(See related pages)
|
|
|
| Use the globalEDGE™ site
to complete the following exercises: 1. Assume you own an exporting company that specializes in consumer products. You have been selling your products in several different countries but have yet to enter the Asian market. You have chosen South Korea as the first Asian country to enter. Since you have not previously sold your products in any Asian market, you think it would be a good idea to form a strategic alliance with a local firm. You strongly believe that the first impression is important. Therefore, you have decided to collect some information regarding the business culture and local habits of South Korea from the “Kwintessential” Web site. Prepare a short report in terms of the most shocking characteristics that may influence business interactions in this country. 2. The cultural distance of countries in which your firm operates is one of the many explanations of significant differences that your U.S.-based employees face when travelling to different affiliates worldwide. Typically, an index of cultural distance can be determined by summing the differences of country-level scores such as those introduced by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. At the present time, your firm has operations in Austria, Guatemala, Iran, Malaysia, and South Africa. Using the Hofstede Resource Center based on studies involving cultural dimensions to assess all five countries, determine which affiliates are located in a culture that is least and most similar to the U.S. As there are four main components of each overall cultural distance score, which component(s) can be considered most influential for each country? |