Cross calture issuse in international business Essay

Cross calture issuse in international business - Essay Example Each group has slightly different opinion. The main step for business growth IKEA took is to hire non Chinese managers and Chinese co-workers. The cross culture issues in international business Influence of cultural differences between china and Europe on IKEA IKEA is an international company owned by non-governmental organization. IKEA is the abbreviation of Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd. each term in its abbreviation has its own history. Ingvar Kamprad is the Swedish 17 year's old man who founded this company in 1943. this man was grown up in Elmtaryd and his home parish is in Agunnaryd. it is the world's largest retailer that designs and sell knock-down or flat pack furniture, home appliances and accessories. IKEA also launched a family mobile (Aug 8, 2008), a virtual mobile network running on T-mobiles. IKEA is known as one of the best company which does a lot for the third world. It built an image for the low price furniture but for the Chinese customers the case was opposit e when IKEA opened the first store in Shanghai, China (1998). Most of the Chinese likes to visit IKEA store but they mostly of them just wandered there and only few can by the items because of high prices. IKEA tried to low down their price but still their product became luxury for the Chinese customers. In the beginning IKEA had to face many challenges. For success in business it is much necessary to understand the cultural values of the country where you are setting your business. For IKEA, to achieve the strategy goal in china means to understand the culture and socio-economic conditions of china. In terms of culture and business practices, economical and political changes in china IKEA suffered with many ups and downs. The main issue for IKEA is to understand the environment and cultural difference which influence the Chinese customer's behavior. Hofstede's Cultural dimensions Geert Hofstede had done the influential work to demonstrate the cultural differences. He identified fiv e major dimensions along which cultural values vary: high vs. low power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, masculinity vs. femininity, and uncertainty avoidance vs. uncertainty acceptance and short-term vs. long-term orientation. Difference between china and Sweden culture In china culture dominant values in society are masculine. Caring of others and the quality of people and life are not so important but the importance is given to the assertiveness, acquisition of money and things. In china society muscularity, assertiveness and challenges are preferred over co-operation and good working relationship. Another important cultural trait of china is the high power distance. This means that the distance between subordinates and superiors in china is relatively high then west. We can consider it as a shape of narrow triangle in which the mangers placed on the apex while subordinates on the base. The management is not so common or in practice. This high power distance is basically roots from the imperial tradition in china. Until 1911, the emperors were given so high value that extremely they were called the sons of god. This resulted as an unequal relationship in the society. The subordinates are restricted to obey and owe their superiors in exchange for protection and consideration (Sriramesh, vercic, 2003, p 26). The local government institutions in china are powerful and mostly they operate on discretion. This is the main