Deck 2: International Business Environment-Culture

Question 1

The external environment of a firm has no influence on the firm's activities

Answer 1

False

Question 2

International companies have full control over their external environments.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

The external environment includes the economy of a country.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

The external environment of international markets is easier to understand and predict compared to domestic markets.

Question 5

For an international company the cultural environment is less important than the climatic conditions of a country.

Question 6

Culture is defined as the knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs, and other capabilities of one group distinguishing it from other groups.

Question 7

The key institutions that play a critical role in the development of a society's culture include family and the country's geography.

Question 8

Of the many components of culture, language is probably the least important of all.

Question 9

Language includes spoken thoughts, signs, gestures, and body language.

Question 10

Across countries, there is very little variation in family units.

Question 11

Religion plays a critical role in learning culture among industrialized countries.

Question 12

Values are belief systems that underlie a society's behavior.

Question 13

Cross-cultural management is defined as the study of the behavior of people from different cultures working in organizations.

Question 14

Long-term orientation is one cultural dimension that is not part of the five cultural dimensions identified by Hofstede.

Question 15

People in Australia and Canada exhibit more collectivistic behavior.

Question 16

Hofstede's uncertainty avoidance dimension deals with risk.

Question 17

Edward T. Hall characterized the differences in cultures as low context and high context.

Question 18

A better understanding of foreign cultures and acceptance of different values has resulted in cultural divergence.

Question 19

Culture shock is anxiety caused by being in a foreign country whose food and climatic conditions are drastically different from one's own.

Question 20

The external environment is defined as

A) Factors of business that a firm controls
B) The sum of all forces surrounding and affecting business operations
C) The natural disasters that affect businesses
D) The cyclical patterns in the economy that affect businesses

Question 21

The external environment is made up of the following

A) Economic and political factors
B) Cultural and social factors
C) Regulatory and technological factors
D) All of the above

Question 22

In evaluating external factors of a country, international companies need to

A) Contact the embassies of the host country
B) Watch TV news regularly
C) First identify those external factors that affect the industry they are in
D) Should contact the political leaders of the host country

Question 23

In conducting country risk analysis, the two most critical external factors are

A) Regulatory and technological factors
B) Economic and political factors
C) Size of the population and demographic factors
D) Birth rate and literacy levels

Question 24

A global company is defined as

A) A company that exports goods and services
B) A company that licenses its products to companies in foreign countries
C) A company that enters into joint venture arrangements with companies in other countries
D) Is an international company with a network of worldwide integrative activities that attempts to standardize its offerings

Question 25

In planning entry into foreign markets, international companies need to

A) Understand the geography of the world
B) Be aware of the various types of governments that rule foreign countries
C) Gather information about environments, customers, market forces, and competition
D) Know the cultural dimensions prevalent in societies of the world

Question 26

Each society's culture is a unique and complex system because

A) There are too many different cultures in the world
B) Culture is made up of many components such as its values, norms, folklore, mores, customs, and relationships
C) It is written in either Latin or Sanskrit
D) There are too many books written on culture

Question 27

Cultural behavior is acquired through

A) Courses offered in elementary schools
B) Interactions with neighborhood children
C) Overtime and passed down from generation to generation
D) Books on cultures

Question 28

English is recognized as the official language of businesses because it is

A) Spoken by a majority of the people in most countries
B) Taught in most schools
C) Easy to learn
D) found to have extensive business-related vocabulary

Question 29

Social class refers to

A) The caste system that was practiced in India
B) A relatively homogeneous divisions in society whose members share some common values and interests
C) The economic divisions in a society that influences purchase of goods and services
D) The ethnic groupings in a society

Question 30

Attitude is defined as

A) A person's toughness of mind
B) The amount of ego a person exhibits
C) A person's enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluations, emotions, and tendencies toward some object or idea
D) A person's belief and value systems that influence one's behavior

Question 31

Hofstede's individualism-collectivism dimension affects

A) International production decisions
B) Selection of individuals to work in foreign subsidiaries
C) In assigning office space
D) In setting compensation packages and performance based raises

Question 32

Hofstede's masculinity-femininity dimension impacts international businesses in the area of

A) Human resource management
B) In training and development
C) In observing workplace etiquette
D) In selecting candidates for promotion

Question 33

One of the main criticisms of Hofstede's cultural dimensions is that

A) Hofstede used a small sample size
B) The study was done in just a few countries
C) The survey was conducted among the employees of one company
D) The study was conducted in English

Question 34

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's defined their "relationship to nature" dimension as

A) Appreciation of the natural environment
B) People being in harmony with nature versus trying to harness it
C) The interest of consumers in organic products
D) Enjoying natural beauty

Question 35

From a practical standpoint, Hall's context dimension affects the following area

A) Human relations
B) In shopping situations
C) In social interactions
D) In business communication

Question 36

Ronen and Shenkar's cultural clustering are based on

A) Common language and common customs
B) Common eating habits
C) Whether they practice traditional medicines
D) Ethnicity and heritage

Question 37

For global managers to be successful in a diverse cultural landscape, they need to develop the following competencies

A) Cultural self-awareness
B) Cultural consciousness
C) Have a global mindset
D) All of the above

Question 38

The best way to learn foreign culture is

A) By watching foreign TV programs
B) By being friendly with a person from that culture
C) By immersing oneself in the foreign culture
D) By reading foreign newspapers

Question 39

International companies whose managers tend to be ethnocentric have a

A) Decentralized form of organizational structures
B) Preference for home country goods
C) Try to avoid imported goods and services
D) Centralized form of organizational structures

Question 40

Polycentrism is defined as

A) The recognition that political parties across countries differ in philosophy
B) Is the belief that it is important to understand the differences between cultures
C) The principle of adaptation and standardization
D) The use of political correct language in mixed company

Question 41

What is culture?

Question 42

Identify the key elements of culture.

Question 43

What are the key institutions that influence the cultural behavior?

Question 44

How do societies communicate and what role does language play in international operations?

Question 45

What are social structures? How do international companies use social structures in designing their organizational structures?

Question 46

Explain and discuss ethnocentrism, polycentrism, and geocentrism.