Cultural Impacts Essay

Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning to cultivate,) generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance. Different definitions of grow reflect opposite theoretical bases for understanding, or criteria for evaluating, human activity. In general, the stipulation culture denotes the whole product of an individual, group or confederation of good beingnesss. It includes technology, art, science, as well as moral systems and the characteristic doingss and habits of the selected intelligent entities.(Wikipedia) whatsoever culture can be viewed as a blend of values, norms, institutions and artifacts of a civilization that has been passed on from generations through learning alone. The ideological perspective of manners and the significance of things in it form the values of a society. Norms, atomic number 18 the pass judgment collective behavior of the batch w present as the institutions be the structures within the society that transmit theses values and norms. Also, artifacts are the relics or the materialistic representation of a culture, derived from within it.Thus, cultures essentially evolve and thrive on the basis of religion, diachronic background, milieu and the complaisant structure. Religious beliefs are typically the central themes of dissimilar cultures and to a greater extent often than not the basic values are a derivative of them. For example, the 10 Commandments of Christianity or the five precepts of Buddhism are guidelines that transform the behavior of their followers. Similarly, religion occasionally is also implicated with government, as in a theocracy.The European and the New World cultures hold in been deep influenced by Christianity for at least the last 500 to 1700 years. Likewise Islams influence has make a great deal of the North African, Middle and Far vitamin E regions for more than a 1000 years. Historical incidents also add hot d imensions to any culture. For instance, most of the Commonwealth countries and the Europe celebrate a overt holiday on the Boxing Day. On this day, the people organize feasts, festivals and sealed sports in order to celebrate and also to share these rejoicing moments with the pitiful and the needy.There is no precise basis of this cultural carnival except only some theories that stem out from some historical happenings. roughly believe that it was a day when people presented gifts to those who had worked throughout the year for them. Others show that it was an annual gathering of extended families in the feudal times in which the lord of the estate handed out stipends to the serfs. Another group disputes that it was basically the day of the year when the church would distribute its donation money to the poor. whatever may be the explanation, the Boxing Day is now an integral break up of the western culture.(Wikipedia) The influence of different cultures on trade and commerce is profoundly instrumental and therefore it is not surprising that business tactics break diversely evolved in different regions of the world. In fact, the technological developments of the late 1990s, in the arena of electronic media have added new dimensions to the concept. Consequently, the global giants of the corporate welkin have been lavishly investing in examination of the cultural influences on the regional economies in order to maximize profits.In China, for example, the foundation of Chinese respect for hierarchy and the family social collective is based upon the comparative norms expounded by the Confucius and legal codes such as those developed during the Tang Dynasty. This institutionalized relational logic has shaped a society whose transactional order rests on social obligation to higher authority and to the family rather than on overlooks oriented to protect the individual. Chinese capitalism is seen to be intrinsically different from the Western capitalism be crusade of this contrast in institutional framing over a spacious period of time. (Warner 2003) These and other brands of cultural values of a society are carefully considered when industries are being setup or when corporations are being established. This facilitates in determining the managerial skills required in the executive professionals who are responsible for communicating and representing their companies within the local industries. A working study series issued from the George Washington University, discusses the U. S. /Mexican business alliances negotiations and the impact of their respective cultures on them.Mexicos mestizo culture with its strong collectivist touch has engraft the people with the capametropolis to share power or authority equitably and the gift to accept and tolerate uncertainty and ambiguity in situations. However, they have also inherited the aptitude for individualism and tend to get obscure in a loosely held social structure with little or no c are for others. This is contrary to the culture in the United States, where people long for absolute power, are highly skeptical of ambiguous scenarios and more often than not downplay relationships.All, this along with the socio-political history of the two nations-which has been deflower by discords and suspicion- is significantly determining in their mutual business alliances. (Teegen and ut 2002) Moreover, the cultural heritage of a region characterize the production and trade of several products that otherwise do not correspond to the world childlike demand. For instance, the annual Basant euphoria in the Punjabi region of the Indo-Pakistan, in which people fly sheet kites and festivals are organized, much business is spawned.It becomes the very attraction for the tourists who converge here from all parts of the world, and the economic activity generated only in the city of Lahore has been estimated to be around PK Rupees 1. 5 to 2 billion annually. The proceeds of the eve nts are shared by almost every one including the people belong to the seasonal cottage industries and even the local vendors. Thus, the big corporations plunge into the depiction and grab at every opportunity to escalate sales.The competitive environment forces them to inspect the cultural characteristics of the event and then to employ this knowledge in launching innovative products in the market as well as in transforming their already existing marketing techniques. (The News 2007) For a industrial business structuring in a region or country, political culture-which itself is a subsidiary of the social culture-can be of immense significance. An illustration can be vividly observed in the political history of Pakistan and the revolutionary rule of its Premier Mr.Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1973-77), which was influenced by the socialism philosophy of the Soviet Union. He crisply followed these policies and nationalized most of the Pakistans industries. (Wikipedia) Consequently, the for eign investors and the big multinationals lost faith in the country and capital were taken out of the country. Locally, twenty two families in Pakistan had owned most of these nationalized banks, companies and industrial units. Sadly, this resulted into a deindustrialization in Pakistan, as none of the families have inferd in to even a single industrial final cause since the last 28 years.(Pakistan link) In the fall of 1991, in the midst of the NAFTA negotiations, Vitro Sociedad Anonima (Vitro), the $3 billion Mexican glass maker, had signed a tentative $800 one thousand million joint venture with Corning Inc. Just two years later, the joint venture was dissolved. According to company officials and external analysts, cultural differences were a principal cause of the alliances failure. (Teegen and doh 2002) Investigations showed that the Mexicans believed that Corning was a bit impulsive in their decision making the Americans felt Vitro had a very time-consuming approach.Vitro steering despised the frankness of the Americans, while polite Vitro executives, sometimes gave Americans the impression that they were antipathetical to admit concerns and errors. (Teegen and Doh 2002) Thus, when businesses are being setup in different regions of the world, there is a need to develop a correlation amid the corporate and the social cultures. References Babar Sattar. Immorality of Basant http//www. thenews. com. pk/daily_detail. asp? id=45221 Accessed June 9, 2007 Boxing Day Wikipedia, the necessitous encyclopedia http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Boxing_Day Accessed June 9, 2007 Culture Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Culture Accessed June 9, 2007 Hildy J. Teegen (The George Washington University) and Jonathan P. Doh (Villanova University)-April 2002. U. S. /Mexican Business Alliance Negotiations Impact of Culture on Authority, practice and Performance. White Paper (The George Washington University). Malcom Warner . Culture and Manag ement in Asia. Routledge, 2003 Who Owns Pakistan http//www. pakistanlink. com/hussaini/09-10-99. htmltop Accessed June 9, 2007 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Zulfiqar_Ali_Bhutto Accessed June 9, 2007