S E V E N T H E D I T I O N

THE CULtURAL DIMENSION

OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

Gary P. Ferraro
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Elizabeth K. Briody
Cultural Keys LLC
First published 2013, 2010, 2006, 2002 by Pearson Education, Inc.

Published 2016 by Routledge

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permission, i n this textbook appear on appropriate page within text on page 281.

ISBN: 9780205835591 (pbk)

Cover Designer: Suzanne Duda

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ferraro, Gary P.
The cultural dimension of global business / Gary P. Ferraro, Elizabeth K. Briody.—7th ed.
  p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-205-83559-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-205-83559-7 (alk. paper)
1. International business enterprises—Social aspects. 2. Intercultural communication.
3. Technical assistance—Anthropological aspects. I. Briody, Elizabeth Kathleen. II. Title.
HD2755.5.F48 2013
302.3'5—dc23
2012013804

Please visit the companion website at www.routledge.com/9780205835591

Contents
Preface viii

1. Cultural Anthropology and Global Business, 1

Introduction: Global Connections, 1
The Perspective of Cultural Anthropology, 3
Cultural Anthropology and Business, 6
Anthropology’s Major Concept: Culture, 10
Culture Is Learned 11
Culture Influences Biological Processes 12
Cultural Universals Do Exist 14
Cultural Change 18
People from All Cultures Are Ethnocentric 22
Cultures Are Integrated Wholes 23
Corporations Also Have Cultures 24
Cultural Differences in Business: Challenges and Opportunities, 26
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 27

2. Lenses for Understanding Culture and Cultural Differences, 29

Contrasting Values, 30
The Individual–Collective Dimension 33
The Equality–Hierarchy Dimension 37
The Change Orientation Dimension 41
The Time Orientation Dimension 45
Context, 54
Metaphors, 56
Change, 59
Conclusion, 63
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 64

3. Communicating across Cultures: The Nonverbal Dimension, 66

The Nature of Nonverbal Communication, 67
Types of Nonverbal Communication 68
Potential pitfalls in Studying Nonverbal Communication 69
Business Introductions, 70
Business Card Exchange 71
Bowing 72
Gift Giving 73

iii
iv  Contents

Interactions Among Businesspeople, 75

Body Posture 75
Gaze 76
Hand Gestures 79
Facial Expressions 82
Dress 85
Proxemics 88
New Technologies and Visual Media 92
Conclusion, 96
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 98

4. Communicating across Cultures: Language, 100

The Ideal of Linguistic Proficiency in Global Business, 101
Linguistic Diversity, 109
Language and Culture, 111
The Influence of Culture on Language 111
The Influence of Language on Culture 113
Language Mirrors Values 114
Linguistic Style, 117
Language and Social Context, 122
Some Additional Complicating Factors, 124
Slang 125
Euphemisms 126
Verbal Dueling 126
Humor 127
Conversational Taboos 129
Information and Communication Technologies in the 21st Century, 130
Conclusion, 133
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 134

5. Negotiating across Cultures, 136

The Nature of Cross-Cultural Negotiation, 138
Where to Negotiate, 140
Effective Strategies for International Negotiators, 142
Avoid Cultural Cluelessness 142
Concentrate on Long-Term Relationships, Not Short-Term
Contracts 143
Focus on the Interests behind the Positions 146
Avoid Overreliance on Cultural Generalizations 148
Be Sensitive to Timing 149
Remain Flexible 150
Contents  v

Prepare Carefully 152

Learn to Listen, Not Just Speak 155
Act Ethically and with Integrity 157
The Use of Interpreters, 159
The Global Negotiator, 161
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 162

6. Partnering across Cultures, 165

Partnership Basics, 165
Meetings as Opportunities for Collaboration, 166
Meetings and National-Culture Differences 167
Meetings and Organizational-Culture Differences 168
Lessons Drawn from Meetings 170
Decision-Making Models to Advance the Partnership Work, 172
Decision Making and Cultural Differences 172
Decision Making and Organizational-Culture Differences 173
The Impact of Decision-Making Differences 176
Lessons Drawn from Decision-Making Models 177
Partnering Relationships and Problem Solving, 178
Partnering with On-Site Work Colleagues 179
Distinctions between Local and Global Partnerships 183
Global Virtual Partnerships 184
Partnership Life Cycle 187
Partnership Process Outcomes 188
Partnership Product Outcomes 190
Lessons Drawn from Partnering Relationships
and Problem Solving 193
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 194

7. Coping with Culture Shock, 197

The Nature of Culture Shock, 198
Definition 198
Impact While Abroad 200
Impact upon Repatriation 203
Minimizing Culture Shock, 205
Weigh the Alternatives 206
Prepare Carefully 206
Additional Suggestions 208
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 214
vi  Contents

8. Developing Global Leaders, 216

Globally Oriented Firms, 217
Creating a Globally Oriented Workforce, 218
The Evolving Profile of the Overseas Assignment, 220
Fluctuation in Expatriate Numbers 220
The Rise in Short-Term Assignments 221
Expatriate Strategy Pros and Cons 222
Selection, 225
Technical Skills 225
Ability to Adjust 226
Useful Selection Criteria 226
Selection Models 230
Preparation, 231
Language Training 231
Cross-Cultural Training 232
The Specifics of Overseas Life and the Job 236
In-Country Support, 236
A Role for the Corporation 237
Accessing Local Networks 238
Repatriation, 240
Repatriation Track Record 241
Global Strategy Reimagined 242
Global Leaders for the 21st Century, 244
Cross-Cultural Scenarios, 249

Appendix A Cross-Cultural Scenario Discussions, 251

Appendix B Locating Relevant Cultural Information, 259

The Traditional Anthropological Approach, 259
Documentary Sources Useful in Developing a Cultural Profile, 260
Culture-Specific Associations 260
Some Country-Specific Sources 260
U.S. Government Sources 261
Sources of Country-Specific News and Current Events 261
The Electronic Library 262
Human Resources for Culture-Specific Information, 263
One’s Own Company 263
Academia 263
Contents  vii

Foreign Trade Offices 264

Private-Sector Consultants and Trainers 264
The Search for Cultural Information Upon Arrival, 265
In-Country Documentary Resources 265
In-Country Human Resources 266
Conclusion, 267

References, 268

Photo Credits, 281

Index, 282
Preface

For more than two decades this book has demonstrated how the theories and
­insights of anthropology have positively influenced the conduct of global ­business
and commerce. It has provided a foundation for understanding the impact
of ­culture on global business, and global business on culture. From the ­beginning
we have used our orientation to culture as a holistic and evolving process to
­explain the themes, patterns, and lessons that emerge from cross-cultural business
­situations. Yet, as the saying goes, “nothing is as constant as change,” and this is
particularly true of the world during the period of the life of this book. Beginning
with this new (seventh) edition, we are introducing a number of significant changes.

WHat’s NEw in THis EditiOn

• The word International in the previous title of the book has been changed to Global,
reflecting the fact that nondomestic business relationships are no longer confined
to two companies headquartered in two different nation-states, but rather to all
­companies operating in a much more tightly integrated world, where the lines ­between
organizations, nation-states, and NGOs have become increasingly blurred.
• A new chapter on Partnering Across Cultures has been added.
• Many of the new examples, vignettes, and scenarios found in this edition came from
in-depth interviews with more than 30 business anthropologists and a number of
other business professionals who shared with the authors the cross-cultural issues
they encountered in the global business arena.
• While previous editions have focused primarily, but not exclusively, on the relation-
ship between the individual and the world of business, our book now incorporates a
focus on the complex organizational environments within the global arena.
• And this last bulleted point—the broadening of focus to include a more structural/
organizational perspective—is the direct (and deliberate) result of our ­addition of
a new coauthor, Elizabeth Briody. Whereas the original author, Gary Ferraro,
has spent most of his career as primarily an academic anthropologist, Elizabeth
Briody is a business anthropologist. She spent 24 years as an in-house applied
­anthropologist with General Motors R&D, and is now helping other businesses
and non-profit ­o rganizations as a consultant. She is recognized as one of the
world’s leading ­anthropological experts on the culture of work and organizations,
with numerous publications, a patent, innovative tools, and awards. Dr. Briody’s
experience as a researcher, a scholar, and a change agent within one of the largest
corporations in the world makes her the ideal coauthor to provide this book with
a comprehensive refocusing on the organizational/structural dimensions of global
business.

While containing much that is new, this seventh edition maintains the essential
organizational structure it established in its inaugural edition. Chapters 1 and 2
from the previous edition have been collapsed into Chapter 1. Several chapters are

viii
Preface  ix

now in a slightly different order. There is one new chapter. In addition, all chapters
have been revised and updated. Yet, like earlier versions, this new edition takes a
fourfold approach to understanding the cultural dimension of global business.

Exploring the Relationship between the Discipline of Cultural

Anthropology, Its Central Concept of Culture, and the Conduct
of Global Business

Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of the enormous potential for business

­opportunities throughout the world, but cautions that business ventures are likely
to fail without an adequate understanding of the concept of cultural ­differences.
The chapter then provides an in-depth look at the concept of culture, what
­generalizations hold true for all cultures of the world, and the implications of those
generalizations for global business in the 21st century. This chapter is ­predicated on
the notion that it is impossible for anyone to master all of the ­specific cultural facts
about the thousands of cultures found in the world today. Thus, a more ­conceptual
approach is needed. The chapter includes various definitions of the culture con-
cept, followed by some important generalizations that can be usefully applied to
any cross-cultural situation. The importance of these cultural ­generalizations for
the conduct of global business is then discussed.

Comparison and Cultural Self-Awareness in Global Business

Chapter 2 presents a number of different models or “lenses” for ­understanding

­cultural differences, including contrasting values and metaphors. The ­discussion
of contrasting values—which examines such dimensions of values as i­ndividualism
­versus collectivism, equality versus hierarchy, and certain aspects of time—
is d ­ esigned with three purposes in mind. First, it aims to show that people from
­different cultures view the world from the perspective of their own cultural
­assumptions, not necessarily ours. Second, it encourages Western businesspeople to
increase their c­ ultural self-awareness—that is, their ability to recognize the influences
of their ­culture on their thinking and behavior. And third, a better understanding
of other cultures and our own should make it easier to diagnose difficulties when
operating in a foreign business setting or in a situation involving global partner-
ships or global virtual teams. It should enable the global businessperson to discover
how a cross-cultural misunderstanding may have arisen from his or her own cultural
­assumptions rather than from some shortcoming of the culturally different person.

Building and Maintaining Relationships through Communication:

Nonverbal and Verbal

In Chapter 3 we discuss the importance of knowing the nonverbal communication

patterns prevalent in the international business arena. As important as language is
to sending and receiving messages, nonverbal communication is perhaps even more
x  Preface

important. Not only do nonverbal cues help us interpret verbal messages, but they
are also responsible in their own right for the majority of the messages that make
up human communication. Seven major modes of communicating ­nonverbally—
body posture, gaze, facial expressions, hand gestures, dress, proxemics, and visual
media—are discussed in a cross-cultural perspective. The aim of this chapter is
to demonstrate the possibility of miscommunication in a cross-cultural business
setting unless one is familiar with the nonverbal patterns of communication in
­addition to the linguistic patterns.
Effective communication between people from the same cultural and
­linguistic group is often difficult enough, but when one is attempting to com-
municate with people who speak little or no English—and have different ideas,
attitudes, assumptions, perceptions, and ways of doing things—the chances for
misunderstandings increase enormously. In Chapter 4 we examine the critical
importance of language competence in an international business context, the
scale of linguistic diversity, the interrelatedness between language and culture,
linguistic style, the situational use of language, and some additional factors (such
as slang and euphemisms) that can further complicate verbal communication in
a global business context.

Understanding Global Business Processes in Cross-Cultural Perspective

The final approach taken in this book examines three functional processes critical
to success in conducting global business: negotiating, partnering, and managing.
Chapter 5 deals with negotiating in a global business context. Although it
is recognized that no two international negotiating situations are ever identical,
some negotiating strategies are generally valid in most instances. Based on the
experiences of successful and culturally sensitive international negotiators, this
chapter provides such general guidelines as (1) concentrating on long-term rela-
tionships, (2) focusing on the interests behind the positions, (3) being attuned to
timing, (4) maintaining flexibility, (5) preparing carefully, (6) listening, and (7)
acting ethically.
Chapter 6 includes a discussion of building and maintaining p ­ artnerships
between corporations and other organizational entities headquartered in different
parts of the world. Significant emphasis is given to cultivating relationships as the
key to business success, with attention to the elements of cooperation, trust, and
conflict. This chapter focuses on (a) business meetings as ­opportunities for col-
laboration among global partners, (b) understanding different d ­ ecision-making
models to facilitate working efficiently and effectively among partners, and
(c) developing relationships and problem-solving capacities among partners.
Chapter 7, devoted to the topic of managing culture shock when working
and living abroad, is directly related to the successful mastery of those leadership
competencies that can best be learned by operating in a global context. Chapter 8
examines developing global leaders, expatriate excellence, and a number of other
important global human resource issues. This chapter argues that short-term and
Preface  xi

long-term expatriate assignments must be managed in a more systematic, holistic,

and long-term way than they have been managed in the past. This requires global
firms to be attentive to all phases of transferring personnel abroad, including selec-
tion, cross-cultural preparation, in-country support, repatriation, and the integra-
tion of those skills gained abroad into the firm’s ongoing operations.
As a final note, attention should be given to the scenarios appearing at the
end of Chapters 1 through 8. The reader is encouraged to analyze these mini-case
studies in an attempt to determine why a cultural conflict has arisen and how
the conflict or misunderstanding portrayed could have been avoided. Although
it is impossible to include examples of every possible cross-cultural conflict in a
business setting, these end-of-chapter scenarios are designed to help the reader
gain a greater sensitivity to the wide range of potential conflicts that could arise.
Moreover, they provide the active reader with opportunities to develop analyti-
cal, problem-solving, and decision-making skills. Explanations of these scenarios
appear in Appendix A.

AcKnOwlEdgmEnts

Many people have played a role in the development of this edition. We i­ nterviewed
many anthropologists and businesspeople to learn firsthand some of the issues they
have encountered in the global business arena. Many of these interviews led to
­examples, vignettes, and scenarios created for this seventh edition. We would like
to thank the following people for providing us with their experiences and ­insights:
Wendy Bartlo, Mary Beauregard, Geneviève Bien, Clark Bien, Jeanette Blomberg,
Ralph Bolton, Marjorie Briody, Dominique Charmillon, Jean-Louis Charmillon,
Tomoko Hamada Connolly, Laura Corrunker, Cathleen Crain, Natasha
Crundwell, Tara Eaton, Patricia Ensworth, Ken Erickson, Yasunobu Ito, Julia
Gluesing, Wolf Gumerman, Ann Jordan, Sunil Khanna, Adam Koons, Datta
Kulkarni, Nicole Laflamme, Jeff Lewis, Timothy Malefyt, Ejiro Onomake, Tracy
Meerwarth Pester, Crysta Metcalf, Christine Miller, Bob Morais, Riall Nolan,
Helena Ottoson, Richard Reeves-Ellington, Ken Riopelle, Andrew Robinson,
Marc Robinson, Anulekha Roy, Ruth Sando, Joerg Schmitz, Susan Squires, Niel
Tashima, Bob Trotter, François Vardon, and S.J. Yoon.
Several people provided photos and other visuals for inclusion in the book:
Duncan Crundwell, Ken Erickson, Julia Gluesing, Wolf Gumerman, Ken Kim,
Adam Koons, Timothy Malefyt, Phil MacKenzie, Tracy Meerwarth Pester,
Bruno Moynié, EjiroOnomake, Richard J. Rybak, Bob Trotter, and Carole
Vardon. Laura Corrunker deserves special mention due to the multiple roles
she played. Whether she was compiling bibliographic sources, offering input
on using this book in the classroom, or critiquing key sections of text, Laura
served as a valuable colleague. Finally, Elizabeth Briody would like to thank her
husband, Marc Robinson, for his ongoing support, ideas and perspectives, and
good-natured cheerfulness during the research and writing process.
xii  Preface

To one degree or another many people over the years have contributed
to this text. Some have made very explicit suggestions for revisions, many of
which have been incorporated into various editions over the past two decades.
Others have contributed less directly, yet their fingerprints are found through-
out the text. We are particularly grateful to our many colleagues over the years
who have shared generously their thinking and insights. While there are far too
many names to mention here, we are confident that they know who they are and
will accept our most sincere gratitude. And finally, after more than four decades
of teaching, Gary Ferraro wants to thank his many students who have helped
him define and refine the anthropological concepts and interpretations found
between the covers of this book.

Gary P. Ferraro
Elizabeth K. Briody
1
■ ■ ■

Cultural Anthropology
and Global Business

INTRODUCTiON: GLOBAL CONNECTiONS

In little more than two decades, the world has become increasingly more ­interrelated.
To illustrate, computer parts manufactured in six different ­countries are ­assembled
in Malaysia before being transported by a Dutch freighter and sold to a Russian
­entrepreneur. Since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001, China has ­become
one of the largest (and certainly one of the most ­rapidly ­expanding) ­economies
in the world. Clothing for children’s dolls, sewn on ­Korean-made ­machines by
Taiwanese workers, are assembled on dolls by Mexican workers ­according to U.S.
­specifications and then sold to parents in London and Chicago in time for Christmas.
The American-based computer giant IBM has more than 430,000 e­ mployees
working in some 40 different countries. Recently, a North Carolina man traveled
to Bangkok, Thailand, to receive 22 dental crowns (and other dental work) by a
Western-trained oral surgeon for less than one-third of what it would have cost back
home. A German becomes the president of a Swedish kitchenware company, while
an Indian university professor purchases (online) shares from a Swiss-based mutual
fund for his retirement portfolio. The examples of the world becoming ­inextricably
interconnected are simply too numerous to count.
To remain competitive in this rapidly globalizing world, most businesses,
both here and abroad, have needed to enter into international/cross-cultural
­alliances. The overall consequences of this trend have been that more and more
­companies have engaged in activities such as joint ventures, licensing agreements,
­turnkey projects, and foreign capital investments. Since the end of the Cold War
in the late 1980s, world economies have experienced dramatic changes; collectively
these changes have been subsumed under the term globalization. This term has
­become one of the most overused and poorly understood words in the English
language. To be certain, countries and cultures have been interdependent for
­centuries, but when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the world began to change
in some ­dramatic ways. Forces were unleashed that have had, and will continue to
have, profound effects on all cultures and nations of the world. These include a
new ­integration of world markets, technology, and information that is oblivious to
1
2   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

both national and cultural borders. This post–Cold War globalization is driven by
free-market ­capitalism and the questionable idea that the more a country opens
up its markets to free trade, the healthier its economy will become. The economics
of globalization involve lowering tariff barriers while privatizing and deregulating
national economies. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
the European Union are two examples of the globalization of markets. The result
of the globalization of markets is that goods, services, and ideas from all over the
world are making their way into other cultures.

A FLaTTER WORLD
What follows are just a few illustrations of how extensively the lives of all of the
world’s peoples are interconnected:

• The percentage of the U.S. population that is foreign-born has grown from six
percent in 1980 to eight percent in 1990 and to 12 percent in 2010.
• Coca-Cola sells more of its product in Japan than it sells in the United States.
• Foreign-owned firms operating in the United States employ more than
5,000,000 workers, approximately one in ten manufacturing jobs.
• Internet users worldwide increased approximately 545 percent between 2000
and 2010.
• Direct foreign investments in the United States have increased from $66 billion
in 1990 to $162 billion in 2006, an increase of 245 percent. And, in the opposite
direction, U.S. direct investment abroad has grown from $430 billion in 1990 to
$2.3 trillion in 2006, an increase of 540 percent.
• Many high-skilled jobs formerly performed in the United States are now being
performed abroad, such as a CPA in Bangalore, India, filling out state and
federal income tax forms for someone in San Francisco; a mathematician in
Mumbai, India, tutoring a high school student in Cleveland via e-mail; or a
Western-trained Thai surgeon in Bangkok performing a heart valve operation
(which costs over $200,000 in the United States) on a New Yorker for $10,500.
• More than half of U.S. franchise operators (e.g., Dunkin’ Donuts or KFC) are in
markets outside the United States.
• Owing to a shortage of priests in North America, local Catholic parishes are send-
ing mass intentions (requests for masses said for a sick or deceased relative) to
India. Catholic priests in India (who have more time than North American priests
and need the money) are now conducting the masses in Hindi on behalf of North
American Catholics after receiving the requests via e-mail. Americans are out-
sourcing not only manufacturing jobs, but also their religious rituals to India.
• Artistic styles and traditions also are being globalized. In recent years we have
witnessed recording artist Paul Simon collaborating musically with Ladysmith
Black Mambazo, a singing group from South Africa; Sting recording fusion
music with Cheb Mami from Algeria; and Jaz Coleman, lead singer with a
British rock group, collaborating with Maori singer and poet Hinewehi Mohi.
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   3

At the same time that world trade barriers are falling, a concomitant r­ evolution
is going on in the world of information technology (IT). In the m ­ id-1980s, only a
handful of people in the world could operate a computer. Today, computers are
as common in the home as the radio was in the 1940s. Moreover, the development
of digitization, fiber optics, satellite communication, and the Internet now enables
people to communicate with one another instantaneously. With the advent of
e-commerce, anyone with a good product, a computer, a telephone, access to the
Internet, a website, and a FedEx account can become a potential entrepreneur.
Globalization has encouraged the participation of large numbers of new ­players
in the world market. It is now possible to enter the global economy virtually
­overnight, with very little capital outlay, and become a global competitor by the
next afternoon.
Indeed, the nation-state of the 21st century sometimes plays second fiddle
to the powerful forces of the highly integrated global economy. During the early
­summer of 2002, India and Pakistan, both with nuclear capabilities, were on the
brink of war over the issue of Kashmir. The two countries were rattling their
­sabers, as the leaders of the United States and Western Europe tried to bring the
two parties back from the brink. In the end, the de-escalation of hostilities between
India and Pakistan was brought about by pressure exerted by the IT industry—not
the U.S. government (which has more military firepower than the next 15 most
powerful nations). The global revolution in IT since the early 1990s has had an
enormous impact on the Indian economy, accounting for 40 percent of India’s
gross domestic product. Drawing upon the large tech-savvy Indian population,
many of the world’s largest companies (including American Express, Motorola
Solutions, Siemens, Shell, Nike, Sony, and General Electric) have their back rooms
and research facilities in India. If you lose your luggage anywhere in the world,
it will likely be tracked down by an Indian techie in Bangalore (India’s Silicon
Valley). Accounting, inventory control, payroll, billing, credit card approval, and
customer service, among other functions, for many of the world’s largest corpora-
tions are electronically managed by highly skilled engineers, computer scientists,
and information technicians in India. With India so intimately involved in the IT
lifeblood of so many large corporations, the possibility of India going to war could
seriously disrupt the world’s economy. In the final analysis, it was the powerful
international corporations that convinced the Indian government to disengage
with the Pakistanis under the threat of taking their IT business elsewhere. Thus, in
the words of Thomas Friedman (2002: 13), “in the crunch, it was the influence of
General Electric, not General (Colin) Powell, that did the trick.”

THE PERSpECTiVE OF CULTURAL ANTHROpOLOgY

Cultural anthropology seeks to understand how and why contemporary peoples

of the world differ in their customs and practices and how and why they share
certain similarities. It is, in short, the comparative study of cultural differences
4   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

and similarities found throughout the world. But learning about the wide range of
­cultural variations serves as a check on those who might generalize about “human
nature” solely on observations from their own society. It is not at all unusual for
people to assume that their own ways of thinking and acting are unquestionably
rational, “natural,” or “human.” Consider, for example, the nonverbal gesture
of negation (found in the United States and in some other parts of the world),
­shaking the head from side to side. In some parts of India, people use this very
same gesture to communicate not negation but affirmation. In fact, there are
any number of ways of nonverbally communicating the idea of negation, all of
which are no more or no less rational than shaking the head from side to side.
The study of cultural anthropology provides a look at the enormous variations in
thinking and acting found in the world today and how many different solutions
have been generated for solving the same set of human problems. Moreover, the
cross-cultural study of the workplace and consumers by anthropologists can help
global corporations craft solutions to problems of working together as efficiently
as possible.
Anthropology does more than simply document the enormous ­variation
in human cultures. As a social science, anthropology works to identify, d ­ escribe,
and explain the commonalities. For example, for any society to continue to exist
over the long run, it must solve the basic problem of how to pass on its total
­cultural ­heritage—all the ideas, values, attitudes, behavior patterns, and so on—to
­succeeding generations. Should that complexity of cultural traditions not be passed
on to future generations, that society will very likely not survive. Saudis have solved
this problem by developing Koranic schools, which pass on the ­cultural traditions
to the younger generations; in parts of West Africa, “bush schools” train young
adolescents to become adults; in our own society, we rely on a formal system of
compulsory education, complete with books, desks, and teachers. Although the
details of these educational systems vary enormously, all societies in the world—
today or in the past—have worked out a system for ensuring that new generations
will learn their culture. Thus, the science of anthropology attempts to document
the great variations in cultural forms while looking for both the common strands
that are found in all cultures.
In addition to being comparative, the anthropological perspective has
­several other distinctive features. First, to a greater extent than other social
­sciences, ­anthropologists analyze cultural differences and similarities ­firsthand.
Rather than relying on secondary information gleaned (often by other p ­ eople)
from ­questionnaires, interviews, and census reports, cultural a­ nthropologists use
­participant observation as a major method for collecting culturally ­comparative
­information. When cultural anthropologists use participant observation, they
share in the everyday activities of the local people while making ­systematic
­observations of people eating, working, playing, conversing, dancing, e­ xchanging
goods, fighting, or any other activity that might illuminate their cultural ­patterns.
A second distinguishing feature of anthropology is that it is “holistic” to the
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   5

e­ xtent that it studies (a) all peoples throughout the world and (b) many ­different
­aspects of human experience, including family structure, marital regulations,
house construction, methods of conflict resolution, means of livelihood, religious
beliefs, language, space usage, and art. And finally cultural anthropology, ­unlike
other social ­science disciplines, emphasizes viewing another culture from the
­perspective of an ­insider. For decades, anthropologists have made the distinction
between the emic (­ insider) approach (describing another culture in terms of the
­categories, ­concepts, and ­perceptions of the people being studied) and the etic
­(outsider) ­approach (in which anthropologists use their own categories and con-
cepts to ­describe the culture under analysis). For the last half century, there has
been an ongoing debate among anthropologists as to which approach is more
valuable for the scientific study of comparative cultures.
Thus, cultural anthropologists are trained to analyze the cultural and ­social
organizations of various types of societies. In the early 20th century, cultural
­anthropologists devoted their energies to the analysis of small-scale, t­ echnologically
simple, and usually non-Western peoples. Over the last several ­decades, however,
cultural anthropologists have become more involved in the study of complex

Cultural anthropologist Ed Tronick

conducts ­participant observation
fieldwork among the Efe people of
Zaire.
6   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

societies. Yet whether dealing with simple or complex societies, the focus of
­cultural anthropologists has been the comparative study of sociocultural organiza-
tions wherever, or in whatever form, they may be found.
When hearing the phrase cultural anthropologist, the average American often
imagines a drab, eccentric, elderly, bookish professor wearing sensible shoes and
natural fiber clothing, and having little or nothing to do with anything outside the
classroom. Anthropology, however, is neither dangerous (like the movie version of
Indiana Jones) nor irrelevant. To counter this popular view that cultural anthro-
pology is of little use in helping to understand the world around us, an increas-
ing ­number of cultural anthropologists have applied their theories, findings, and
methods to a wide range of professional areas, including economic development,
business, health services, education, and urban administration. In fact, business and
organizational anthropologists work inside some of the leading manufacturing and
service companies in the world. These firms understand that anthropology brings a
unique perspective on sociocultural issues to their organizations, both at home and
abroad. Anthropologists not only help companies design products, but also develop
culturally sensitive marketing strategies and organizational processes that incorpo-
rate an understanding of consumers, employees, and external communities.
This book rests on the fundamental assumption that to operate effectively in
today’s global business arena one must master the cultural environment by means
of purposeful preparation as well as by becoming a lifelong student of ­culture.
Now, as in the past, most globetrotting businesspeople acquire their ­cross-cultural
expertise while on the job, and they consider hands-on factors such as business
travel and overseas assignments to be the most important experiences. While not
minimizing the value of experiential learning, this book argues that, in a­ ddition to
on-the-job learning (and in most cases, before entering the global m ­ arketplace),
successful international businesspeople must prepare themselves in a very
­deliberate manner to operate within a new, and frequently very different, cultural
environment.

CULTURAL ANTHROpOLOgY AND BUSiNESS

Anthropologists have been working in business and industry since the early 1930s;
useful historical and contemporary overviews of the field are those by Marietta
Baba (1986, 2006, 2009) and Ann Jordan (1994, 2003, 2010). The human relations
school of organizational research emerged from the Hawthorne Project and pro-
duced a number of ethnographies (i.e., a descriptive and systematic account of a
particular culture) showing how informal cultural patterns could influence mana-
gerial goals (Mayo 1933; Roethlisberger and Dickson 1939; Gardner 1945; Warner
and Low 1947; Richardson and Walker 1948). Also during this early period, some
anthropologists turned their attention to consumer behavior (Warner and Lunt
1941; Gardner and Levy 1955), and later, a focus on occupations (Van Maanen
1978; Gamst 1980; Applebaum 1981; Coy 1989).
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   7

Consumer anthropologist Timothy de Waal Malefyt conducts a videotaped interview

with a female consumer in her home.

Since the last two decades of the 20th century, the field of business
a­ nthropology has evolved into two prominent streams of research and p ­ ractice.
One research stream has focused on organizational cultures, both domestic and
global, along with global teams and partnerships (Gregory 1983; Serrie 1986;
Suchman 1987; Dubinskas 1988; Sachs 1989; Hamada 1991; Hamada and Sibley
1994; Orr 1996; Jordan 2003; Gluesing and Gibson 2004; Briody and Trotter
2008; Cefkin 2009; Meerwarth, Gluesing, and Jordan 2008; Briody, Trotter,
and Meerwarth 2010; Van Marrewijk 2010; Caulkins and Jordan 2012). For
­example, Frank Dubinskas’ edited volume examines how time is understood in
such places as high-energy physics laboratories, start-up biotechnology firms,
hospital radiology departments, and an engineering company. Dubinskas writes,
“Managers appear as short-term and biologists as long-term planners . . . What
managers see as ‘immaturity’—not coming to completion—the scientists see
as necessary, ongoing development” (Dubinskas, 1988: 26–27). We discuss the
­dimension of time in Chapter 2.
A second stream consists of a critical mass of business anthropologists in
consumer research, product design, and advertising (Miller 1994; Sherry 1995;
Moeran 1996; Squires and Byrne 2002; Blomberg, Burrell, and Guest 2003;
8   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

Malefyt and Moeran 2003; Arnould and Thompson 2005; Metcalf and Harboe
2006; Sunderland and Denny 2007; Diamond et al. 2009; McCracken 2009; Wasson
and Squires 2011). Nina Diamond and her colleagues, for example, conducted a
large field study of the American Girl brand (Diamond et al., 2009). American
Girl is an emotionally powerful brand because of the Gestalt created by its various
­elements—the dolls themselves (from many ethnic groups and historical periods),
the young doll owners who play with them, the books and DVDs, the founder’s
philosophy, and the shopping experience with relatives at American Girl Place.
A key insight for this research team was the importance of studying a brand in its
totality so that it could be managed effectively. We feature numerous examples of
product design and marketing throughout the book.
The anthropological perspective can be useful in the study of purely ­domestic
business organizations, which are frequently composed of many social ­components
that come from different backgrounds, hold contrasting values and attitudes,
and have conflicting loyalties. For instance, the company vice president will not
likely have much in common with the assembly-line worker, the union represen-
tative, the president of the local Sierra Club, the inspector from OSHA (the U.S.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration), the janitor, or many members
of that diverse group called the “buying public.” And yet, if the ­organization is
to function e­ ffectively, that corporate manager needs to know about the values,
­attitudes, expectations, concerns, and behavioral patterns of all these people,
and others as well. In short, domestic business organizations can be viewed as
­minicultures (composed of different people with different roles, statuses, and value
systems) that operate within the wider national cultural context.
The number of MA and PhD anthropologists working in the private sector
for corporations and consulting firms has increased dramatically in the past three
decades. Many high-tech multinational firms such as Microsoft, Google, and IBM
have anthropologists on their staff working in the areas of research, ­marketing,
management, human resources, and new product development. What is it that
well-trained cultural anthropologists bring to the private sector? They are ­valuable
because of their cross-cultural perspective, their capacity to study very specific
behavior in its proper cultural context, and their primary research t­echnique of
participant observation, which reveals what people actually do in ­contrast to what
they say they do.
Today, research and design firms, which develop new products, are actively
recruiting anthropologists to help them gain deeper insights about their ­customers
through participant observation research. One such anthropologist, Susan
Squires, who has worked in new product development for many years, conducted
­participant observation research on U.S. families during breakfast time (Squires
2002: 108–14; http://practicinganthropology.org/?s=Squires). While hanging
around the ­breakfast tables in middle-class homes, Squires found that, with both
parents working, getting children ready for school was hectic at best, and often
children ate “on the run” rather than having a traditional ­sit-down breakfast. She
also o ­ bserved that both parents and children frequently ate bananas on the way
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   9

to office and school respectively, because they are n ­ utritious, portable, disposable,
and fun to eat. If a new breakfast product was to be developed, it would have to
meet the needs of a number of family members. For example, it would need to be
­nutritious, ­banana-like, portable, disposable, versatile, and fun to eat. Based on her
­anthropological observations of actual ­behavior, Squires developed a new ­breakfast
product designed for the children of a two-parent working family o ­ n-the-go called
“Go-Gurt.” The first yogurt served in a tube, Go-Gurt is a healthy, high-protein
food that had sales of over $37 million during its first year on the market.
Failure to consider the cultural context in the domestic organization can
lead, and has led, to misunderstandings, miscommunication, costly ­marketing
blunders, lawsuits, and generally an undermining of organizational goals.
When moving into the area of international business, the need to be aware of
­cultural environments becomes even more critical. Here the magnitude of the
cultural differences is vastly greater; consequently, breakdown of communica-
tion ­usually increases geometrically. One of the most common factors contrib-
uting to failure in global business is the erroneous assumption that if a p ­ erson
is successful in the home environment, he or she will be equally successful in
applying technical expertise in a different culture. Yet, research has shown
that failures in the global business setting—including partnerships and joint
­ventures—most frequently ­result from an inability to understand and adapt to
foreign ways of thinking and acting rather than from technical or professional
incompetence (Black, Gregersen, and Mendenhall 1992; Adler 2002; Thomas,
2002; Maurer and Li 2006). At home, U.S. businesspeople equip themselves
with vast amounts of knowledge of their employees, customers, and business
partners. Market research provides detailed information on values, attitudes,
and b ­ uying preferences of U.S. consumers. Middle- and upper-level managers
are well versed in the intricacies of their organization’s culture. Labor negotia-
tors must be highly sensitive to what motivates those on the other side of the
table. Yet when Americans turn to the global arena, they frequently deal with
customers, ­employees, and fellow workers with a dearth of information that at
home would be unimaginable.
The literature is filled with examples of business miscues when U.S. corpora-
tions attempted to operate in a global context. Some are mildly amusing; others are
downright embarrassing. All of them, to one degree or another, have been costly
in terms of money, reputation, or both. For example, when firms try to market
their products abroad, they often assume that if a marketing strategy or slogan is
­effective in, say, Cleveland, it will be equally effective in other parts of the world.
But p ­ roblems can arise when changing cultural contexts. To illustrate, an airline
­offering service to Brazil advertised that it had comfortable “rendezvous lounges”
in its business class section, without realizing that the word rendezvous in Portuguese
refers to a room for illicit sexual encounters. Chicken entrepreneur Frank Perdue
decided to translate one of his very successful advertising slogans into Spanish,
but the translated slogan didn’t produce the desired results. The slogan “It takes
a tough man to make a tender chicken” was translated into Spanish as “It takes a
10   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

virile man to make a chicken affectionate.” And the American Dairy Association’s
wildly successful ad campaign “Got Milk?” had the unfortunate translation “Are
you lactating?” when used in Mexico. Although all these cross-cultural advertising
blunders cause us to chuckle, they can result in a loss of revenue and even product
credibility.
These are only a few of the examples of the price paid for ­miscalculating—or
simply ignoring—the cultural dimension of global business. The most cursory r­ eview
of the global business literature will reveal many other s­ imilarly costly m
­ istakes.
If American businesspeople are to meet the challenges of an ­increasingly interde-
pendent world, they will need to develop a better ­understanding of how ­cultural
variables influence global business enterprises. A healthy ­dialogue ­between cultural
anthropologists and members of the global business c­ ommunity—which this book
seeks to foster—is an important step in achieving that needed understanding.

ANTHROpOLOgY’S MAJOR CONCEpT: CULTURE

Anthropologists do more than simply accumulate and catalog information on the

world’s exotic and not-so-exotic cultures. Like other scientists, they attempt to
generate theories about culture that apply to all human populations. Because it
is impossible for any individual to master every cultural fact about every culture
of the world, anthropologists have developed a number of general concepts about
culture that can be applied to a wide variety of cross-cultural situations, whether
they involve differences in national culture, organizational culture, occupational
culture, work group culture, consumer culture, regulatory culture, or other kinds
of cultural groupings with an impact on global business.
In this section we explore what is meant—and what is not meant—by the
term culture. In addition to defining this central anthropological concept, we also
examine six important generalizations concerning the concept of culture and their
significance for the U.S. businessperson operating in the world marketplace.
In everyday usage, the term culture refers to the finer things in life, such as
the fine arts, literature, philosophy, and classical music. Under this very n ­ arrow
­definition of the term, the “cultured person” is one who prefers Bach to Lady
Gaga, can distinguish between the artistic styles of Monet and Manet, ­prefers
pheasant under glass to grits and red-eye gravy, and 12-year-old scotch to
beer, and spends his/her leisure time reading Kierkegaard rather than w ­ atching
­wrestling on television. For the anthropologist, however, the term culture has
a much broader meaning that goes far beyond mere personal refinements. The
only requirement for being cultured is to be human. Thus, all people have culture.
The scantily clad Dani of New Guinea is as much a cultural animal as is Yo-Yo
Ma. For the anthropologist, cooking pots, spears, and mud huts are as legitimate
items of culture as symphonies, oil paintings, and great works of literature.
While you will find many definitions of the concept of culture in the
­literature, we will define culture as: Everything that people have, think, and do as
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   11

members of their society. The three verbs in this definition (have, think, and do)
can help us i­dentify the three major structural components of the concept of
­culture. For a p ­ erson to have something, some material object must be present.
When ­people think, ideas, values, attitudes, and beliefs are present. When people
do, they ­behave in certain socially prescribed ways. Thus, culture is made up of (1)
­material ­objects; (2) ideas, values, and attitudes; and (3) normative, or expected,
patterns of ­behavior. The final phrase of our working definition, “as members of
their ­society,” should serve as a reminder that culture is shared by at least two or
more people. In other words, there is no such thing as the culture of a hermit.
In addition to this working definition, a number of features of the concept
of culture should be made explicit. In the remainder of this chapter, we briefly
­examine these features that hold true for all cultures, and discuss why they are
valuable insights into the cultural environment of global business.

Culture Is Learned

Culture is transmitted through the process of learning and interacting with one’s
environment, rather than through the genetic process. Culture can be thought of
as a storehouse of all the knowledge of a society. The child who is born into any
­society finds that the problems that confront all people have already been solved
by those who have lived before. For example, material objects, methods for acquir-
ing food, language, rules of government, forms of marriage, systems of religion,
and many other things have already been discovered and are functioning within
the culture when a child is born. A child has only to learn the various solutions to
these basic human problems established by his culture. Once these solutions are
learned, behavior becomes almost automatic. Thus, culture is passed on from one
generation to another within a society. It is not inborn or instinctive.
It is sometimes easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because the
Australian Bushman and the Central African Pygmy do not know what we know,
they must be childlike, ignorant, and generally incapable of learning. These prim-
itives, the argument goes, have not learned about calculus, Shakespeare, or the
Nobel Peace Prize because they are not as intelligent as we are. Yet no evidence
whatsoever suggests even remotely that people in some cultures are less efficient
learners than people in other cultures. What the comparative study of culture does
tell us is that people in different cultures learn different cultural content—that is,
different ideas, values, and behavior patterns—and they learn that content every
bit as efficiently as anyone else. For example, despite the inability of a rural Kikuyu
farmer from Kenya to solve a problem by using differential equations, she would
be able to ­recite exactly how she is related (step by step) to a network of hundreds
of ­kinsmen. Kikuyu farmers have mastered what to us is a bewildering amount of
kinship information because their culture places great emphasis on such knowl-
edge if the rather complex Kikuyu marriage and kinship system is to work. Hence,
people from different cultures learn those things that contribute to adjusting to
their particular environments.
12 Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

© Elizabeth K. Briody
Although these Garifuna children growing up in Honduras learn different cultural content
than do North American children, the process of acquiring culture through learning is
common to all cultures.

This notion that culture is acquired through the process of learning has
several important implications for the conduct of global business. First, such an
understanding can lead to greater tolerance for cultural differences, a prerequisite
for effective intercultural communication within a business setting. Second, the
learned nature of culture serves as a reminder that because we have mastered our
own culture through the process of learning, it is possible (albeit more difficult) to
learn to function in other cultures as well. Thus, cross-cultural expertise for global
businesspeople can be accomplished through a combination of direct experience
and mentoring; effective training programs and readings may be helpful as well.

Culture Influences Biological Processes

If we stop to consider it, the great majority of our conscious behavior is acquired
through learning and interacting with other members of our culture. Even those
responses to our purely biological needs (e.g., eating, coughing, defecating) are
frequently influenced by our cultures. For example, all people share a biological
need for food. Unless a minimum number of calories is consumed, starvation will
occur; therefore, all people eat. But what we eat, how often and how much we eat,
with whom we eat, and according to what set of rules are all regulated, at least in
part, by our culture.
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business 13

This Masai girl and this

middle-class North American
woman put holes in their ears
for exactly the same reason—
because their cultures teach them
that it enhances their feminine
attractiveness.

© Britta Kasholm-Tengva / iStock by Getty Images

© Astroid / iStock by Getty Images
14   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

Anthropologist Clyde Kluckhohn provides us with a telling example of

how culture affects biological processes (Kluckhohn, 1968: 25–26). He once
knew a woman in Arizona who took a somewhat perverse delight in producing
a ­cultural reaction. At her luncheon parties she would serve delicious sandwiches
filled with a pleasant tasting white meat similar to chicken. After her guests had
eaten their fill, she would tell them that they had just eaten sandwiches filled
with ­rattlesnake flesh. The results were always the same. Some of her guests
would vomit, ­sometimes violently. Here, then, is a dramatic illustration of how
culture can i­nfluence biological processes. In fact, in this instance, the natural
­biological ­process of digestion was not only influenced but was actually reversed.
A learned part of our culture (the idea that rattlesnake meat is a repulsive thing
to eat) ­actually triggered the sudden interruption of the normal digestive process.
Clearly, there is nothing in rattlesnake meat that causes people to vomit, for those
who have internalized the opposite idea—that rattlesnake meat is good to eat—
have no such digestive tract reversals.
The basic anthropological notion that culture channels biological processes
can provide some important insights when managing or marketing abroad. For
example, in Chennai, India, such a concept can be a reminder not to serve beef
noodle soup in the plant cafeteria, for to do so might cause a mass exodus to the
infirmary. Or, even though foot binding is no longer widely practiced in China,
the notion of equating small feet with feminine beauty should be taken into
­account by shoe manufacturers who hope to sell shoes to Chinese women in the
21st century. Or, an understanding of the fascination with plastic surgery in the
United States should encourage cosmetic manufacturers around the world to do
their homework on what constitutes attractiveness for both men and women in
the United States.

Cultural Universals Do Exist

All cultures of the world, despite many differences, face a number of ­common
­problems and share a number of common features, which we call cultural ­universals.
As we encounter the many different cultural patterns found ­throughout the world,
there is a tendency to become overwhelmed by the magnitude of the ­differences and
overlook the commonalities. But all societies, if they are to ­survive, are confronted
with fundamental challenges that must be addressed. When ­cultures develop ways
of addressing those challenges, general cultural patterns emerge. Differences in
the details of cultural patterns exist because different ­societies have developed
­different approaches and solutions. Yet, a number of commonalities exist. Let’s
briefly examine the issues that all cultures face and the universal c­ ultural patterns
that emerge in response.

ECONOMIC SYSTEMS One of the most obvious and immediate issues of a ­society is to
meet the basic physiological requirements of its people. To stay alive, all ­humans
need a certain minimal caloric intake, potable water, and, to varying degrees,
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   15

protection from the elements in terms of clothing and shelter. No s­ ociety in the
world has access to an infinite supply of basic resources such as food, water,
clothing, and housing materials. Because these commodities are ­always in finite
supply, each society must develop systematic ways of producing, d ­ istributing,
and consuming these essential resources. Thus, each society must develop an
­economic system.
To illustrate this principle of cultural universals, we can look at one compo-
nent of economic systems—namely, forms of distribution. In the United States,
most goods and services are distributed according to capitalism, based on the prin-
ciple of “each according to his or her capacity to pay.” In socialist countries, on the
other hand, goods and services are distributed according to another quite different
principle—that is, “each according to his or her need.” The Pygmies of Central
Africa distribute goods by a system known as “silent barter,” in which the trading
partners, in an attempt to attain true reciprocity, avoid face-to-face contact during
the exchange. The Hadza of Tanzania distribute the meat of an animal killed in the
hunt according to the principle of kinship—each share of meat is determined by
how one is related to the hunter. But whatever particular form the system of distri-
bution might take, there are no societies—at least not for long—that have failed to
work out and adhere to a well-understood and systematic pattern of distribution.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY SYSTEMS For a society to continue over time, it is i­mperative
that it work out systematic procedures for mating, marriage, child rearing, and
family formation. If it fails to do so, it will die out in a very short time. No society
permits random mating and all societies have worked out rules for ­determining
who can marry whom, under what conditions, and according to what procedures.
All societies, in other words, have patterned systems of marriage. And since human
infants (as compared with the young of other species) have a particularly long
­period of dependency on adults, every society must work out s­ ystematic ways of
caring for dependent children. Otherwise, children will not survive to adulthood
and the very survival of the society will be in jeopardy. Thus, we can say that all
societies have patterns of child rearing and family institutions.
And yet, it is absolutely essential that one knows something about the spe-
cific features of the marriage and family system that exists in those particular parts
of the world in which one may have business interests. For example, where people
have many obligations to attend family/kinship functions, labor contracts should
include flexible working hours and perhaps slightly lower pay, instead of a rigid
40-hour workweek and somewhat higher pay. Workers, in other words, would be
willing to give up higher pay rates if they knew they could attend family gatherings
without being penalized.

EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS Along with ensuring that the basic physical needs of the
child are met, a society must see to it that the children learn the way of life of the
society. Rather than expecting each new child to rediscover for himself or ­herself
all the accumulated knowledge of the past, a society must have an organized way
16   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

Although the marriage practices

among the Ndebele of South Africa
differ in many ways from this
wedding under the Chuppah in
British Columbia, Canada, both
sets of practices are ­responses to the
­universal interest in orderly ­systems
of mating and child rearing.
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   17

of passing on its cultural heritage from one generation to the next. The result is
some form of educational system in every society.
Despite the universality of education systems, the specific features of
any given system vary widely from culture to culture. For example, are the
­patterned forms of education formal (schools, books, professional teachers) or
­informal ­(information passed from parents to children or from older to younger
­siblings)? Is the emphasis on rote memorization or the development of analyti-
cal ­carryover skills? Are students exposed to a broad “liberal arts” education or a
­narrow, more occupationally oriented curriculum? Are various levels of education
­(kindergarten through graduate school) open to all members of the society or only
to the ­privileged classes? The answers to these and other questions have important
­implications for any international businessperson engaged in the management of
foreign workforces, the negotiation of international contracts, or the development
of marketing strategies abroad.

SOCIAL CONTROL SYSTEMS If groups of people are to survive, they must d ­ evelop
some established ways of preserving social order; that is, all societies must develop
mechanisms that will ensure that most of the people obey most of the rules most
of the time. If not, people will violate each other’s rights to such an extent that
anarchy will prevail. Different societies develop mechanisms to ensure social order
in different ways. In the United States, behavior control rests on a number of for-
mal mechanisms, such as a written constitution; local, state, and federal laws; and
an elaborate system of police, courts, and penal institutions. Many small-scale,
technologically simple societies have less formal (but no less effective) means of
controlling behavior. Regardless of the specific methods used, one thing is certain:
Every society has a system for coercing people to obey the social rules, and these
are called social control systems.
Again, knowing the means that culturally different people rely upon for main-
taining social order is important for managers of international workforces. To
maintain order and good working relationships among employees, corporations
operating abroad are likely to be more successful by using local mechanisms of
­social control rather than imposing those that work effectively in the home office.

SUPERNATURAL BELIEF SYSTEMS All societies have a certain degree of control over their
social and physical environments. People in all societies can understand and predict
a number of things. For example, a dense, heavy object when dropped into a lake
will sink to the bottom; if I have $5 and give you $2, I will have $3 left; the sun always
rises in the east and sets in the west. However, we cannot explain or predict with any
degree of certainty many other things: Why does a child develop a fatal disease, but
the child’s playmate next door does not? Why do tornadoes destroy some houses
and leave others unharmed? Why do safe drivers die in auto accidents and careless
drivers do not? Such questions have no apparent answers, because they cannot be
explained by our conventional systems of justice or rationality. Therefore, societies
develop supernatural belief systems for explaining these unexplainable ­occurrences.
18   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

The way people explain the unexplainable is to rely on various types of supernatural
explanations such as magic, religion, witchcraft, sorcery, and astrology.
Religions and other supernatural belief systems affect the conduct of
­business by shaping attitudes about work, savings, consumption, efficiency,
and ­individual responsibility. To illustrate, Euro-American Christianity, as it is
­embodied in the Protestant ethic, emphasizes hard work, frugality, and getting
ahead for the sake of glorifying God. The Islamic religion, although not hostile to
capitalism, places greater emphasis on the individual’s responsibility to the society,
­including charity to the poor and ensuring that profits are made only through fair
­business dealings rather than through fraud, deceit, or usury. And another world
­religion, Hinduism, places emphasis on spiritual goals rather than on economic or
­professional ­accomplishments. At the very least, global businesspeople must be
sensitive to these broad divisions in how people’s values and work practices are
affected by their religious traditions.
Thus, despite the great variety in the details of cultural features found
throughout the world, all cultures have a number of traits in common. This basic
anthropological principle, known as cultural universals, can be an important tool
for helping global businesspeople become sensitive to and appreciate culturally
different business environments. Greater empathy for cultural differences—a
­necessary if not sufficient condition for increased knowledge—can be attained if
we can avoid concentrating solely on the apparent differences between cultures but
appreciate their underlying commonalities as well. In other words, we will be less
likely to prejudge or be critical of different practices, ideas, or behavior patterns
if we can appreciate the notion that they represent different solutions to the same
basic human problems facing all cultures of the world, including our own.

Cultural Change

All cultures experience continual change. Any anthropological account of a culture

is merely a snapshot view at one particular time. Should the anthropologist return
several years after completing a cultural study, he or she would not find exactly
the same situation, because no culture remains completely static year after year.
Although small-scale, technologically simple, preliterate societies tend to be more
conservative (and thus change less rapidly) than modern, industrialized, highly
complex societies, it is now generally accepted that, to some degree, change is a
constant feature of all cultures.
Students of culture change generally recognize that change occurs as a
result of both internal and external forces. Mechanisms of change that emerge
within a given culture are called discovery and invention. Despite the impor-
tance of discovery and invention, most changes occur as a result of borrowing
from other cultures, a process known as cultural diffusion. The importance of
cultural borrowing can be better understood if viewed in terms of economy of
effort: Borrowing someone else’s invention or discovery is much easier than
discovering or inventing it all over again. Anthropologists generally agree that
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   19

a substantial majority of all things, ideas, and behavioral patterns found in

any culture had their origins elsewhere. Individuals in every culture, limited
by background and time, can get new ideas with far less effort if they borrow
them. This statement holds true for our own culture as well as other cultures,
a fact that Americans frequently tend to overlook. Because so much cultural
change is the result of diffusion, it deserves a closer examination. Although
cultural diffusion varies from situation to situation, we can identify certain
generalizations that hold true for all cultures.
First, cultural diffusion is a selective process. Whenever two cultures come
into contact, each does not accept everything indiscriminately from the other.
If they did, the vast cultural differences that exist today would have long since
disappeared. Rather, items will be borrowed from another culture only if they
prove to be useful and/or compatible. For example, we would not expect to see
the diffusion of swine husbandry from the United States to Saudi Arabia because
the predominant Muslim population has a strong dietary prohibition on pork.
Similarly, polyandry (the practice of a woman having two or more husbands at a
time) is not likely to be borrowed by the United States because of its obvious lack
of fit with other features of mainstream American culture. Successful interna-
tional marketing requires an intimate knowledge of the cultures found in foreign
markets to determine if, how, and to what extent specific products are likely to
become accepted and used in the ways in which they were intended.
Second, cultural borrowing is a two-way process. Early students of change
believed that contact between “primitive” societies and “civilized” societies caused
the former to accept traits from the latter. This position was based on the assump-
tion that the “inferior” small-scale societies had nothing to offer the “superior”
civilized societies. Today, however, anthropologists would reject such a posi-
tion because it has been found time and again that cultural traits are diffused in
both directions. For example, Native Americans have accepted a great deal from
Europeans, but diffusion in the other direction also has been significant. It has
been estimated that those crops that make up nearly half of the world’s food sup-
ply today (such as corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes, and even the so-called Irish
potato) were originally domesticated by Native Americans. Native Americans have
given the world articles of clothing such as woolen ponchos, parkas, and mocca-
sins, not to mention American varieties of cotton, a material used widely through-
out the world for making clothing. Even the multibillion-dollar ­pharmaceutical
­industry in the Western world continues to produce and market commercial drugs
first discovered by Native Americans, including painkillers such as cocaine and
Novocain, anesthetics, quinine, and laxatives. This concept that cultural diffusion
is a two-way process should help global leaders be more receptive to the idea that
the corporate culture, as well as the local culture, may change. The local culture
may, in fact, have a good deal to offer the corporate culture, provided the corpo-
rate culture is open to accepting these new cultural features.
Third, frequently borrowed items are not transferred into the recipient
­culture in exactly their original form. Rather, new ideas, objects, or techniques
20   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

Cultural diffusion is responsible for the greatest amount of culture change in all societies.

are usually reinterpreted and reworked so that they can be integrated more
­effectively into the total configuration of the recipient culture. In other words,
once a c­ ultural element is accepted into a new culture, it may undergo changes
in form or function. Pizza is a good example of how a cultural item can change
form as it diffuses. Pizza, which diffused from Italy to the United States in the
late 19th century, has been modified in a number of significant ways to conform
to American tastes. It is unlikely that its Italian originators would recognize a
pizza made of French bread, English muffins, or pita bread and topped with
pineapple, tuna, clams, or jalapeno peppers. An understanding that cultural
­diffusion f­requently involves some modification of the item is an important
idea for those interested in creating new product markets in other cultures. To
­illustrate, before a laundry detergent—normally packaged in a green box in the
United States—would be accepted in certain parts of West Africa, the color of
the packaging would need to be changed because the color green is associated
with death in certain West African cultures.
Fourth, some cultural traits are more easily diffused than others. By and large,
technological innovations are more likely to be borrowed than are social p ­ atterns
or belief systems, largely because the usefulness of a particular technological trait
is more immediately recognizable. For example, a man who walks five miles each
day to work quickly realizes that an automobile can get him to work faster and
with far less effort. It is much more difficult, however, to convince a Muslim to
become a Hindu or an American businessperson to become a s­ ocialist. The idea
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   21

that some components of culture are more readily accepted than others should at
least provide some general guidelines for assessing what types of changes in the
local culture are more likely to occur. By assessing what types of things, ideas, and
behavior have been incorporated into a culture in recent years, ­strategic ­planners
are in a better position to understand the relative ease or ­difficulty ­involved in
­initiating changes in consumer habits or workplace behavior.
While all cultures are dynamic, some of the change that occurs in organi-
zational cultures is intended and purposeful—that is, it is planned. Decades ago,
Kurt Lewin emphasized that planned change required an awareness of the par-
ticular problem and a plan to address it (Lewin, 1947). It necessitates action on
the part of the organization—often the management—to initiate and manage the
change process. Planned change is goal oriented rather than occurring spontane-
ously, fortuitously, or developmentally. Business anthropologists routinely work
with organizations on matters related to planned change: to understand the issues
organizations face, suggest possible solutions, implement the changes, and evaluate
the effectiveness of the changes. Sometimes anthropologists offer their recommen-
dations based on independent research or based on their familiarity, experience,
and leadership in particular areas of organizational activity. In other instances
they collaborate with organizational decision makers on projects to ­facilitate team-
work and problem solving, to investigate product development issues, to promote
healthy supplier interactions, or to enhance customer expectations, among others.
Planned change has some of the elements of invention (since it must fit the unique
circumstances of the business situation) and some elements of cultural borrow-
ing (since knowledge of other similar situations outside the organization might be
adapted for the situation at hand).
Of course, organizations—like individuals—often find change difficult. In
fact, organizational members at any level may resist a new corporate initiative as in
this manufacturing example:

We’ve been through I don’t know how many hours of training where they say, “I don’t
care what it takes. We won’t send out cars that are below our quality standards.” Then
we get back on the line and the first thing they say is, “No, we don’t have time to stop
the line and solve this problem. We have to keep going.” So what kind of message is
that sending? (Briody, Trotter, and Meerwarth 2010: 100)

This example represents a type of resistance known as a cultural c­ ontradiction.

The ideal scenario was presented during a training session and then disregarded
later on the plant floor. If the resistance is not addressed, e­ mployees may ­become
jaded and managers may lose credibility. Fortunately, cultural processes known
as enablers can address, or at least mitigate, such forms of resistance. For ­example,
empowering employees, following ­standardized work, rebalancing the work pace,
or cultivating work ethic and pride are some ­possible enablers that could speed
up the process of organizational-culture change. Change must be planned and
implemented carefully for the resistance to be overcome (i.e., stopping the line)
and for the results to be successful (i.e., ­improved quality standards).
22   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

People from All Cultures Are Ethnocentric

All cultures, to one degree or another, display ethnocentrism, which is perhaps

the greatest single obstacle to understanding another culture. Ethnocentrism—­
literally being “culture centered”—is the tendency for people to evaluate a
­foreigner’s behavior by the standards of their own culture, which they believe is
superior to all others. Because our own culture is usually the only one we learn,
we take our culture for granted. We typically assume that our behavior is correct
and all others are wrong, or at least very strange. The extent to which ethno-
centrism pervades a culture is clearly seen in our history textbooks. Consider,
for example, the historic event of the Holy Wars between the Christians and the
Muslims during the Middle Ages. In our textbook accounts of the wars, we refer
to the Christians as crusaders and the Muslims as religious fanatics. Yet, if we
read the Islamic accounts of these same wars, the terms crusaders and fanatics
would be reversed.
Sometimes our own ethnocentrism can startle us when we find ourselves
in a different cultural setting. A particularly revealing episode occurred when an
American visited a Japanese classroom for the first time. On the wall of the class-
room was a brightly colored map of the world. But something was wrong: right
in the center of the map (where he had expected to see the United States) was
Japan. To his surprise, the Japanese did not view the United States as the center
of the world.
Ethnocentrism prevents us from seeing that other people view our cus-
toms as equally strange and irrational. For example, people in the United States
think of themselves as being particularly conscious of cleanliness. As a nation we
­probably spend more money per capita on a whole host of commercial products
designed to make ourselves and our environments clean, hygienic, and odor free.
Yet a number of practices found in the United States strike people in other parts
of the world as deplorably unclean. To illustrate, whereas most Americans are
repulsed by an Indonesian who blows his nose onto the street, the Indonesian is
repulsed by the American who blows his nose in a handkerchief and then carries
it around for the rest of the day in his pocket; the Japanese consider the American
practice of sitting in a bathtub full of dirty, soapy water to be at best an ineffec-
tive way of bathing and at worst a disgusting practice; and East Africans think
that Americans have no sense of hygiene because they defecate in rooms (the
bathroom) that are frequently located adjacent to that part of the house where
food is prepared (the kitchen).
All people in all societies are ethnocentric to some degree regardless of how
accepting or open-minded they might claim to be. Our ethnocentrism should
not be a source of embarrassment because it is a by-product of ­growing up in
our ­society. In fact, ethnocentrism may serve the positive function of enhancing
group solidarity. On the other hand, ethnocentrism can ­contribute to ­prejudice,
contempt for outsiders, and intergroup conflict. Although it is a deeply ingrained
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   23

attitude found in every society, it is important that we ­become aware of it so

that it will not hinder us in learning about other cultures. Awareness of our own
ethnocentrism will never eliminate it but will enable us to minimize its more
negative effects. It is vital for businesspeople to refrain from comparing our way
of life with those of our international business partners. Instead, we should seek
to understand other people in the context of their unique historical, social, and
cultural backgrounds.

Cultures Are Integrated Wholes

Cultures should be thought of as integrated wholes: Cultures are coherent and

logical systems, the parts of which to a degree are interrelated. Upon confront-
ing an unfamiliar cultural trait, a usual response is to try to imagine how such
a trait would fit into one’s own culture. We tend to look at it ethnocentrically,
or from our own cultural perspective. All too frequently we view an unfamiliar
cultural item as simply a pathological version of one found in our own culture.
We reason that if the foreign cultural item is different and unfamiliar, it must be
deviant, strange, weird, irrational, and consequently inferior to its counterpart
in our own culture. Our interpretation, with its unfortunate consequences, is the
result of pulling the item from its proper cultural context and viewing it from our
own perspective. It is also the result of being unable to see the foreign culture as
an integrated system.
When we say that a culture is integrated, we mean that it is an organized
system in which particular components may be related to other components,
not just a random assortment of cultural features. If we can view cultures as
integrated systems, we can begin to see how particular cultural traits fit into the
integrated whole and, consequently, how they tend to make sense within that
context (see Figure 1-1). Equipped with such an understanding, international
businesspeople should be in a better position to cope with the “strange” customs
encountered in the global business arena.
The notion of integrated culture helps us to understand why culturally dif-
ferent people think and behave the way they do. However, we should avoid taking
the concept too literally. To assume that all cultures are perfectly integrated, we
would have to conclude that every idea or behavior is both absolutely rational
and morally defensible, provided that it performs a function for the well-being of
the society. However, believing in the general validity of the integrated nature of
culture does not require that we view all cultures as morally equivalent; not all cul-
tural practices are equally worthy of tolerance and respect. Some practices (such as
the genocide perpetuated by Stalin, Hitler, or the Bosnian Serbs) are morally inde-
fensible within any cultural context. To be certain, cultural anthropologists have
sometimes been overly nonjudgmental about the customs of people they study.
But, as Richard Barrett has suggested, “The occasional tendency for anthropol-
ogists to treat other cultures with excessive approbation to the extent that they
24   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

Education

Technology Family

Marriage Religion

Medicine Government

Art

FIGURE 1-1 The various parts of a culture are all interrelated to some degree.

sometimes idealize them, is less cause for concern than the possibility that they
will misrepresent other societies by viewing them through the prism of their own
culture” (Barrett, 1991: 8).
The notion of integrated culture has several important implications for
global businesspeople. When we understand that the parts of a culture are inter-
related, we will be less likely to view foreign cultures ethnocentrically. Rather than
wrenching a foreign cultural item from its original context and viewing it in terms
of how well it fits into our own culture, we will be reminded to view it from within
its proper cultural context. This concept allows us to understand more fully why a
particular cultural item is found in a society, even if it violates our sense of p
­ ersonal
decorum or morality.

Corporations Also Have Cultures

Just as societies, tribes, religious communities, and neighborhoods all have ­cultures,
so too do corporations. Shared values, behavior patterns, and communication
styles all help the employees of a firm, from the janitor to the CEO, both feel and
express a common identity. A corporate culture, in other words, helps ensure that
people at all levels of the organization are pulling together in the same direction.
Successful corporate cultures manage to integrate symbols (such as a corporate
logo), legends (stories about past successes and failures), heroes (influential manag-
ers from the past), communication patterns (language and nonverbal cues), shared
values (what the organization stands for and believes in), patterns of social interac-
tion (expected forms of behavior between those of different statuses and roles),
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   25

and shared experiences (such as working together on successful projects). The pro-
cess of developing and maintaining a healthy corporate culture involves a number
of distinct activities including:

• establishing trust and respect as a foundation for workplace interaction and

collaboration
• identifying and building on a common work ethic among employees in pursuit of
organizational goals
• setting clear expectations, soliciting input, gaining consensus, and resolving conflict
• documenting the essential organizational features, including “lessons learned,” and
integrating them into everyday practice
• making the culture visible to employees on a regular basis so that behavior and
­expectations are aligned (i.e., “walking the talk”)
• orienting new employees to their work tasks, colleagues, and the corporate culture
generally.

Having a well-defined and explicit corporate culture not only increases

e­ fficiency but it also contributes to overall competitiveness (Barney 1986). When a
formerly domestic corporation decides to globalize its operations, it needs to pay
attention to globalizing its culture as well. A corporate culture that works well for
employees in Atlanta may need to be at least partially redefined by the national
culture of Indonesia, where it is now conducting some of its manufacturing. This
certainly does not mean that a corporation should jettison its corporate culture
when operating abroad. Rather, it means that hitherto domestic companies need
to modify their cultures to accommodate local cultural realities. It is, in other
words, not possible for a corporation to export its culture wholesale to Indonesia
and expect local workers to check their own cultures at the door each morning.
Successful multinational corporations (MNCs), as they have expanded their
overseas operations, have developed somewhat localized versions of their ­original
corporate cultures. As McCune (1999) illustrates, when Wal-Mart, the largest
­retailer in the United States at the time, opened its first discount store in Germany,
it found that some features of its corporate culture (first developed in Bentonville,
Arkansas) were not warmly embraced by their German employees. Workers had
no difficulty with company cheers such as “Who’s Number One? The Customer!”
However, they balked at applying Wal-Mart’s “ten-foot rule,” which required all
employees to greet any customer within a 10-foot radius. This rule is not enforced
among Wal-Mart ­employees in Germany because both employees and customers
place a high value on their privacy when they are shopping. Thus, Wal-Mart had
the good sense to realize that it would be counterproductive to allow its corporate
culture to supersede the local German culture. Instead, Wal-Mart permitted a local
variation of the corporate culture that was more compatible with local German
culture. What is important to realize is that neither version of the corporate culture
sacrifices the overarching cultural principle that the “customer is number one!”
Philippe d’Iribarne (2002) provides two detailed case studies (one of a ­combined
Italian–French microelectronic company headquartered in Geneva and the other a
French food company located in Mexico) showing how Western corporate cultures
26   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

can promote supportive communities of highly motivated w ­ orkers by b ­ uilding

upon deep-seated local cultural values. In Morocco, Islamic norms and values were
­combined with Total Quality Management values to transform S ­ GS-Thomson’s
­factory culture, whereas in Mexico, norms and values regarding family and the
­pursuit of a higher moral purpose were combined with the traditional corporate
model of Danone of France. In both cases, it was not the imposition of a foreign
corporate culture over local cultural values. Rather, organizational excellence was
achieved by integrating local cultural values and behavior patterns into the Western
corporate culture. These two case studies demonstrate the fact that cultural differ-
ences are not de facto obstacles to creating efficient production facilities. In both
situations the company managers (1) took the time and energy to understand local
cultural realities, and (2) were willing to adapt their management practices and cor-
porate cultures to the local cultural context in Morocco and Mexico.

CULTURAL DiFFERENCES iN BUSiNESS: CHALLENgES AND OppORTUNiTiES

This book is written with the primary objective of integrating the insights and
­findings of cultural anthropology with the practice of global business. When
­focusing on the nature of cultural differences, we cannot avoid pointing out
the many pitfalls awaiting the naïve (culturally uninformed) businessperson
ready to engage the global marketplace. In fact, at times, the reader might be
­overwhelmed with the daunting number of cultural differences that can result in
needless ­misunderstandings (and a lack of success) when marketing, ­negotiating,
or ­managing abroad. The purpose of focusing on cultural differences is not to
­discourage the reader from entering the realm of global business, but rather to
­educate the reader to (1) understand the cultural features different from one’s own,
(2) use that knowledge to alter one’s own behaviors so as to meet one’s ­professional
objectives more effectively, and (3) assist organizations and i­ndividuals in
­developing solutions to the cultural problems they encounter.
Thus, the more knowledge we have about our culturally different b ­ usiness
partners, the more likely we will avoid cross-cultural misunderstanding. We
are not suggesting that we eliminate, or even reduce, the number of the cultural
­differences by having you either (1) give up your own culture, or (2) force your own
culture upon others. Rather, it is important to recognize cultural differences, learn
about them, and also understand that cultural differences provide o ­ pportunities
for ­individual and organizational synergy. When people from two different cultures
work cooperatively in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect, the
­outcome can be more productive than either group working independently. This
can be illustrated by a U.S. manufacturer of cell phones wanting to expand its
­markets into Africa. One effective strategy for obtaining a larger market share of cell
phones is for the U.S. firm to create an ongoing dialogue between its ­international
marketing department, its new product development department, and the local
African sales representatives in cities such as Lagos, Nigeria, Nairobi, Kenya, and
Dakar, Senegal. The local sales force knows the local needs, which professions can
Cultural Anthropology and Global Business   27

be served best by cell phones, which features are most important, and what people
would be able to afford. These local salespeople would know that local fishermen
would profit handsomely by having the capacity to contact various restaurants
and fish markets via cell phone while they head back to port with their day’s catch.
These fishermen would not need all of the “bell and whistles” found on many cell
phones, but rather an inexpensive way to communicate to their customers while
they are several miles out at sea. Once the local fishing industry has been identified
as a potential new market, the R&D people can develop an inexpensive phone that
would meet the needs of the fishermen. Thus by pooling their different areas of
expertise, the company and the local African sales representatives can develop new
products more effectively to expand the cell phone market.
It is also important to understand that cultural differences can be used as
­assets rather than liabilities when MNCs form task-oriented teams based on ­cultural
diversity. It has long been known that culturally diverse groups (provided that all
members understand and respect the cultural p ­ erspectives of one another) perform
tasks better than culturally homogeneous groups. For ­example, in experiments
conducted by Warren E. Watson and his colleagues (1993), socially and culturally
diverse work groups out-performed more homogeneous ones when the tasks were
open-ended and the goal was to generate as many creative s­ olutions as possible.
Thus, if managed successfully, cultural diversity within an organization can be an
asset rather than a potential liability, that is, something that must be eliminated
from the corporate structure as quickly as possible.

CROSS-CULTURAL SCENARiOS

Read the following cross-cultural scenarios. In each mini-case study, a basic cultural
conflict occurs among the actors involved. Try to identify the source of the conflict and
suggest how it could have been avoided or minimized. Then see how well your analyses
compare to the explanations in Appendix A.

1-1 Bernice Caplan, purchaser for women’s apparel for a major U.S. department store,
had just taken over the overseas accounts. Excited and anxious to make a good impres-
sion on her European counterparts, Bernice worked long, hard hours to provide informa-
tion needed to close purchasing contracts in a timely manner. Stefan, one of her Dutch
associates in Amsterdam, sent an urgent message on May 1 requiring information before
the close of day on 6/5. Although Bernice thought it odd for the message to be marked
URGENT for information needed over a month away, she squeezed the request into her
already busy schedule. She was pleased when she had whipped together the information
and was able to fax it by May 10, three full weeks before the deadline. She then placed a
telephone call to Stefan to make sure that he had received the fax and was met with an
angry, hostile response. The department store not only lost the order at the agreed-upon
cost, but the Dutch office asked that Bernice be removed from their account.

Where did Bernice go wrong?

1-2 Pierce Howard, a California winemaker, was making a sales presentation to a

large distributor in Shanghai, China. As part of his presentation, Pierce mentioned that
28   Cultural Anthropology and Global Business

he thought that his wines would be well received in China because they were very popu-
lar in Japan, and, after all, the two countries had a great deal in common. From this point
on in the presentation, the Chinese lost interest in Pierce and his line of California wines.

How can you explain this situation?

1-3 Howard Duvall, an up-and-coming accountant with a New York–based firm, was
on contract in Mombasa, Kenya, for three months to set up an accounting system for a
local corporation. Because he had never been out of the United States before, he was
interested in learning as much as possible about the people and their culture. He was
fascinated by the contrasts he saw between the traditional and the modern, relations
­between Africans and Europeans, and the influence of the Arabic language and the
Muslim religion. Every spare moment, he had the company’s driver take him to see
the interesting sights both in town and in the rural villages. To document the sights for
friends back home, he brought his 35 mm camera wherever he went. Although Howard
was able to get a number of good pictures of game animals and buildings, he became
increasingly frustrated because people turned their backs on him when he tried to take
their pictures. Several people actually became quite angry.

What advice could you give Howard?

1-4 In what was considered a “hostile takeover,” a U.S. corporation purchased a

­regional wine-producing vineyard in Limoges, France, in a strategic maneuver to
enter the European market. Frank Joseph, a human resource specialist, was sent to
Limoges to smooth the ruffled feathers of the vineyard’s workers. Along with videos and
­propaganda on the merits of working for a Fortune 500 corporation, Frank also brought
to Limoges a number of company logo items. In what was intended as a ­goodwill
­gesture, he ­presented the workers with T-shirts, ball caps, ink pens, and coffee cups to
take home to their families. Over the next several weeks, Frank never saw any of the
­company’s logo items being worn or used by the workers. Instead, the workers were
uncommunicative toward him and at times even hostile.

Why was Frank treated in this manner?

1-5 A U.S. fertilizer manufacturer headquartered in Minneapolis decided to venture

into the vast potential of third-world markets. The company sent a team of agricultural
researchers into an East African country to test soils, weather conditions, and topo-
graphical conditions to develop locally effective fertilizers. Once the research and manu-
facturing of these fertilizer products had been completed, one of the initial marketing
strategies was to distribute, free of charge, 100-pound bags of the fertilizer to selected
rural areas. It was believed that those using the free fertilizer would be so impressed
with the dramatic increase in crop productivity that they would spread the word to their
friends, relatives, and neighbors. Teams of salespeople went from hut to hut in those
designated areas, offering each male head of household a free bag of fertilizer along
with an explanation of its capacity to increase crop output. Although the men were very
polite, they all turned down the offer of free fertilizer. The marketing staff concluded that
these local people were either uninterested in helping themselves grow more food and
eat better, or so ignorant that they couldn’t understand the benefits of the new product.

What was ethnocentric about this conclusion?

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8 8. Developing Global Leaders,

What advice could you give Dick?

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