THE IMPACT OF CULTURE IN

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS

Culture as the core characteristic of each nation stronglyinfluences the shaping of the identity of an individual, agroup and society as a whole. In the business world, culturecan be seen through the features of a unique andrecognizable organizational culture. Contemporary societyincreasingly pays attention to culture, cultural values andunderstanding of cultural differences. Accordingly, a goodknowledge of a nation's culture becomes the mainprerequisite for business survival on the global market aswell as a prerequisite for a successful business. The culturalinfluence on international business as a process of equalrelationships is an optimistic assumption of merging ofdiversity and mutual approach through active interactionand mutual respect regardless of cultural diversity. There isan increasing need to strike a balance between culturaldifferences. Interculturalism as a dynamic process implies arelationship, i .e. interaction, exchange and perspectivescharacterized by meetings of culturally diverse individualsbased on plurality of relations with pronounced opennessand social dimension of dialogue between cultures.Particular emphasis should be placed on the need tounderstand the complexity of the cultural environment andthe specificities arising from diversity in the globalmarketplace. The international environment is a place or anenvironment with cultural diversity and a multitude ofcultural differences in language, customs, values andprinciples. Culture is, above all , a key player in business onthe international scene. If a foreign investor "pauses" withthe culture of the other community, he has succeeded inthe business scene. In order to understand the importanceof culture in various business co-operations and "games",one should first consider what culture is all about and whatits core features are. The concept of culture is of greatimportance to any nation or people because it describes allthe customs, habits and mentalit ies of a society that hasexisted for many decades. The Definition of Culture by(Haralambos, 1980) refers to culture as a way of l ife ofmembers of society; a collection of ideas and habits thatmembers of the society learn, share and convey fromgeneration to generation.

Many societies and cultures have cultivated and preservedculture for years, decades or hundreds of years, and it hasbecome an established tradition that has been cumulativelytransmitted from the knee to the knee, from generation togeneration. Culture implies the identity of a community, i .e.the identity of every individual l iving on a particulargeographical destination. According to Haralambos (1980),culture is a "draft for l ife" that is adhered to by members ofa given society. Haralambos, (1980) considers that culturehas two essential characteristics; f irst it must be learned,and then it is common. Man has no instincts to manage hisactions; its behavior must be based on the guidelines thathave been learned. In order for society to function aseffectively as possible, the learned guidelines must beshared. Without a common culture, members of a societywould not be able to communicate or cooperate, and thiswould lead to chaos and anarchy. According to manyauthors, culture is the model of all adaptations: material orspiritual, which society accepted as a traditional way ofsolving the problems of its members. Culture encompassesall institutionalized ways such as beliefs, norms, values andcultural assumptions that regulate behavior. Culturedetermines how members of a particular society think andfeel. It directs the actions and defines the worldview of thecommunity. In 1871, Tylor defines culture as a complexentity that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, mood,custom, and every other abil ity and habit that man acquiresas a member of a community (Haviland et al . , 2005). Fromthis definition it is evident that culture does not imply justone dimension of cultural essence, but culture is a set ofdimensions or a set of elements that make that cultureunique. Culture implies a collective consciousness of anation or a nation. Collective consciousness therefore refersto mentality, way of thinking, decision making, behavioralrules in a sufficient situation. The concept of collectiveconsciousness (Hofstede, 1996) is called a collectiveprogramming of consciousness that differentiates membersof a human group from members of the other group. Theconcept of programming consciousness in this casesignifies consciousness, that is , the knowledge that acommunity came to because of certain conditions that 

preceded the perception and understanding of the worldaround it . Factors that most often affect collectiveawareness and awakening consciousness are naturalfactors. For example, the factors are: relief, geographicdestination, or cl imate. In some cases, the risk factor canalso affect the creation of a certain consciousness, that is ,thought or culture. The mentioned characteristics refer to all cultures, notindividual cultures of particular nations or peoples.According to the aforementioned statement (Hofstede,1996) that culture is the collective programming ofconsciousness, it is understood that it is not the property ofan individual but of a group. Therefore, the culture ofsociety, not individual categories, and as such is dividedinto individual members of society. One of the basicfunctions of culture implies communication with the world,which contributes to greater closeness between theknowledge of a culture. Culture is a category that is not of anaughty category. Members of different cultures often havedifferent perspectives and assumptions about the samething (e.g. in India is the cattle of the sacred animal, whilein the west the cow is only an animal) . Culture impliesdurabil ity. In other words, it is conveyed from generation togeneration or from knee to knee. The culture is of a frameand an open character and is in a constant process offorming. Every generation adds and carries their ownculture by changing its identity. The dynamics of cultureare reflected in this, in gradual and evolutionary changesover time. The basic division of cultural dimensions includesexplicit and implicit . Of course this is the basic model thathas been accepted almost everywhere in the world withsome minor exceptions. Thus, two important dimensions ofculture pertaining to the observational level and the levelof explanation of cultural values, forms, relationships andprocesses are explicit and implicit cultures. According to(Hofstede, 1996), we differentiate between explicit andimplicit culture. Explicit culture is available for empiricaland scientific scrutiny. It is a culture that is at the level ofthe general well-known, and implies certain norms orpatterns of behavior such as respecting the rules of properbargaining or some "business bon- ton". 

Explicit culture implies a general pattern that is perceivedas a common thread for all cultures of the business world.The implicit culture encompasses hidden, directlyinexplicable cultural creations, most commonly on the levelof symbolic relationships such as insights, values,behavioral models, norms, legends, myths, humor, etc.Implicit culture also includes some elements to beconsidered when getting to know us foreign culture. Forexample, knowledge and belief that are characteristic of aparticular society and include all acquired knowledge,beliefs, superstitions and myths. Then there is also a systemof evaluation, i .e. a decision on what is interpreted as goodor bad in a particular culture. The system of values of aparticular culture directs members of the same thing to bepursued, for which to fight. The fact is that in each societythere are certain values as more or less dominant values.Generally accepted values represent social ideals that areset as a model and task in front of individual members ofsociety. In addition to the values of the standards or theregulations and standards adopted by the members of thecompany or group. These are implicit or explicit rules thatset up different groups to regulate the behavior of groupmembers. Standards tell how to behave or how to behave indifferent situations.

REFERENCES Hofstede, G. (1996). Cultures and Organizations: Software ofthe Mind, Intercultural Cooperation and Its Importance forSurvival . New York: McGraw-Hill . Haralambos, M. (1980).  Sociology: Themes andPerspectives, New Delhi : Oxford University Press. Haviland, W. A. , Fedorak, S. A. , Crawford, G. W., Lee, R. B. , &Haviland, W. A. (2005). Cultural anthropology. Toronto:Nelson.