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Hofstede 's Cultural Dimensions Analysis

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Introduction This Report will outline Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (see Appendix A) for Walmart within the US, Germany, Japan and UK respectively than identify mistakes and recommend solutions. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Analysis  Power Distance The USA’s power distance approach is low, that being ‘40’ on the power distance scale (The Hofstede Centre, n.d.). This low power distance indicates that subordinate employees of Walmart – USA would be more willing and have greater encouragement to challenge those in higher positions within the firm, and question managerial decision making without the fear of losing their position (Taylor & Curtis, 2013). Germany scored 35on the power distance scale. This denotes that firm decision making is highly decentralised, and managerial leadership is challenged. (Hofstede, G. n.d.). This is very similar to the USA which scored 40 which is closely linked to Germany’s score; this denotes that power distance concerns would have been limited. Japan has a median score of 54 on the power distance scale, this means that employees of Wal-Mart will have some level of decision making power. However not as much as employees in the USA chain as they scored a 40. This shows us that the USA is not as hierarchal as Japan and that power distance may have been somewhat of an issue in the expansion into Japan but much less serious than other areas. The UK has a low level of power distance, scoring a 35 on the power distance Hofstede model

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