Assignment

Topic: Critically assess the Hofstede model of national culture

Identify a specific example (or several examples) of a cross-border business development that is impacted, positively and/or negatively, by national cultural differences. Referring to dimensions of national culture, assess and explain how national and corporate culture may have influenced the actions and behaviour of the organisations involved.

Identify and discuss how individual behaviour could be adapted to enhance and improve the chances of success in cross-border business development.

Guidelines:

Section 1: ?Summarise the background and content of the Hofstede model; think about and refer to the commonly-held criticisms of the model, particularly in the context of the modern world; what do you think of the criticisms you identify? What are the responses to such criticisms? Refer to and use examples from other models and research (such as Trompenaars, Hall, the World Values Survey (WVS), the GLOBE research...).

Section 2:? At the level of individual organisations, identify example(s) of business expansion - perhaps by ‘organic' growth, or by merger, acquisition [M&A] or joint-venture [JV] - that are explained by the national cultural characteristics of the company (or companies) involved. What were they trying to do? How did it go? What were the results? Explain if and how success or failure is explained by characteristics of national and corporate culture. What is the evidence?

Section 3:

What personal adaptations might senior executives, managers or technicians have to make to be more successful when working across cultures or in cross-cultural teams? How can an understanding of the dimensions of national culture help people to be more effective? Many international companies use ‘competencies' as a model for individual behaviour - do they help? ??Summarise the key issues you have raised and conclude.

Length: 4,000 words.