man also has
the duty of a traditional woman, and
the society is cares more about the
quality of life.
Saudi
Features
masculinity.
Here
in
this
country,
competition
awareness
is
high
and the criteria of success is the
achievements you make.
orientation
5
Britain
Britain
is
also
an
old
country,
and
it
is
proud
of
its
history
and
some
tradition, however, it is not limited
by its tradition.
China
Short-term orientation. Although more
and more young people are adopting
a
new
way
to
approach
things,
the
traditional
ideas
of
relationship
and
values are still influencing silently
on the management.
Italy
Saudi
3.2
Critical Approach Toward Hofstede Framework
There
are
some
limits
towards
Hofstede
framework.
He
did
not
explain
why
there
were only five
dimensions and not more, why the dimensions is
about things that are
fixed while the
culture
of a
country is
in
a state of dynamic.
What
’
s most
doubtful
about Hofstede is
that he focused on the culture in the form of
traditionally national
culture
but
not
the
modern
national
culture,
which
implies
that
certain
cultures
are
better than else, for
which he himself had been criticized on(Venaik &
Brewer, 2013).
3.3 Using
Hall framework
Context of
culture is a conception brought up in 1935, it
refers to the whole cultural
background
of both sides involved in the management
communication. And Hall used
high
and
low
context
culture
to
analyze
different
culture.
In
the
former
culture,
language functions partially in
information dissemination while the context do the
rest
of the work. On the other hand, in
low context culture, people get information mainly
from
the
usage
of
language.
Context
of
culture
is
formed
by
historical
cultural
accumulation
thus
is
a
effective
framework
of
analyzing
culture(Alexander
et
al.
2001).
Italy is a traditional Europe country,
it is largely influenced by its tradition.
Short-term orientation. The country pay
high respect to the tradition.
6