INT-113
Intro to International Business
Dr. Shahrokh Dalpour
November 2 2014
Case Study-Hollywood Influence on Global Culture
1. Most aspects of foreign culture, like language, religion, gender roles, and problem-solving strategies, are hard for the casual observer to understand. In what ways do Hollywood movies affect national culture outside the United States? What aspects of U.S. culture do Hollywood films promote around the world? Can you observe any positive effects of Hollywood movies on world cultures?
2. Culture plays a key role in business. In what ways have movies influenced managerial tasks, company activities, and other ways of doing business around the world? Can watching foreign films be an effective way of learning how to do business abroad? Justify your answer.
3. Hollywood movies are very popular abroad, but foreign films are little viewed in the United States. What factors determine the high demand for Hollywood films? Why are they so popular in Europe, Japan, Latin America, and elsewhere? Why are foreign films so little demanded in the United States? What can foreign filmmakers do to increase demand for their movies in the United States?
4. Worldwide, protectionism of most goods is declining. Do movies constitute a separate category, or should they be treated like any other good? Given the nature of movies, should a country shield and support its own film industry via protectionism? Are there better ways to maintain and enhance a homegrown film industry? Justify your answer.
Answers
1. Hollywood films promote all aspects of culture. Everything depicted in the iceberg model below has at one time or another been the subject of a Hollywood film. For example, Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality was a satire on conceptions of beauty; Daniel Day Lewis and Madeline Stowe in Last of the Mohicans, depicted rites of passage, as does Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves. James Caviezel and Guy Pearce in The Count of Monte Cristo