2nd Class Cross Culture

Cross Culture & Japanese
Culture: Impacts on the

Japanese Business
Japanese Style International Business
Foreign Trade University
October 2022
2nd Class
What you want to learn from this class:
Cross culture issues
• Appreciate cultural differences

• How cultures affect business styles of different countries
• How to adapt to the different cultures, develop our skills to adapt to
different cultures
• Characteristics of various cultures
• Develop open mindedness
• Work efficiently under cross cultural environment
• How to avoid miscommunication & conflict in a cross-cultural setting
3 things you want to get from this class:
Japanese business and career issues
• Fundamental knowledge of Japanese culture, working and communication style,

behavior, daily life-style, why people wear dark colors
• Japanese work culture, what it is like to work in the Japanese environment
• Key components of Japanese business success
• How to navigate in Japanese workplaces, avoid taboos & miscommunication
• Know Japanese culture more than anime. Understand official culture. And learn
how to apply the philosophy
• Prejudice of Japanese business – for example, over politeness
• Recognize the impacts of Japanese culture on business and the influence on other
countries
3 things you want to get from the class:
Vietnam vs. Japan & Me issues
• Understand the differences and similarities between the two
countries
• Problems arising from the two countries’ cultural differences
• Is Japanese culture suitable for me? Understand the career
development issues in Japanese companies working under
international environment
• Incorporate knowledge learnt during the class for my future career
development
• Check whether I have changed with the class (before and after)
• What culture is the most important in the world
Recap from last week
• What is culture? Definition?

• What influences culture?
• How many cultures are there in the world?
• Why do we study culture?
• Why is it beneficial for businesses to study culture?
5
Definition of Culture
By Geert Hofstede : Scholar on Cross Culture Issues

The collective programming of the mind that distinguishethe members of one category of people from another
By Merriam Webster: Dictionary

• a : the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the
characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place
or time popular culture Southern culture
• b : the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization a
corporate culture focused on the bottom line
• c : the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal
characteristic studying the effect of computers on print culture
6
What is Culture?
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National stereo types
• Vietnamese people are xxxx

• Japanese people are ddddd
• American people are yyyyy
If you need to choose two words to describe the above national characteristics, what do
you put in each of the nationality?
→ Noisy, silent, polite, rude, studious, lazy, hard working, fast, slow, open minded,
narrow minded, elegant, arrogant, innovative, traditional
• Everyone thinks they are normal and others are not normal but who is normal?
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Who are they?
A B C D
•Punctual • Punctual •Talks and Listens •Talkative

•Respectful • Listens and talks •Does one thing at a •Friendly
•Hard-working • Casual time •Aggressive
•Silent • Friendly •Plans ahead •Casual
•Formal •Formal •Not punctual
9
Homework: Walmart’s case study
Proper Walmart Greetings

https://youtu.be/A16TgDn89xc
Group Presentation
• Summary of Walmart’s case study
• Answers to the four questions
10
Four questions on the Walmart case study
1. Define the Walmart’s culture in the USA
2. Explain the Walmart’s strategy getting into Germany
3. Discuss what Walmart should have done in Germany
4. What do you recommend the Walmart leaders to do if they are to invest in

Vietnam.
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Three basic models to understand cultural
differences
#1. Edward T. Hall – An American anthropologist who did some of the
first researches in the area of cross-cultural knowledge
• Monochronic and Polychronic Culture: Monochronic culture people like to do one thing
at a time. Polychronic culture people like to do several things at the same time.
• Low and high context culture: In a low context culture, everything is spelled out since
people there assume that things have to be explained. In a high context culture,
communicators assume much commonality of knowledge and views, so, much more is
communicated indirectly.
• Personal space: The amount of immediate personal space that is considered acceptable.
High territorial vs. low territorial
12
Hall Model – Personal Space
• Show the photos
13
COVID19 vs. Social distancing
• Easy to do ‘social distancing’: Finland
• Difficult to do ‘social distancing’: many…especially in Southern

Europe like Italy, Spain, etc. Because their personal space is not large
14
Three models to understand cultural
differences
#2. Geert Hofstede, a Dutch researcher who did a large survey of IBM
employees worldwide as a start
6 dimensions
1. Power distance
2. Collectivism vs. individualism
3. Masculinity vs. Feminity
4. Uncertainty avoidance
5. Long-term vs. short-term orientation
6. Indulgence vs. restraint
15
Hofstede’s 6 Dimensions
1. Power Distance = Extent to which the less powerful members of a
society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.
• Authoritarian or Egalitarian
2. Individualism = whether individual decision making is encouraged or
not and people are generally held accountable for their mistakes.
• Individualistic vs. Collectivism
3. Masculinity = Emphasis on aspects such as achievement, heroism,
material reward and competitiveness where as a non-masculine or
feminine society puts emphasis on co-operation, care for the weak and
quality of life
• Masculine vs. Feminine
16
Hofstede’s 6 Dimension
4. Uncertainty avoidance = a society’s tolerance for uncertainty and
ambiguity. Countries with lower uncertainty avoidance may be more willing
to experiment and try out new ideas (risk taking). Cultures with higher
uncertainty avoidance commonly prefer rules and structures to flexibility and
creativeness.
• Risk taking vs. risk avoidance
5. Long-term orientation = Time horizon for business objectives, planning
and performance.
• Long-term vs. short term
6. Indulgence versus restraint = Cultures that favor indulgence favor the
gratification of human drives to enjoy life and have fun. Cultures favoring
restraint consciously suppress the gratification of needs and regulate it
according to strict social norms.
17
Country profile scoring by Hofstede
• Power distance = Australia more egalitarian than others
• Individualism =USA more individualistic than others
• Long-term = Korea more long term than others
• Uncertainty avoidance = Singapore more risk taking than others
• Indulgence vs. restraint = China more restraint than others
• Masculine vs. Feminine = not very clear
18
19
20
Three models to understand cultural
differences
#3
Lewis Model: Richard Lewis is a scholar from the UK. Inspired by E.
Hall.
• Developed three categories and in which every culture and
individuals has a place.
• Surveyed more than 75,000 people from over 200 countries
• Included emerging countries such as from East and South Asia, and
Africa
21
Lewis Model
Based on the surveys, observation and analyses, RL categorized the
countries into three groups
⚫Linear Active – talks half the time, does one thing at a time, plans ahead, sticks to
facts
⚫Multi Active – talks most of the time, does several things at once, plans grand
outline only, feelings before facts
⚫Reactive – listens most of the time, reacts to partner’s action, polite and indirect,
must not lose face
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Homework #2 for the next class: October 26
• Read “When Cultures Collide – Leading Across Cultures” (Chapter 1 to
6: P3-79)
• Understand the definition of culture by Richard Lewis
• Understand Linear Active, Multi Active and Reactive cultures
• Discuss why cultures matter when doing business
24

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Cross Culture & Japanese

Culture: Impacts on the

• Appreciate cultural differences

• Fundamental knowledge of Japanese culture, working and communication style,

• What is culture? Definition?

By Geert Hofstede : Scholar on Cross Culture Issues

By Merriam Webster: Dictionary

• Vietnamese people are xxxx

•Punctual • Punctual •Talks and Listens •Talkative

Proper Walmart Greetings

• Summary of Walmart’s case study

• Answers to the four questions

2. Explain the Walmart’s strategy getting into Germany

3. Discuss what Walmart should have done in Germany

4. What do you recommend the Walmart leaders to do if they are to invest in

• Difficult to do ‘social distancing’: many…especially in Southern

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