GMS 724 Study Guide - Final Guide: International Business

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Global Management Studies
• Course: GMS 724
• Professor: HOWARD LIN

Document Summary

Chapter 4 - introduction: companies need to understand and be sensitive t ever-changing operating environments. Identification and dynamics of cultures: cultural, behavioural practices affecting business, strategies for dealing with cultural differences. Physical and social factors: political policies and legal practices, cultural factors, economic forces, geographic influences. The people factor: business involves people, every business employs, sells to, buys from, and is owned and regulated by people. International business, of course, involves people from different national cultures: every business function, therefore---managing a workforce, marketing, and transporting output, purchasing supplies, dealing with regulators, securing funds---is subject to potential cultural differences. Cultural collision: cultural collision occurs when divergent cultures come in contact. In international business, the major problems of cultural collision arise under two conditions: When a company implements practices that are less effective than intended. When a company"s employees encounter distress because of difficulty in accepting or adjusting to foreign behaviours.