In order to develop a strategic direction an organization needs to understand the environment in which it operates, however there are seven key environment or “ external factor “ that affect the organizations :
1. The economic environment
2. The technological environment
3. The governmental environment
4. The legal environment
5. The cultural environment
6. The natural environment
7. The internal environment
In this essay, I will be clarifying the cultural environment aspect and how does it affect businesses.
What is cultural environment?
Cultural environment or what they call it “socio “is the element of the general environment that includes the attitudes, values, norms, beliefs, behaviors and associated demographic trends that are characteristic of a given geographical area. This naturally will differ both between countries and as well as within countries.
That means when an organization wants to go to any area wither it is in the east or west they have to study the cultural environment and the attitude of people and how does the people live and how do they see things from their perspective.
The United Arab Emirates is a global business center. New businesses should have some awareness of Arabic culture and the ways of commerce in an Arabian business environment as I stated in the introduction.
In the Arab world, more than anywhere else, business is conducted based on personal relationships and mutual trust, it is vitally important to build on these.
Although this is a changing rapidly and may not apply to all large firms, companies are often a family affair, with ultimate decision-maker being the head of the family. Even if this is not the case, it is essential to clearly identify the decision-maker. However, initial meeting will probably be at lower level. How does the cultural environment affect businesses?
Let’s start with this story, in Sudan a British lady wanted to a sell a doll and she thought a famous name
References: n.d. . n.d. . n.d. . uae empassy. n.d. .