Dominant culture affects corporate design

ℹ️

The idea of the corporation is a seed which grows different flowers in diverse soils, and the wise entrepreneur will ask questions and temper expectations accordingly.

Ride a rickshaw through any Indian city and you will discover, possibly with fear, that ‘commute’ means something different than in the United States. Jump on a subway in London and you’ll politely be asked to ‘mind the gap’. These are surface-level differences, but a host culture, like unique soil, will also sprout corporate expressions as different in their character and makeup as the nation itself differs from its neighbors.

When the Germans engineer companies, the German culture of education and respect for working class managers makes a dramatic impact on the growth of their economic infrastructure (Micklethwait, loc. 1546). Other European nations have not seen the same rapid growth, such as Italy, whose value of family supersedes their drive to grow massive companies.

Budding multi-national companies seek to crack the international code to overseas profitability. They stive to be culturally sensitive, and there has been some success. Eat McDonalds in America and you’ll enjoy a charbroiled burger; in South Korea you might get a bulgogi burger (McDonalds, Korea). But the successful multi-national must go further than refining their services to match an overseas market; you must also fit the local business branches with their host culture.

For example, businesses must consider the host nation’s view of competition before using cut-throat tactics to remove competitors. Countries that place the good of the nation over the growth of individual corporations will not respect the market-stealing practices of a foreign company, even if they say competition is beneficial. On the other hand, companies transplanted from an environment where cooperation is common may find their host country harshly competitive.

And it’s not only views of competition; even expectations of business success will be different. In America, success is measured by the Balance Sheet. But in other countries it may be prestige, or the growth of national GDP in more cooperative states.

A few multi-nationals have re-imagined both product and culture to fit their host culture, but companies who take no notice of the host country’s history of business, whether by ignorance or nationalistic pride, are far more numerous. Their success is unlikely, and the costs are high.

References