Deciding to Export
Main Ways in Which Cultures Differ
With well over 200 different national and regional cultures, it is impossible to be an expert in every culture. One of the best ways to understand the culture of your target market is to find out the basic “stories” that children learn as these usually embody cultural traditions and values. In general, cultures typically differ in the following ways:
Communication style, or the degree to which people “speak their mind.”
Activities focus, or the relative emphasis on strengthening interpersonal relationships or completing tasks efficiently.
Supervisory relations, or the extent to which a supervisor takes responsibility for a subordinate.
Feedback style, or the way in which criticism is received and provided.
Degree of control, or the extent to which people believe that they can influence their own destiny or change their environment.
Time orientation, or the extent to which people are focused towards the past (tradition) or the future (unknown).
Technology use, or the degree to which people value the use of (information) technologies to expedite services.
Power distance, or the extent to which roles are formalized and differentiated from each other, with one extreme being hierarchical and the other being egalitarian.
Risk aversion, or the degree of comfort with risk taking (with risk avoiding being the other extreme).
Individualism, or the balance between individual preferences and collective or group concerns.
When in doubt, it is a good practice to be more formal rather than less formal and to follow your host’s lead.