Culture and Business
C H A P T E R
2
Culture and International
Business
A Conceptual Approach
As mentioned in Chapter 1, anthropologists do more than simply accumulate and catalog information on the world’s exotic and not so exotic cultures. Like other scientists, they attempt to generate theories about culture that apply to all human populations. Because it is impossible for any individual to master every cultural fact about every culture in the world, a more theoretical approach can be instructive. That is, a number of general con- cepts about culture can be applied to a wide variety of cross-cultural situations, regardless of whether one is dealing with Nigerians, Peruvians, or Taiwanese.
In this chapter we explore what is meant—and what is not meant—by the term culture. In addition to defining this central anthropological concept, we also examine six important generalizations concerning the concept of culture and their significance for the U.S. businessperson operating in the world marketplace. Being equipped with such general concepts can facilitate the adjustment to an unfamiliar cultural environment.
CULTURE DEFINED
In everyday usage, the term culture refers to the finer things in life, such as the fine arts, literature, philosophy, and classical music. Under this very narrow definition of the term, the “cultured person” is one who prefers Handel to hard rock, can distinguish between the artistic styles of Monet and Manet, prefers pheasant under glass to grits and red-eye gravy and twelve-year-old scotch to beer, and spends his or her leisure time reading Kierkegaard rather than watching wrestling on television. For the anthropologist, however, the term culture has a much broader meaning that goes far beyond mere personal refinements. The only requirement for being cultured is to be human. Thus, all people have culture.
The scantily clad Dani of New Guinea is as much a cultural animal as is Yo-Yo Ma. For the anthropologist, cooking pots,
2
Culture and International
Business
A Conceptual Approach
As mentioned in Chapter 1, anthropologists do more than simply accumulate and catalog information on the world’s exotic and not so exotic cultures. Like other scientists, they attempt to generate theories about culture that apply to all human populations. Because it is impossible for any individual to master every cultural fact about every culture in the world, a more theoretical approach can be instructive. That is, a number of general con- cepts about culture can be applied to a wide variety of cross-cultural situations, regardless of whether one is dealing with Nigerians, Peruvians, or Taiwanese.
In this chapter we explore what is meant—and what is not meant—by the term culture. In addition to defining this central anthropological concept, we also examine six important generalizations concerning the concept of culture and their significance for the U.S. businessperson operating in the world marketplace. Being equipped with such general concepts can facilitate the adjustment to an unfamiliar cultural environment.
CULTURE DEFINED
In everyday usage, the term culture refers to the finer things in life, such as the fine arts, literature, philosophy, and classical music. Under this very narrow definition of the term, the “cultured person” is one who prefers Handel to hard rock, can distinguish between the artistic styles of Monet and Manet, prefers pheasant under glass to grits and red-eye gravy and twelve-year-old scotch to beer, and spends his or her leisure time reading Kierkegaard rather than watching wrestling on television. For the anthropologist, however, the term culture has a much broader meaning that goes far beyond mere personal refinements. The only requirement for being cultured is to be human. Thus, all people have culture.
The scantily clad Dani of New Guinea is as much a cultural animal as is Yo-Yo Ma. For the anthropologist, cooking pots,