Differences in Cultural values in Global Management

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Introduction

During recent years, globalization of business market has brought upon significant

culture differences and moral diversities. Culture of a place is concentrated with general values

associated with experiences and mindset of that place. Cultures invoke thinking frame which

determines the way of perception and mental scope of people. While implementing managerial

strategies, it is essential to understand moral behaviors and cultural values of concerned

location. National culture paradigm can be differentiated on basis of certain dimensions and

international management practices need to take these dimensions into account. The objective

of this paper is to address the critical aspects of international businesses and their controversial

implication on managers as well as analysis of market strategies from a socioeconomic

perspective. By studying the major role that dimensions of international cultural values play in

the corporate management setup, the emphasis of study is to give importance to market and

political understanding of cultural and religious differences in different markets.

It is important to build an effective global strategy, a suitable company structure and

proper personal management in a cross-cultural environment. There are differences in

managerial approaches towards working in various locations. For sake of understanding cross-

cultural management linkage to religious role of business, current development in economies

and their impact on personal and social values of firm personnel need to be addressed. With

businesses continually going for global opportunities, it is essential for companies to have a

competent and efficient international management skill set for purpose of overcoming cultural

differences. Culture of country is basis of communication and therefore business challenges.

Many sectors believe that going global kills basic ethical ground of a company. Therefore there

is a number of controversial claims in favor or opposition of global management and will be

studied in the paper.

Literature Review

Global management mechanism is an aspect of international business sector and can be

classified into marketing, trading and financial fields on global level. International managerial

approaches are based on decision making steps towards managing, organizing, monitoring and

controlling processes of cultural diversities in global area. The definition from literature point of

view addresses main responsibility of multicultural skills and cultural approaches towards

optimum execution of international working strategies. Another interpretation of cultural

management emphasizes on organizing markets and businesses beyond geographical borders

of a country. All of these aspects have been analyzed in detail before and the focus of this

paper would be on the advancements in global management theories, Adler’s approach and

Rugman’s analysis of international values.

The concept of international management is fairly modern and is subject to unexpected

changes. The gradual expansion of international economic sector has opened new horizons for

managers and research has been started to analyze this field. During late twentieth century,

study scope changed for researchers after foreign business transactions and international

market deals. The interest in field of international management is accompanied by focusing on

corporate challenges that come with it. Variations in international economy and business

market pose problems for managers that need to be solved by using global management
mechanisms so that progress of business does not halt. Studies reveal that global management

is analyzed from two aspects of strategy and cross-cultural managerial fields. Global

management discipline is implemented along with components of market trading and financial

progressions. Issues of cultural differences in different countries are discussed in cross-cultural

management framework and global business theory guides. Output deductions of cultural

framework are bound to focus on selective approaches based on cultural problems at hand. The

global dimensions of time framework and market competition are examples of such

approaches. But major analytical theories in field of international management are cultural

models of Adler, bargaining approach and global business theory.

These theories of global management are built under condition of international business

as a gradual increasing process. The cultural model is behavior of companies towards

periodically changing environment of business values in international sector. Along with market

changes, international role of company gets more essential and hence guidelines are taken by

cultural values. The changes of global business are accompanied by a common pattern and are

usually influenced by inner and outer market pressure scenarios. Global management

challenges force managers to select approaches carefully. Normally within the organization,

managers look for diverse opinions, growing scale of products, coordination, and operational

communication. The external challenges for manager are culture ethics of original and current

country, globalization of target industry and problems of international institutions that can

affect company’s business. These challenges are source of evolution for a company as it needs

to adopt them for sustainability and progress in global environment.

 Theory of global business management is resultant of another study that focuses on

analyzing cultural enigmas of global business environments. The statement of this theory is for

organizations to be linked with relationship of integration and responsiveness towards

international business market. These forces are termed as external environmental problems for

managers to deal with. Focus of theory is to emphasize on consumer’s demand which is

determined by cultural values of consumers. So the appropriate skills and modifications have to

be integrated in company’s culture as a response to customer’s interests. The requirement of

company from manager is to model a suitable framework that can be utilized for cultural

diversities present.

Cultures of countries impose crucial impact on activities of business firms. This

characterization was studied by Adler and effect of national and cultural differences on

corporations can be seen in his model of cross-cultural management. His model of dominance

of cultures provides evidence that in global circuit, values of countries are prioritized over

organizational cultures. In second model of cultural co-existence, he assumes that subdivisions

of company cultures can maintain their place along with national values but it is impossible to

modulate them together because of limited similarities. The cultural values of a company can

be derived from international model to improve overall synergy.

Research shows that there is tremendous change of company culture in global

environment. There are differences in implementing a cultural value on basis of environmental

scenario and business attitudes. The focus of companies now is to enhance importance and

utilization of multi-cultural society. Companies understand that there is not pre-defined norm
model to follow in a foreign market. They choose an appropriate strategy of culture integration

in their firm on basis of market potential, operational advancements and set of resources

available. The mechanisms used in global business environment for firms are export & import,

licensing agreements, joint ventures, corporations, partnerships and franchises. The cultural

integration of values into organizational culture depends on mechanism of business chosen.

Controversial decisions regarding global management policies in an economy which is

blossoming day by day and its per capita income and industry is much more improved and

progressive than less developed countries, are less implicative and less progressive. But

because of modern boom in economy and lack of experience of operations on the global

paradigm, long term strategies such as suitable cultural integration often are not as optimal as

expected. The local companies in optimized environment tend to be more effectively working

and export huge number of manufactured goods and services. But international business

management on a general level is still trying to get to stability because of limited global

exposure. The managers in global markets need innovative expertise in order to overcome

traditional business markets of the country. Some problems that are benchmark of larger

controversies are lack of multilingual managers, insensitivity to cultural diversities, globally

impractical applications, and less information about international managerial approaches.

Managers of international companies utilize diverse approaches to management. Global

market places often work with geocentric approach. The skill set and expertise of individuals

matter in this approach. This mechanism is in effect on basis of notion that business problems

are common regardless of the geographical location of occurrence. Therefore efficient and
expert members are able to negotiate them effectively. This approach is not used in newly

developed locations because of its complexity as the manager must be aware of local and

international business values and ramifications in order to successfully implement this

approach. Singapore uses ethnocentric mechanism generally. So managers are keen to stick to

their managerial styles regardless of cultural modifications around them. The reason of carrying

on with this approach is to avoid risky consequences of trying to change cultural styles. Example

of such crisis is Proctor & Gamble which focused on an advertising approach linked with

Japanese people during its operation in Japan. This attempt of change in foreign approach

however failed, and company lost around twenty five million. Such possible setbacks can be

reason of old school approach of many countries, as it is not comfortable enough to go for

managerial innovations being a newly industrialized country.

Rapid improvement of an economy means that they want to set high objectives to

achieve future goals and are not much concerned about the past obviously. Markets in recent

times thrive on a highly competitive business environment. Actions of many companies are

focused on being a cultural guideline for businesses, while others focus on gaining maximum

output result wise and do not bother to spend resources on activities to instill and incorporate

a specific cultural value.

Point of concern for international business organizations to avoid controversies is to

introduce creativity and innovation into their strategy plans. The environment of modern global

business demands integration of new ideas in strategy for company to be successful. To achieve

this, it is necessary to build a framework of business strategy. Most global firms integrate
framework which is focused on coping with changes and unexpected events. But primary

objective of each strategic framework should be to enhance company performance and

integrity and strategy should not be an un-connected event. Many companies term strategy as

continuous planning process whose refinement comes after certain time gap. Top level

management of such companies focuses on strategy meetings and coherence of strategy with

company’s vision and policies is often loosely tied. To implement best strategic approach,

planning must be long sustainable feature triggered by some performance criteria. Market

competition, target change, regulations, or performance hiccups can be used to trigger global

strategy review. Some concurrent processes should be integrated to make excellent plan in

order to avoid controversies. Business strategy, output improvement and practical

implementation are examples of such processes. All these processes are interlinked and change

in any process effects other as well. Most portion of resource allocation is served to business

strategy process. The idea behind is to achieve suitable strategy which is often successful. But in

the longer run, actual implementation fails because of less focus on practical areas by the

global market companies. Practical implementation processes not only develop right business

strategy on different geographic locations but also give directions towards executing that

strategy.

Main procedures should be assessed that can deliver right framework for achieving

global strategic objectives efficiently. By looking at three main concurrent processes, it is

evident that performance optimization should get largest resource set and main attention of

company. The performance optimization process is consistent over time and is the main reason

of creativity and the corresponding deliberate initiatives developed from the use of creativity.
For most companies, the method that they use to check and estimate the utilization of

resources makes it simple to analyze and study the investment of resources in the global

business strategy process of the strategic framework, but the component of actual strategy

implementation is not clear from resource utilization and planners need to take account of

optimal performance criteria as well. This uncertainty does not come because of incompetent

or inaccurate business methods; normally it is due to the different potential investing areas for

company as expected in different countries. The resource utilization in business planning

strategy is mainly in mighty chunks of concentration, but that is not the case for strategy

implementation, and the process of performance often ends up with utilized and diffused

investment because of every day organization activities. Efficient utilization of strategy

management and planning practices and the extended deployment of planned accounting

methods within the usual project management process to make better use for the investment

will be essential for improved understanding and solving controversial decisions across all main

components of the strategic framework.

Global business strategy is defined as the process that develops the strategic intentions

of the organization in international market. Business strategy is normally comprised of four

stages: analysis stage, strategic foundation, planning priorities and goals and main objectives.

The analysis phase contains research of primary and secondary structure, business

environment, challenges, market analysis and firm assessments. The common objective of the

first phase of business strategy is to gain business insight to challenges of working in a global

environment and to produce more realistic and factual assessments and make corresponding

decisions. While the analysis phase is based on continual assessments, it also constitutes
periodic environmental monitoring and reports from the organization’s numerous monitoring

mechanisms such as its scorecards and business charts. The planning foundation provides

updates or establishes company vision, mission statement and moral values. The firm broad

vision and values are the processes of the business planning strategy that are most often

established by ethical and moral perspectives. The vision, mission statement and values of

company respectively establish and direct the long-term sustainable horizon for the

organization, its reason for existence and those light paths that guide how it should perform on

a daily basis environment. Strategic preferences focus on the production, analysis, factor

evaluation and selection of main primary tools to focus on for the business challenges.

Management challenges of international environment can be analyzed by focusing on

strategic and cross-cultural subdivisions of global management as well as concepts of

international market and trading. The main issue of cultural disorientation is evident in cross-

cultural and international business managerial approach. Companies often try to find a

compromising solution while working in international sector. They focus on getting a trade-off

between company culture and environmental values which often results in unbalanced and dis-

oriented working environment. The trend of modern business is result-based and therefore

there is less emphasis on mutual integration of culture in organizational structure. The common

integration of firm’s and national cultural values in company can be termed as better prospect

for international managers but its complexity and resource utilization often hinders the

execution.

Conclusion
 The impact of economic, social and religious beliefs is discussed in a global business

environment. Present approaches of international management are subject to a given

geographical cultural model. In modern day challenges of periodically changing global business

environment, companies must focus on integrating sustainable cultural strategy with room for

innovative initiatives present if required. Main stages of international strategy development in

different cultures often need be acknowledged with proper resource allocation to get good

results. The main dimensions of cultural trend setting in different business environments need

to be analyzed. Aspects of controversy in international sector are of communication, business

trends, consumer differences and diversities in development. There are differences in

managerial techniques towards company culture as well. The geographical differences demand

varieties in company framework and adaptable managers to take care of problems. A manager

in any country needs to be well familiarized with religious aspects of surrounding world. It is

essential to integrate cultural differences of a country to a firm’s strategic framework in order

to get good results over long period of time. The problems that managers of companies need to

solve in various geographic locations are diverse in nature. It is therefore essentially important

for managers to formulate an effective global strategy, a sustainable organizational structure

and effective management approaches in a cross-cultural environment.

A cross-cultural management discipline should be emphasized on basic management

learning process. Cultural values of diverse areas of land should be instilled in a sample

framework so that managers can relate and work effectively when they face those challenges in

real scenario. Business and market policy of managers must be in correspondence with global

cultural dimensions in order to solve competitive problems in international market. The critical
and religious aspects of managerial problems while working in international circuit should be

part of global managerial training and management practices involving focus groups of cultural

diversity should be developed so that they can be utilized to solve managerial problems in

different parts of the world. Emphasis of companies should be on understanding political and

social differences in various geographical areas and expertise should be given to managers to

get equipped with required knowledge of diverse cultures.

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