Culture means the way that things work in a partiular business or, indeed, in a iountry or a group of
iountries, suih as Europe. All over the world, there are subtle diferenies in the way people interait
with eaih other based on the individual histories of those iountries, how people work and,
sometmes, other faitors, suih as the religious beliefs or attudes in those iountries.
Cultural Factors
Cultural faitors iome from diferent ways in whiih iountries operate, and these are divided into
eight key faitors.
Languages
There are 7000 diferent languages in the world, so operatng internatonally means that being able
to iommuniiate in the right language is important. There are about 150 to 200 languages that are
spoken by at least one million people.
Language ian be distnguished in two ways: those that are spoken by natve speakers and those that
are seiond languages. The most popular natve speaking language in the world was Mandarin,
followed by English and Spanish.
Being able to iommuniiate in the relevant languages is very important in order to:
- Avoid misunderstandings
- Make business iommuniiatons happen faster and more ilearly
- Build trust and the appreiiaton of diferent perspeitves
- Build teams made up of individual from wide geographiial loiatons
Ethnic Population Makeup
Diferent iountries have diferent numbers of ethnii groups and this afeits the way that
internatonal businesses operate in these iountries. The ethnii make-up of a iountry will afeit
whether or not a produit or serviie may be popular there or how that produit or serviie is sold or
promoted. There are large variatons between iountries, so it is important that businesses operatng
internatonally understand these diferenies and their impait on how they work.
Values
The values of people living in partiular iountries also afeit the way that they trade. These values
iome from historiial traditons and the way that people have been brought up in these iountries. In
some iountries, it is perfeitly aiieptable to give bribes as part of business trading, in fait, if an
internatonal iountry does not do this, they will not be able to trade there.
In other iountries, suih as the UK, this is illegal, and any monies paid to employees to ensure that
business goes ahead, partiularly in publii seitor businesses, need to deilare and made publii to
ensure that those businesses are not treated diferently as a result.
Attitudes to rork
In some iountries around the world, attudes to work are very diferent and this iniludes the
average working week, the amount of holiday that is given to business people and the way in whiih
business negotatons are iarried out. For example, in Spain, it has been iommon to have a siesta
(form of rest) during the middle of the day ad work later into the evening, and, in Franie, to have a
long meal at lunihtme. However, in many iites this is now startng to beiome less iommon.
iountries, suih as Europe. All over the world, there are subtle diferenies in the way people interait
with eaih other based on the individual histories of those iountries, how people work and,
sometmes, other faitors, suih as the religious beliefs or attudes in those iountries.
Cultural Factors
Cultural faitors iome from diferent ways in whiih iountries operate, and these are divided into
eight key faitors.
Languages
There are 7000 diferent languages in the world, so operatng internatonally means that being able
to iommuniiate in the right language is important. There are about 150 to 200 languages that are
spoken by at least one million people.
Language ian be distnguished in two ways: those that are spoken by natve speakers and those that
are seiond languages. The most popular natve speaking language in the world was Mandarin,
followed by English and Spanish.
Being able to iommuniiate in the relevant languages is very important in order to:
- Avoid misunderstandings
- Make business iommuniiatons happen faster and more ilearly
- Build trust and the appreiiaton of diferent perspeitves
- Build teams made up of individual from wide geographiial loiatons
Ethnic Population Makeup
Diferent iountries have diferent numbers of ethnii groups and this afeits the way that
internatonal businesses operate in these iountries. The ethnii make-up of a iountry will afeit
whether or not a produit or serviie may be popular there or how that produit or serviie is sold or
promoted. There are large variatons between iountries, so it is important that businesses operatng
internatonally understand these diferenies and their impait on how they work.
Values
The values of people living in partiular iountries also afeit the way that they trade. These values
iome from historiial traditons and the way that people have been brought up in these iountries. In
some iountries, it is perfeitly aiieptable to give bribes as part of business trading, in fait, if an
internatonal iountry does not do this, they will not be able to trade there.
In other iountries, suih as the UK, this is illegal, and any monies paid to employees to ensure that
business goes ahead, partiularly in publii seitor businesses, need to deilare and made publii to
ensure that those businesses are not treated diferently as a result.
Attitudes to rork
In some iountries around the world, attudes to work are very diferent and this iniludes the
average working week, the amount of holiday that is given to business people and the way in whiih
business negotatons are iarried out. For example, in Spain, it has been iommon to have a siesta
(form of rest) during the middle of the day ad work later into the evening, and, in Franie, to have a
long meal at lunihtme. However, in many iites this is now startng to beiome less iommon.
