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Cultural Issues in MNCs

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Cultural Issues in MNCs
“CULTURAL ISSUES IN THE MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES”

By Lubomir Genov № 1223280

Presented to chief assistant professor Kiril Dimitrov, Ph.D
Cross cultural issues in the European human resource management
University of National and World Economy – Sofia, Bulgaria
Nottingham Trent University – UK Great Britain & North Ireland

Sofia, October 29, 2012
Contents

Introduction
The process of globalization, accompanied by the reduction of the obstacles in front of the free movement of commodities and labor worldwide, has created huge organizations that comprise people from many different cultures. Along with the numerous undeniable benefits that the diversity of cultures bring to such organizations, a number of problems arise that may lower the effectiveness of the international company. The purpose of this research is to present the main cultural issues that modern multinational companies face during their operation, and also to give some ideas about how to overcome these problems in order to increase the productivity and achieve better results on national and international level. An explanation of different concepts such as “multinational company”, “culture” and “cultural issue” is given in accordance with the works of some of the most popular cultural researchers in the rows below, so that a better understanding of the exact problem may be achieved.
1. What is a multinational company?
In order to fully comprehend the thesis of this paper one must first know the meaning of the basic concepts that lay down in the topic. This is why I begin my report with the definition of the term “multinational company”. According to the definition on the website businessdictionary.com1 a multinational company (MNC) is an organization that realizes economic activity in more than one country at a time and at least 25% of its incomes come from abroad. Multinational companies have branches across the world in the so called “host



Bibliography: Adler Nancy J, 1983, Cross-Cultural Management: Issues to be faced, International Studies of Management & Organization, Vol. XIII, Number 1-2, pp. 7-45, M.E. Sharpe inc, viewed on 24 October 2012 via EBSCO HOST. Adler Nancy J. 2008, International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior, Cengage Learning Ann Svetkovich & Douglas Kellner, Articulating the Global and the Local: Globalization and Cultural Studies, Westview Press, December 24, 1996. Dewhurst, Martin; Harris, Jonathan; Heywood, Suzanne; Aquila, Kate,The global company’s challenge, McKinsey Quarterly. 2012, Issue 3, p76-80. 5p. Drucker, Peter (1997), The global economy and the nation state, Council on foreign relations, p.167 Hall, E.T Harper, Douglas, 2001, Online Etymology Dictionary, http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=culture Hofstede Geert (1984), Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (2nd ed.), Beverly Hills CA Hofstede Geert, Gert Jan Hofstede and Michael Minkov (2010), Cultures and Organizations:Software of the mind, 3rd ed. New York: McGraw-Hill House Robert J Schein, Edgar H. 1992, Organizational Culture and Leadership, Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco. Siciliano, Andrew L.; Zuvich, Douglas P,The Risks of being Global, Journal of Accountancy. Dec 2006, Vol. 202 Issue 6, p53-57. 5p. 1 Chart Trompennars Fons, Hampden-Turner, 1997, Riding the waves of culture: Understanding diversity in global business

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