Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, University of applied sciences, Duisburg (FOM Duisburg), course: 4. Semester, language: English, abstract: Due to the progressing globalization, characterized by improvements in communication technologies, rising trends to multicultural departments and the use of lower labor costs, the “understanding of multiculturalism is needed more than anything else”. This understanding is “for instance, a prerequisite to the effective entry into new markets and new countries, whether by establishing licenses, setting up new subsidiaries, merger, takeover, or setting up co-operative or joint-ventures.” Goal of this paper is to show Trompenaars ́ model of culture, explain the dimension universal-ism versus particularism and work out differences and similarities between two cultures, the German and the U.S.-American culture, referring to the chosen dimension. First of all, Trompenaars ́ model of culture is shown and explained roughly. Afterwards the author is enumerating the seven dimensions. One chosen dimension will be worked out in detail, to use it for a comparison then. In the comparison the author shows different surveys and results to validate the cultural dimension and the corresponding assumptions. The paper ends with summarizing the critical remarks towards Trompenaars ́ work, cultural theories in general and a short opinion from the author himself.

The world and trade worldwide face a progress in globalization which is, among other factors, caused by improvements in technology, the rising trend to multicultural departments and lower labor costs. In 2009, there were 82,000 transnational corporations worldwide, thus making the understanding of multiculturalism become more important than anything else. The goal of this paper is to give a short introduction to Trompenaars’ model of culture, explain the dimension “diffuse versus specific”, compare the German and American culture and to validate this model by these chosen aspects.

Essay aus dem Jahr 2011 im Fachbereich Anglistik - Kultur und Landeskunde, Universität Mannheim, Veranstaltung: Academic Writing, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: During the past decade, there has been an increasing critical view of the United States in Western Europe. However, before judging a culture it is important to understand the historical background and the underlying principles which make the United States so different from Western European countries like Germany. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to inform about selected issues out of the wide field of social structure by combining research facts with historical aspects and cultural background. The first comparison points addressed in this essay is the role of multiculturalism for both countries, which is more similar than usually expected. The second part compares social welfare of both countries, which deals as an example with the system of health insurance. The last section examines collectivist and individualist features of the United States and Germany.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing, grade: 1.7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Analysis of Cultural Differences and their Effects on Marketing Products in the United States of America and Germany with a Focus on Cultural Theories of Hall and Hofstede, language: English, abstract: This thesis aims at analysing cultural differences and their effect on marketing products internationally. The United States of America and Germany are used to exemplify this issue. Today’s science provides numerous approaches to making cultural differences visible and tangible. All of these solutions and dimensions give companies, and people in general, a guide to becoming aware of and understand differences and how to cope with them appropriately. Trompenaars, a famous consultant for intercultural communication, uses the allegory of a fish and its habitat, water, to explain the characteristics of culture: “A fish only discovers its need for water when it is no longer in it.”2 Accordingly, culture can be seen as the substance that surrounds a human being and makes him unable to distinguish between different and normal. Therefore, this thesis uses the cultural theories of Edward T. Hall and Geert Hofstede, who both developed approaches to cultural differences by using either a four- or five-dimensions model. These cultural dimensions will be applied to the special circumstances and conditions which a marketer has to deal with in the United States and Germany and thus draws connections between those two different fields of science. As already mentioned in section 1.1, cultural differences play an important role in today’s international marketing. It is therefore important to examine if and how cultural differences, according to Hall and Hofstede, affect parts of the marketing mix for companies selling products in the United States as well as in Germany. The following questions can help to identify the necessary steps: What cultural differences, in both the United States and in Germany, could have an impact on marketing the products of companies selling in those countries? What impact do cultural differences have on parts of the marketing mix? Which adaptions should marketers make to their marketing mix due to the cultural differences? Is standardisation a successful method in both international markets? The answers should help the marketer make the right choice between adapting products to local circumstances or selling and marketing the same product all around the world. This thesis will attempt to answer these questions by applying the above-mentioned cultural theories, and will provide suggestions for how companies from the USA or Germany should conceive parts of their marketing mix. It will further provide examples of culture–related marketing efforts.

An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.

An international business expert helps you understand and navigate cultural differences in this insightful and practical guide, perfect for both your work and personal life. Americans precede anything negative with three nice comments; French, Dutch, Israelis, and Germans get straight to the point; Latin Americans and Asians are steeped in hierarchy; Scandinavians think the best boss is just one of the crowd. It's no surprise that when they try and talk to each other, chaos breaks out. In The Culture Map, INSEAD professor Erin Meyer is your guide through this subtle, sometimes treacherous terrain in which people from starkly different backgrounds are expected to work harmoniously together. She provides a field-tested model for decoding how cultural differences impact international business, and combines a smart analytical framework with practical, actionable advice.

The first comprehensive and statistically significant analysis of the predictive powers of each cross-cultural model, based on nation-level variables from a range of large-scale database sources such as the World Values Survey, the Pew Research Center, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the UN Statistics Division, UNDP, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, TIMSS, OECD PISA. Tables with scores for all culture-level dimensions in all major cross-cultural analyses (involving 20 countries or more) that have been published so far in academic journals or books. The book will be an invaluable resource to masters and PhD students taking advanced courses in cross-cultural research and analysis in Management, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, and related programs. It will also be a must-have reference for academics studying cross-cultural dimensions and differences across the social and behavioral sciences.

Culture, Leadership, and Organizations reports the results of a ten-year research program, the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) research program. GLOBE is a long-term program designed to conceptualize, operationalize, test, and validate a cross-level integrated theory of the relationship between culture and societal, organizational, and leadership effectiveness. A team of 160 scholars worked together since 1994 to study societal culture, organizational culture, and attributes of effective leadership in 62 cultures. Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies reports the findings of the first two phases of GLOBE. The book is primarily based on the results of the survey of over 17,000 middle managers in three industries: banking, food processing, and telecommunications, as well as archival measures of country economic prosperity and the physical and psychological well-being of the cultures studied. GLOBE has several distinguishing features. First, it is truly a cross-cultural research program. The constructs were defined, conceptualized, and operationalized by the multicultural team of researchers. Second, the industries were selected through a polling of the country investigators, and the instruments were designed with the full participation of the researchers representing the different cultures. Finally, the data in each country were collected by investigators who were either natives of the cultures studied or had extensive knowledge and experience in that culture. A unique feature of this book is that while it is an edited book and many experts have written the different chapters, unlike other edited books, it is a fully integrated, seamless, and cohesive book covering the many aspects of the theory underpinning the GLOBE.

Unprecedented in scope and critical perspective, America and the Germans presents an analysis of the history of the Germans in America and of the turbulent relations between Germany and the United States. The two volumes bring together research in such diverse fields as ethnic studies, political science, linguistics, and literature, as well as American and German history. Contributors are leading American and German scholars, such as Kathleen Neils Conzen, Joshua A. Fishman, Peter Gay, Harold Jantz, Gunter Moltmann, Steven Muller, Theo Sommer, Fritz Stern, Herbert A. Strauss, Gerhard L. Weinberg, and Don Yoder. These scholars assess the ethnicity and acculturation of German-Americans from the seventeenth century to the twentieth; the state of German language and culture in the United States; World War I as a turning point in relations between German and America; the political, economic, and cultural relations before and after World War II; and the midcentury state of affairs between the two countries. Special chapters are devoted to the Pennsylvania Germans, Jewish-German immigration after 1933, Americanism in Germany, and a critical appraisal of current research. American and the Germans presents a fascinating introduction to the subject as well as new perspectives for a more critical and comprehensive study of its many facets. It can be used as a reader in the fields of German studies, American studies, political science, European and German history, American history, ethnic studies, and German and American literature. Although each contribution reflects the state of current scholarship, it is formulated with the uninitiated reader in mind.