World's Business Cultures

2020/2021

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

3

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Магистерская программа "Международный бизнес", направление подготовки "Менеджмент"

Course type:

Compulsory course

When:

1 year, 3 module

Instructor

Vasiliev, Fyodor

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course examines the business cultures of different parts of the world and their influence on business behavior and strategies in international business. Having completed this course, the participants will understand the nuances of working with vis-s-vis from any cultural background. After that the specificity of marketing and customer service will be discussed. Finally, they will delve into details of working in multicultural and/or global team.

Learning Objectives

• Single comprehensive framework of cultural differences for analyzing thinking and communicating patterns of counterparts from any country
• Creating a map of etiquette nuances at the working place around the globe
• Learning about marketing and customer service in different countries
• Studying methodological tools of personnel selection in an international company
• Introducing students to the features of the control group processes in multicultural teams;
• Getting to know what are the requirements for a leader in cross-cultural context

Expected Learning Outcomes

• the participants will learn what are the differences across cultures in working and priorities in doing business; will unite them in a single framework to be used in the rest of lessons in the course; will understand their own national culture and their own preferences in conducting business.
• participants will understand their own communicating style and understand how they could adapt to new cultural contexts without impairing the efficiency of working processes; how to build rapport in a new team; how to develop one’s own CQ and help your teammates do the same
• participants will learn what are the most crucial differences in the norms at the workplace; will learn how to adapt to them and use them to their own advantage.
• participants will learn what are the differences in monocultural marketing and cross-cultural marketing; learn the first steps in adapting their marketing to new cultural contexts; how to use cultural dimensions in international marketing
• participants will understand that customer if service is a universal concept and will understand how they should adapt their services and customer support to new cultural contexts; how to use cultural dimensions to adapt to specificity of clients from around the globe
• participants will understand the peculiarities of leading in a global context; analyze themselves and establish an action plan in developing required competencies; analyze and choose the best instruments of achieving one’s goals
• the participants will develop a profile of the required employees; will learn how to use the tools to find these employees; will develop a plan on how to keep them the company

Course Contents

• Culture in International Business
  In this block the participants will learn: • The term “Culture” and how does it affect the ways people conduct business around the globe; • 3 laws of communicating across cultures; • Cultural dimensions or the differences in the way people think: o Power distance; o Uncertainty avoidance; o Individualism; o Task/Relationship orientation; o Fluid/rigid time; o Long-term and short-term orientation; o Masculinity; o Emotional and reserved cultures
• Communication across cultures: multicultural and global teams
  In this block the participants will learn: • Differences in the way we communicate; o High and low context cultures; o Direct and indirect style of communication; o Proxemics – the distance between speakers; o Haptics – to touch or not to touch? o Oculesics – eye contact nuances; o Pauses when talking. • Ways of establishing trust and communication tools for working in multicultural teams; • Tools for developing personal CQ.
• Business etiquette around the world
  In this block the participants will learn: • The road map to etiquette nuances around the globe; o Things we do before the meeting:  Creating cultural and communicating profile of foreign colleagues;  Scheduling a meeting;  Creating a business card;  Preparing the necessary documents;  Choosing a present;  Dress-codes;  The role of punctuality o Things we do during a meeting:  Greetings and handshakes;  Small-talk and topics to discuss or not to discuss;  Agenda: specific plan or a useless piece of paper?  Giving a gift. o Things we do after a meeting:  Follow-up;  Negotiations in non-formal context: • European dining etiquette; • Asian dining etiquette. • How to choose and work with an interpreter.
• Culture and marketing
  In this block the participants will learn: • What is international marketing? • How to attract customers in different cultures? • Cultural considerations in international marketing; • Cases of cultural blunders and cultural masterpieces in marketing campaigns; • Localization and its place in international marketing; • Branding in global management
• Culture and customer focus and service around the globe
  In this block the participants will learn: • Does the understanding of “customer focus” differs across the globe? • Does culture affect the way we provide our services? • Interaction of culture and customer behavior; • How to retain customers in different cultures.
• Leadership and motivation in different cultures
  In this block the participants will learn: • Who is a Leader in today’s global economy? • What is required of a global Leader? • The skillset of a modern Leader; • The connection between cultural dimensions and perception of a Leader; • Rallying people and motivating them to achieve more.
• Recruitment and Employee development in different cultures
  In this block the participants will learn: • Who to look for on an international employee market? • Toolset for finding the right people: how to deter the wrong people attract the right people; • Best practices from companies like Google, Starbucks, Samsung, Huawei, etc. • Adapting the new employees in international companies; • Developing people in a multicultural context.

Assessment Elements

• Exam
• Homework 1
• Homework 2
• Class attendance
• Independent work
• Exam
• Homework 1
• Homework 2
• Class attendance
• Independent work

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (3 module)
  0.18 * Class attendance + 0.4 * Exam + 0.1 * Homework 1 + 0.15 * Homework 2 + 0.17 * Independent work

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Cross-Cultural Business Behavior : A Guide for Global Management Richard R. Gesteland Samfundslitteratur 2007
• Cultures and Organizations: Software of the mind. (2012). Viet Nam National University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsnar&AN=edsnar.oai.library.wur.nl.wurpubs.454579
• Leading with Cultural Intelligence : The Real Secret to Success Livermore, David AMACOM 2015
• Lee, M. S., Kraynak, J., & Roberts, R. R. (2009). Cross-Cultural Selling For Dummies. Hoboken, N.J.: For Dummies. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=254130
• Owen, J. (2017). Global Teams : How the Best Teams Achieve High Performance (Vol. First edition). Harlow, United Kingdom: FT Publishing International. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1428350

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Essential Concepts of Cross-Cultural Management : Building on What We All Share Beer, Lawrence A. Business Expert Press 2012 ISBN: ISBN number:9781606493892, ISBN number:9781606493908
• Managing Cultural Differences Moran, Robert T.; Abramson, Neil Remington;and more Taylor & Francis Group 2014 ISBN: ISBN number:9780415717342, ISBN number:9781317975656