STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

EMPIRE STATE COLLEGE

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Cours e: International Cros s Cultural Management

Module 2

Individual Written As s ignment

Date: Saturday, October 24, 2015

Submitted by: Stefan A. Saikaly

 Geert Hofs tede is a Dutch social phycologist that came up with one of the most

important theory which is the Cultural Dimensions in businesses. They are:

 Power Dis tance: Expres ses the degree to which the less powerful members of a

s ociety accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

 Uncertainty Avoidance: Expres ses the degree to which the members of a s ociety feel

uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity.

 Mas culinity vs Femininity: Expres ses a preference in s ociety for achievement,

heroism, assertiveness and material rewards for s uccess. Society at large is more

competitive. Its opposite, femininity, stands for a preference for cooperation,

modesty, caring for the weak and quality of life.

 Long Term Orientation: Every society has to maintain some links with its own past

while dealing with the challenges of the present and the future. Societies prioritize

these two exis tential goals differently.

 Individualism vs Collectivism: Defined as a preference for a loosely-knit social

framework in which individuals are expected to take care of only themselves and

their immediate families. Its opposite, collectivism, represents a preference for a

tightly-knit framework in s ociety in which individuals can expect their relatives or

members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning

loyalty.

 Indulgence vs Restraint: Indulgence stands for a s ociety that allows relatively free

gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having

fun. Res traint stands for a s ociety that s uppresses gratification of needs and

regulates it by means of strict social norms. (Hofstede, 2015)

The country that I will be talking about is China, a country built on culture which kept the

country going s trong and united. The way they portray themselves, the food they s erve, how

they communicate with others and how they do business is one of the most unique way in

the world. There are 56 different ethnic groups that show how many different cultures this

country has. They have two main languages which are: Mandarin and Cantonese.

W hen someone compares s tudy in China according to the dimensions mentioned will find

the following result:

1. China s cored 80%, which means that China is Hierarchical country and the people

accept and believe that inequality is right and just, the relationship with their

s ubordinates is not friendly.

2. China s cored 20% on Individualism, which means that China is a country that

believes in Collectivism where people think and act in the interest of the group and

not only themselves.

3. China s cored higher (66%) on Masculinity that Femininity, which means that China

is driven by competition, achievement and success but not by caring for others and

caring for heroism which is Femininity.

4. China s cored 30% on Uncertainty Avoidance, which means that China is

comfortable with ambiguity and are adaptable.
5. China s cored 87% on Long Term Orientation, which means that China base their
businesses on reality and real information rather than theories.
6. China Scored 24% on Indulgence which means that it’s a Restraint country that
s hows that China doesn’t s pend time on leisure and put limits to their desires. They
feel that leisure and desires are restrained by norms and it would be wrong if they do
it. (Hofs tede, 2015)
 C U LT U R A L H OME COUNTRY C OU N T R Y SIMILA R OR
D IME N SION (e x. LE BA N ON ) C H OSE N D IFFE R E N T ?

P OWER DISTANCE High High Similar

U N CERTAINTY 50% no clear Low Different

A V OIDANCE preference

IN DIVIDUALISM Low Low Similar

MA SCULINITY High High Similar

LONG-TERM Low High Different

OR IENTATION

P RAGMATISM Low High Different

IN DULGENCE Low Low Similar

The differences between these two countries show that Lebanon is ready to work with

ris k and go into the void while China likes to stay to stay in the comfort zone and not take

ris ks . As well as Lebanon has a low rate of Long Term Orientation and Pragmatism while

China has a high rate, which shows that China is a s ociety that keeps links from the past

to learn from them and use them in the future. This can lead a very big mis understanding

and bad environment since not learning from the past can very well lead to problems in

the future in every side of the business place.

In order to make a really successful company you need to know the culture of the country

and work depending on that, for example you need to watch the manners: do not use

large hand movements, do not point when speaking. As well as respect religion: if you

are a food company you should know what food are eaten and what other food are
forbidden. Communication is a must, bowing or nodding is a sign of respect, being on

time is really important in China, the Chinese should leave meetings firs t before anyone

els e.
References: Comment ed [LC1]: Good list of references, but not in
proper format!

(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, http://geert-hofstede.com/china.html

(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, http://geert-hofstede.com/lebanon.html

(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, https://alexnstone.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/hofstedes-5-

cul tural-dimensions-for-china/

(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, https://www.legacee.com/the-global-leader/chinese-

business-culture/

(n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2015, http://www.worldwide-tax.com/china/chipractice.asp