Hofstede S Cultural Dimensions

In today’s high tech global community, it is not uncommon to have companies in one country doing work with others clear across the world. It is important to keep in mind that understanding the role of culture, in the international business setting, is key to success and prosperity. It is essential and know that each nation has their own set of values and ways of interacting. For example, although the United States and China frequently do business together and are equally seen as leaders on the global market, they still have very apparent differences in cultural norms. These contrasting characteristics are grouped under Geert Hofstede’s six dimensions of culture. They include, the level of uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, individualism versus collectivism, power distance, long-term versus short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint (Hofstede, 2001). Once one is able to properly distinguish cultural differences, can they then successfully communicate, thrive, and potentially lead in the global economy.

Uncertainty Avoidance describes “a society’s comfort with uncertainty” (Ball 100). The Saudi Arabian culture prefers to avoid uncertainty, meaning they feel the “need” to have strict laws and rules, and expect to have clear procedures to maintain the status quo. (Ball 100). An American trying to do business in Saudi Arabia will need to remember that change is not welcomed so innovation may be resisted (The Hofstede Center).

The impact of national cultures on marketing practices has been such that it brought about the creation of an academic field, with as a lead-researcher, Geert. Hofstede, on whose writings I have based my analysis.

Question 1. How might the troubles with the tourism company be explained by Hofstede’s dimension of culture. Make sure to look at both Japanese and American cultures.

The world average for the Masculinity Dimension is 50, with both the United States and Australia having a higher ranking. Traits associated with masculinity are assertiveness, material success, and individual achievement. The female population has adapted these traits and begun to shift toward a more traditional male role, with an increasing number of women continuing to enter the workforce. The direct communication style of the United States illustrates the masculine traits. The U.S. places heavy emphasis on getting their point across rather than getting to know those they are doing business with. This dimension is closely related to both countries’ rankings in the individuality dimension.

Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France?

The third Hofstede cultural dimension considered is “Masculinity vs. Femininity” which is the extent to which certain values, materialism, quality of life, concern of others and work attitudes, are emphasized (Payne). A high masculinity score indicates a greater concern with the acquisition of money and things, less concern with others and the attitude that one should live to work. Conversely, a high femininity

This study focuses on emotion related values based on the Hofstede model of six dimensions of national cultures (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, long/short term orientation, and indulgence/restraint), by only focusing on long/short-term orientation and uncertainty avoidance as emotion-related cultural values. Short/long-term orientation refers to the perspective of whether or not looking at the future. Short-term orientated people tend to emphasize on the current time and believe important events in life occur in the past or now. They also tend to attribute both success and

I have been selected as the project leader for Gummere International and directed to assemble a multicultural team together to develop a custom ERP system to be used by all of our subsidiaries. I have been given a one month, unrealistic, deadline to present our solution to the board of directors. The division of the firm responsible for the design and development of the system is based in India; and due to a language barrier, the project has gotten off to a rocky start. Through Web 2.0 technology, I was able to mitigate the barriers and complete the task.

When a business decides to venture internationally into different countries with its products, services, and operations, it is very important that the company gains an understanding of how the culture of the different societies affects the values found in those societies. Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most famous and most used studies on how culture relates to values. Hofstede study enabled him to compare dimensions of culture across 40 countries. He originally isolated four dimensions of what he claimed summarized different cultures — power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, and masculinity versus femininity (Hill, 2013, p.110). To cover aspects of values not discussed in the original paradigm Hofstede has since added two more dimensions — Confucianism or long-term orientation and indulgence versus self-restraint (Hofstede, n.d.). Because of the way Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are given an index score from 0-100, it is easy for a company to get a general comparison between the cultures they are expanding into and the culture they are already in.

According to Murai, adjusting to the Japanese culture is often challenging for foreign companies (1). Some global firms such McDonalds and Starbucks have entered the Japanese market and positioned themselves as respected brands through adapting to the prevailing culture. However, others have struggled to win the minds and hearts of the discerning Japanese customers. The difference between the successful and not so successful firms is that the latter employed the right steps to understand and address the cultural differences and utilized them as vital resources. According to Geert Hofstede’s Six Dimensions of National Culture (qtd. in Ferraro and Briody 31), different states have different cultural assumptions and value attachment dimensions, which represent the independent preferences of a specific state of affairs over another that differentiates countries from each other (Hofstede Insights 1). A Hofstede’s cultural analysis and comparison between Japan and the United States would reveal the information shown in Figure 1 below.

Geert Hofstede theorized the Cultural Dimensions theory, which allows categorisation of countries or societies into different dimensions, explaining the effects of a society’s culture on the values of its population. (Hofstede, G. 2009) The dimensions are as follows - power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculine vs feminine, and long term or short term orientation. By focusing on the individualist vs. collectivist dimension, the impact of geographical location on suicide rates could potentially be explained.

In analyzing Hofstede’s five dimensions of culture we can better understand the cultural differences between the U.S. and Europe. (Hall, 2014) “The cultural dimensions represent independent preferences for one state of affairs over another that distinguish countries (rather than individuals) from each other.” (National Culture)

Numerous researchers have developed a variety of measures in order to explain and quantify the ways in which culture differs between national groups, however, the most recognized work was performed by Geert Hofstede in the 80’. He was the first to characterize national culture into four cultural dimensions. His work also included numerous world-wide researches, mapping the cultural dimensions of

The function of marketing is to earn profits from the satisfaction of human wants and needs. To understand and influence the consumer’s wants and needs, marketers must understand the culture, especially in an