SAS is a successful software firm that has over the years developed a culture as well as a set of practices, particularly around issues of outsourcing, recruiting, leadership, compensation and benefits that differentiated it from virtually all of its competitors.
In evaluating how well would SASs approach work well in Brazil, an analysis of the Hofstede dimensions of power distance, individualism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation of the two countries will tell us if SAS will get the same results in Brazil. SAS believed in the principle of treating everyone fairly and equally. This approach was working in the North Carolina state because by looking at the Hofstede dimension of power distance of the US it stands at a score of 38; an indicator of society believes that power should be equally distributed and inequality among people is not accepted. This is why SAS believed in bottom-up decision-making and the policy of trusting employees to do a good job without monitoring and controlling. On the other hand, Brazil has a score of 69 in terms of power distance being an indicator of a society that believes hierarchy and inequalities among the society are acceptable. SAS has a policy of discouraging individualism that is why nepotism was encouraged in the firm and employee referral for job vacancies to encourage interdependence and bring a sense of belongingness. In North Carolina with a score of 88, the society believes in themselves and the immediate family members as well. On the other hand, Brazil’s score on individualism stands at 38, which implies that the society, believes in integration and cohesive groups bonding the extended family. They do protect each other in exchange for loyalties like job placement, for example. On the issue of masculinity/femininity, there is not a big gap in the scores of the two countries thus SASs policy can apply to Brazil in terms of what drive people to be the best and like what they are doing. SAS has a policy of investing in uncertainties, they do not mind if the technology they are investing in is going to make a lot of money. SAS is the only firm that is investing more than thirty per cent of its revenue on research and development despite having so many and numerous aborted product development efforts. This has been possible in North Carolina having a score of about 40 in terms of uncertainties avoidance implying that the people there are not threatened with any uncertainties. On the other hand, Brazil has a score of 76 in uncertainties avoidance meaning this is a society that fears uncertainties. SAS is less focused on short term cost, that is why they rarely do things to save on cost. For this reason, SAS does not outsource for any service but it develops its own. Brazil has a high score of 65 in long-term orientation, which is in line with SASs policy.
In conclusion, I would not recommend SAS to transplant their style to the proposed operations in Brazil because of the cultural difference. SASs approach in people management will not work in Brazil because their culture is for people to be monitored, supervised and to exist for a bureaucracy to deliver output. The policy of encouraging nepotism will not work well in Brazil because the organization will be filled with family members who may not be competent and may collude and steal from the company to benefit their family. Lastly, the policy of investing uncertainties will not be embraced in Brazil.