International Management Report (GC0419)
International Management
(Individual Report)
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction.
2.0 Organisational culture.
3.0 Concept of Hofstede’s Cultural Model
4.0 Evaluate how the organizational culture for Air Pie might be affected by entering the Japanese and USA markets in terms of consumer and staff behavior.
5.0 Conclusion.
6.0 Recommendation.
7.0 The importance of self-awareness and sensitivity to diversity in culture.
References.
1.0 Introduction
Air Pie is a UK-based fast-food restaurant. It is now operating only in the UK market. The company has developed an organizational culture and a successful business concept based on British culture. The success and fast-growing in the UK market have motivated the company to maximize its operation in the global market. Thus, Air Pie has identified the USA and Japan as the potential marketplace to launch its business internationally for the first time. This paper aims to understand cultural implications to the global markets using Air Pie’s business concept and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model.
2.0 Organisational culture
The term ‘ organizational culture’ is defined by experts in different ways. Mullins (2014) defined organizational culture as the behaviors, beliefs, assumptions, and values of people in an organization that contribute to the unique psychological and social environment of a business. Torrington et al. (2013) said organizational culture refers to the way a business treats its stakeholders (mainly employees and customers), freedom is allowed in decision making, the flow of power and information through the business hierarchy. Watkins (2013) stated that organizational culture is a way that gives guidelines on business activities and affects the productivity and performance of the business.
3.0 Concept of Hofstede’s Cultural Model
Hofstede’s Cultural Model was developed by Greet Hofstede during the 1980s. This model is useful to understand the cultural implications and cross-cultural communication for businesses in global marketplaces. In addition, this model is useful to assess how community culture affects the values of people and how people’s values are related to behaviors in workplaces. Hofstede’s Cultural Model identified six key dimensions that affect the values and attitudes of people in global workplaces. These dimensions are power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and pragmatic vs. normative, indulgence vs. restraint (Hofstede, Hofstede, and Minkov, 2014).
4.0 Evaluate how the organizational culture for Air Pie might be affected by entering the Japanese and USA markets in terms of consumer and staff behavior
The Hofstede’s Cultural Model (shown in the following diagram) identified significant differences between Japanese, UK, and USA culture
Chart: Cultural differences between USA, Japan and UK Source: www.geert-hofstede.com (2018)
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The cultural difference varies from country to country. In terms of power distance, the UK gains the least score (35) out of 100 in comparison to the US (40) and Japan (54). However, the US score (40) is close to the UK score (40). This means the Japanese are more concerned than British and Americans about their hierarchical positions. In the case of individualism, UK (89) and the US (91) gain higher scores out of 100 than Japan (46). This means the characteristics of Japanese societies are more collectivistic than the characters of British and American societies. In terms of masculinity, Japan scores 95, the UK scores 66, and the US scores 62 out of 100.
This means Japan is a more masculine society than the UK and the US. Women face more difficulties to gain top-level positions than women in the UK and the US. In the case of uncertainty avoidance, UK (35) and US (46) gain fewer scores than Japan (92). This means the Japanese are more concerned and aware of dealing with any uncertainty than British and American. In the case of long term orientation, Japan gains 92, the UK gains 51, and the US gains 26 out of 100.
This means the US is the least long-oriented society and Japan is the highest long-term oriented society, whereas the UK is the moderate long-term society. Finally, in the case of indulgence, UK (69) and the US (68) scores higher than Japan (42) scores. This means Japanese practice more restrain culture than British and American. People in Japan show more tendencies to cynicism and pessimism than the people in the UK and the US……………