According to Mohammad Bakhtazmai in the article, “A study of Globalization in International Business” is of the observation that the world is undergoing massive globalization; international trade has facilitated exchange of goods and services across borders.
In the international trade and globalization, culture of a nation has an effect on business processes, products, and management approach. To produce products that meet people’s needs, it is important to understand cultural factors likely to influences business in international markets. This paper analyzes the role of culture in modern globalized markets.
Culture and business decision-making
When operating across the board, managers need to make decisions that are responsive to the needs of a particular market; different markets require different management approaches. When discussing the decision of management, we will restrict the discussion to process and products decisions.
Some cultures may not support certain commodities, they may find them as an omen in their culture, and thus a business producing such goods should probably be forced to change the nature of their business. For example, incase a company in operating a meat supply business, if it operates in a Muslim cultural environment, then it is likely to be forced not to supply pork meat that is considered an omen by the Muslim culture (Walker, Walker & Schmits, 2003).
Culture and business structure
Organizational structure determines how processes and functions within an organization are structured for the good of the company. When operating in the global arenas, management is forced to have structures that fit the level of development in the country of operation. For example, the supply and logistics management systems should be structured in such a way it will use the available infrastructures effectively; the level of technology in the country will probably affect the rate of technology that a new venture will use.
Culture and human resources management
For effective operations, organizations need human resources to undertake different tasks within the organization; when operating across boundaries, the management approach that need to be adopted should be adjusted to ensure that it will effectively cater the needs of human capital in the country of operation.
Human resources management has to develop such effective policies that will assist in managing the diverse human capital that the organization will deploy from international labor markets.
National cultures have close linkage with institutional cultures and the approach taken by institutions; this means that when managing at businesses across the board, the organizations will be forced to adjust their processes to fit the general trend of the nation of operation.
Culture and marketing
After the production of goods and services, companies need to sell the products to their target customers; the approach to use for marketing the products should be acceptable by the believes, values, and have the power to persuade the markets that they will be sold; this calls for adjustments of marketing approach to suit the culture of a people.
Although there is the emergence of Cosmopolitan nations, the differences in culture prevails among different nations thus when operating or selling to those markets, the management are compelled to understand the culture and general belief of the people (Noruzi, 2011).
Conclusion
When operating in the global scenes, organizations are affected by the culture of a people in the country of operation. To ensure that they remain competitive amidst the negative effects of culture, managers need to have culture intelligence programs.
References
Noruzi, M. (2011). A study of Globalization in International Business. INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS, 2(9) , 88-90.
Walker, D., Walker, T., & Schmits, J. (2003). Doing business internationally: The guide to cross-cultural success (2nd ed.). BostoN: McGraw-Hill.