Virtually all countries in the world, if not all parts of their territory, and all segments of these society, have finally become part of the much larger global system in a way. The 'culture of globalization" and 'globalization of culture" strives towards 'deterritorialization' and 're-territorialization' of political and economic vitality in the period of borderless world.
The concept of global culture is today regarded as a get spread around of American ideals, goods and life-style. As a matter of known fact, the most noticeable globalization sign appears to be the get spread around of American hamburgers and Coke in almost every country on the planet.
As we all know the world became smaller as a result of the increasing development of travel and information systems, but action types, principles and behaviour that govern real human relations can continue to be unchanged. Technological innovation causes business internationalization and people from all firm's levels become involved in cultural connection. Firms increasing their activities at international level need to connect in an efficient way with foreign clients taking into consideration cultural dissimilarities that in many cases are very important.
In the past, professionals that couldn't manage with culture challenge had the choice of concentrating on internal markets. At present, a company is obliged to maintain with international competition. In this particular global business environment, the theory according with culture is not important is fatal.
Cultural differences are often subject of jokes, but culture incompetence make a difference million of us dollars or euros through wrong negotiations and weak relations with customers. The cultural risk is as real as the political risk in international relations.
As John Tomlinson said, "at the heart of modern culture you can find globalization; in the centre of globalization there are cultural practices. "
Observers of globalization are ever more recognizing that globalization is having a substantial impact on things such as local civilizations, matters which can be less tangible and hard to quantify, but often fraught with extreme sentiment and controversy.
Generally speaking, issues encircling culture and globalization have obtained less attention than the debates, which have arisen over globalization and the surroundings or labor requirements. In part it is because cultural issues will be more subtle and delicate, and often more complicated.
The concept of global culture is today regarded as a spread of American worth, goods and life style. As a matter of fact, the most obvious globalization sign appears to be the get spread around of American hamburgers and Coke in nearly every country on the planet.
"Today globalization has the ears of Mickey Mouse, feeds with Big Macs, drinks Coke or Pepsi and works on an IBM laptop" (Th. L. Friedman, 2001).
In this context, the international aim of management is that of highlighting the ethnic differences between countries and even in the same country between the various regions and then the establishment of some potential opportunities and problems.
GLOBALIZATION AND LOCAL CULTURES
The globalization of the production and distribution of goods and services brings many advantages for all countries offering them access to products that they would not otherwise have. But the changes helped bring by globalization impacts the pursuits of some categories of folks in a few countries or regions. Because foreign products are usually cheaper, local farmers are disadvantaged.
Globalization is also increasing international trade in social products and services, such as films, music, and publications. The growth of trade in ethnical products is increasing the publicity of most societies to foreign cultures. As well as the exposure to foreign social goods frequently results in changes in local cultures, values, and customs. Although there is no consensus on the results of globalization on nationwide cultures, many people believe that a people's contact with overseas culture can undermine their own social identity.
Although we can talk about a globalization of culture, there's also a lot of cultural variations that should be considered by managers of multinational businesses if they desire to be effective in getting close to foreign market segments.
Culture has many elements but the most crucial are: language, religion, values and attitudes, behaviors, education.
When you enter into on a overseas market you must know perfectly the language of this country, because otherwise you should lose a lot of money. It isn't enough to have a product and sell it, it's important to learn if the name of the merchandise has a poor meaning in that market.
Religion is also essential when you are an international company, because in Middle East for case you can't sell pork meats or alcoholic products. The role of girl in business is also linked with religion in this area. That impacts management in two ways: the organization can't use women as professionals or in other positions in some countries and the role of the woman as a consumer or her influence on ingestion process differs.
Regarding the values and attitudes of any country, there are a few cultures with a strong context like Japan for case in which there are a lot of simple fact hard to be understood by other cultures. Companies will gain only if they have a long term way of Japanese market segments. For example, Procter & Gamble experienced a permanent point of view on its products and this was a strategy in a Japanese style. You start with the middle of 1970's, the company gained 20% of the marketplace and made the term "pampers" familiar for Japanese moms. For these results, the overseas firm has to accept to reduce in the first years because the confidence of Japanese people is hard to be gained.
Changes in habits and traditions should be carefully watched especially in conditions that indicate a restriction of cultural dissimilarities between people. McDonald's or Coke sensation was successful worldwide but it doesn't mean that the entire world becomes identical with Western world countries and this is the case especially with Arabian countries.
Understanding the habits of international countries is very important in negotiation. All types of communication must be recognized to be able to negotiate overseas. Americans perceive the lack of action or silence as negative signs or symptoms. As a result, Japanese negotiators wait for Americans to reduce prices or ameliorate other conditions.
Education is also very important in a culture. For instance, local recruitment will be damaged by the supply degree of experienced and trained products. The international manager should be ready to handle with recruitment obstructions. For Japanese culture for example loyalty is vital and employees have emerged as people of a huge family - the organization.
If you produce and sell technology, you must take into account the educational degree of the consumers. Decisions of product adjusting are often influenced by the way where the consumers are competent to use the merchandise or the service in a correct way.
THE INFLUENCE OF U. S. Organizations ON LOCAL CULTURES
One of the main concerns about the new globalization of culture that is occurring on the globe is that it generally does not lead and then a homogenization of world culture, but also that it typically signifies the "Americanization" of world cultures. The spread of American businesses overseas has various consequences on local civilizations, some very visible, while others less obvious. For instance, the impact of American companies on other countries' ethnic identity can be seen with regard to food, which issues on two levels. First, food itself is in many countries an intrinsic facet of the culture. Second, food restaurants can impact the practices in societies where they operate.
The People from france are pleased with having a unique cuisine that shows their culture, such as crepes and pastries. For their satisfaction in their dishes, some French people are worried that U. S. restaurant chains crowd out their own products with junk food. Some French people would dispute that fast food does not participate in French society and is also of lower quality than their own.
Moreover, restaurant chains not only have an effect on eating habits, but they also affect the practices in countries where they are located. Starbucks causes ethnic concerns in Italy because of the association that Italians make between coffee and leisurely sidewalk cafes. Caffeine in Italy is greater than a drink; it is area of the way of life and Italian behaviors. Within the United States it's quite common for folks to buy takeaway coffee for drinking in the street or office, in Italy people usually would prefer to relax and chat with peers while drinking coffee. Espresso shops give you a personal, friendly atmosphere that many Italians believe a huge chain cannot provide. Similarly, many people would prefer to frequent coffee outlets that are each unique, while Starbucks offers a standard formula.
Another example can be seen with the intro of the McDonald's restaurant in China. Before, it had not been considered proper for Chinese children to buy food using their own money, as they were expected to eat that which was put in front side of them. Due to McDonald's marketing to children, however, kids developed a pastime in choosing their own food when going to McDonald's. After some time, it became more of a common practice for children to buy their food with their own money.
We notice a phenomenon of McDonaldization in the world. McDonaldization is the procedure by which the guidelines of the fast-food restaurant become to dominate increasingly more areas in the most countries on the planet. This phenomenon influences all aspects of communal life, not only the restaurants: education, work, health services, travel, free time, alimentation, politics, family etc.
Some authors support that McDonaldization is a process of the ethnic imperialism employed by the American system to dominate other countries. On the other side there are people sustaining that McDonald systems adjust to local medium. McDonaldization is a transnational phenomenon. There is absolutely no doubt that McDonald's adjusts to local conditions, realities and tastes. This changing capacity resulted in the success of the machine on international markets. But if it changes too much, burning off its standard methods, it will lose its personal information and that could affect its success.
McDonaldization influence the patterns of societies all together; for example Japanese people didn't eat located and didn't drink straight from the container till the American fast-food chain got into their market. This shows the great cultural impact of McDonald's on the traditions of other countries. Despite the negative effects on local habits we don't have to neglect that McDonald's also evolved the sanitary conditions in local restaurants and increased the competition, leading to progress.
Concerns that globalization leads to a dominance folks customs and ideals are also present with regard to videos and the entertainment industry. This is actually the circumstance with French motion pictures in France, for example. Governments from countries like France have attempted to intervene in the functioning of the marketplace to attempt to protect their local cultural industries, by taking procedures such as restricting the amount of foreign films that may be shown.
But when a government imposes local films, Television shows, or catalogs onto its people, it restricts their choice to take what they prefer. Throughout history, civilizations have transformed and changed. Globalization may accelerate social change. However, because change is influenced by the choice of consumers, the components of a particular culture will undoubtedly indicate consumer choice.
Although the United States may play a dominant role within the sensation of ethnic globalization, it is important to keep in mind that is not an entirely one-way block. Many other countries also contribute to global culture. As American popular culture affects international countries, other national cultures are influential within america.
Hollywood is an excellent example of an industry that combines elements from more than one culture. Most people would think of Hollywood as something totally American. However, while Hollywood dominates world movie theater, American movies are at the mercy of foreign influence. Based on the Economist, "one reason for Hollywood's success is that from the earliest days it was available to foreign ability and foreign money. " Many American films are remakes of international movies (Asian or Western european movies). Some examples would be Asian horror movies like The Grudge, The Band, Shutter, The Eye and more other.
Many film-making companies, producers, and actors in Hollywood aren't even American. Arnold Schwarzenegger is from Austria, and Nicole Kidman was raised in Australia. Out of this perspective, one may argue that Hollywood is a typically global institution.
However, one may also note that actors such as Nicole Kidman and Mel Gibson, after arriving in Hollywood, were given language lessons to help them lose their foreign accents.
Hollywood producers had them do this largely over sensitivity that American audience might understand them negatively if indeed they appeared to be foreign. So while Hollywood may integrate many foreign elements into its craft-especially behind the scenes-its open public face is distinctly American.
GLOBALIZATION VS. ASIAN AND ISLAM VALUES
Some government officers in East Asian countries have proclaimed an alternative solution to the Western ethnic model by declaring an adherence to traditional Asian principles.
Asian values are typically referred to as embodying the Confucian ideals of respect for authority, hard work and the belief that the city is more important than the average person. This is said to be coupled with a inclination for economic, communal and cultural rights rather than political rights.
Lee Thesis (a Singapore leader Lee Kwan Yew) remarks that political freedoms and rights can actually hamper economic development and development. Relating to this idea, order and personal and public discipline, alternatively than politics liberty and flexibility, are most appropriate for Asian societies. Adherents to the view claim that political freedoms, liberties, and democracy are European concepts, foreign with their traditions.
The controversy over westernization has already established major historical implications in the Middle East over the past several ages. Globalization is accelerating some people's concerns about the infusions of Traditional western ideals in Islamic countries. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has also adopted an approach with the motto "modernization without westernization. "
One such example is a Saudi police force issue ban on most dogs and cats. The police have given a decree banning the sales of the pets, regarded as a sign of American influence.
However, before decades, owning pups or cats has become a fashion declaration among Saudis. Revealing a Doberman, pit bull terrier or fancy breed of felines has become a status sign. For conservatives, it smells of imitating Traditional western trends, just like the junk food, shorts, jeans and pop music that contain are more common in the kingdom.
Many governments surrounding the world have attemptedto protect their native civilizations by imposing bans on what they declare to be international cultural intrusions. For instance, with regard to language safety, the Chinese government has attempted to protect the purity of its dialect by removing the use of international words. Government bodies in China lately scrutinized the brands and labels of over 20, 000 american companies, forcing them to improve 2, 000 to more Chinese-sounding brands.
But this is not specific only to Asian countries, the rest of the countries fighting to safeguard their terminology. France has attracted the most notoriety for wanting to protect its vocabulary from the immigration of overseas words. The France Academy regularly scours the land for invasive words from other dialects, most notably British ones. Words such as "walkman, " "have a discussion show, " and "prime time" have been declared unwelcome foreigners, and the federal government has attempted-with alternatively limited success-to replace them with French substitutes.
This movement demonstrates the extreme sensitivity of cultural issues, and the visceral response that lots of people have to what they perceive to be threats to their traditional ways of life.
In an interview that appeared in December 2005 in Asia - Pacific Perspectives mag, the international economist Yonosuke Hara expressed his thoughts about the potential of a energetic Asian economic model that could serve as a new regional economic system and could prevent the trend to a global standardization.
According to Hara, the world will never become standardized through globalization. Asian societies have their own complicated buildings. In XXI-st century, the Asian economical model which is the product of its history and public framework will continue. It isn't necessary to undertake an monetary system that alternate between delight and sadness on a profit basis and Asian countries should progress to a economic system valorizing long-term profits through the creation of goods and their circulation to the complete society. "
CONCLUSION
Efforts to protect local culture from the homogenizing effects of globalization tend to be tangled with other, sometimes doubtful, motives, including economical protectionism and the political suppression of ideas. As the theme of culture can, almost by meaning, include nearly every human effort, it is often difficult to sketch lines around what are legitimate cultural activities, worthy of special protective measures.
Many organizations and categories have been developed at the local, countrywide, and international level that seeks to promote the safeguard of traditional ethnicities. Some aim to study the problem more deeply so that people may understand more clearly the implications of globalization on culture, among others are already dealing with advocacy jobs.
Globalization critic Jeremy Rifkin has suggested there could be a need to determine a global Cultural Corporation to help signify diverse ethnicities and put ethnic protection on an equal footing with the WTO (Rifkin, 2001). Another group, the International Network for Cultural Variety, has made an identical argument for an establishment to ensure that culture is being safeguarded. The INCD has suggested that:
Governments must not enter into any agreements that constrain local civilizations and the regulations that support them.
A new international contract should be created, which can provide a long lasting legal basis for cultural variety.
An informal band of governments that has already been created to try to find solutions to ethnical questions is the International Network on Cultural Insurance plan (INCP). The INCP can be an international forum by which representatives of member countries can exchange views on growing cultural insurance policy issues. A great way in which the INCP looks for to strengthen ethnicities is by advocating more cultural exceptions to the global trade guidelines of the WTO. Forty-five countries are participants of the INCP, including Canada, France, China, and the United Kingdom, but not america.
In the approaching years, efforts to safeguard traditional cultures are likely to play an increasingly visible role in new trade agreements and within international cooperative ventures. Indeed, a "global" effort to protect local ethnicities from "globalization" will be a somewhat ironic development. But more and more, local activists are trying to understand how to harness new worldwide causes to handle the impact of international tendencies that have ethnic effects.
