Difference in business cultures: Brazil and Germany

Essay by stasia_teeUniversity, Bachelor'sB, April 2008

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Scientific Working Term Paper Difference in Business Cultures Anastasia Triantafyllou

1.Introduction

Communication in business is a fundamental skill for everyone involved in it. The ability of connecting adequately to your partner creates sympathy and assists in achieving goals. However, how do all the individual business cultures differ from each other? What is important to be aware of and are there any patterns? Most importantly, do these differences lead to troubles in compatibility? To start off, what does culture actually mean in this content? One definition of culture is "the customs, beliefs, art and all the other products of human thought made by a particular group of a people at a particular time" (Richard 2006: 588). Cultures are established by human beings independently, however in most cases they are not significantly altered by the desires of each generation, but are rather carried out, unaffected by the variable of time since their founders, who are usually the initial inhabitants of the specific area.

A likely reason as to how the stability of maintaining traditional cultural values could be that generations enforce these very values onto younger generations while being raised; as they are consisting in their close environment. Thus, cultures can be considered as acquired values and ideas which lead to various habits and social traits which are unique due to the variations of an area's history, climate, and location. It is only natural that these varying cultures also affect the business approach of the people who belong to them (Kropp 1997: 47). The variations of business cultures worldwide can be categorized into three groups: Linear-Active, Multi-Active, and Reactive (Richard 2006: 588).

This term paper will assess the difference between two contrasting business cultures: Brazil and Germany, as well the ability of successful interaction amongst them. The business culture category that...