A compendium of current news and headlines with commentary providing unique cultural insight into global affairs, business and daily life around the world.

Check out CultureWizard Digest #23 here!

* The Winter Olympics and Globalization
* Female Bankers in India
* Changing Attitudes in China
* Taciturn Toyota Culture

CultureLinks
+ China’s Candidate for Global Gay Competition
+ NYU’s New Global Focus
+ Mumbai’s Luxury Car Show

CultureTips
+ Greece
+ Egypt

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I wonder how many of you who watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics were struck, as I was, by how it is simultaneously the most global of events and yet the most nationally chauvinistic. Unlike the world that most of us live in, where intercultural cooperation is the pursuit and the prize, the Olympics emphasize competition between cultures and nations. The great irony, of course, is that globalization has taken the edge away from many national advantages that competing countries used to have. There are now many athletes and coaches playing and working across national lines. For example, the seismic shift from Russia to North America in awards for ice dancing (Canada taking gold and US taking silver) was aided by a pair of Russian émigré coaches. Many of the biathlon medalists are from France, Germany and Russia, despite the event’s obscure origins in the Norwegian military. The US team also made it to the podium for the first time in 86 years by winning a silver medal in the Nordic combined event, thanks to a new mixture of experts devoted to the sport. All of this provides additional testimony to the power of globalization and its continuous impact. Let us know your thoughts.

-Mike Schell

+ With over 6000 years of history, Egypt’s culture is oriented to its past as much as it is oriented to its present. If you are a business traveler, build time in your schedule for sightseeing. Egyptians are proud of their culture and heritage and enjoy arranging tours for visitors. Do not consider such excursions a waste of time.

+ Kinship and familial ties play an all-important role in Egyptian social relations. The individual is subordinate to the family, tribe or group. The family often has more importance than business, and nepotism is viewed positively since it is patronage of one’s family.

+ In Egypt, a person’s promise is considered his or her bond, and to go back on one’s word is to bring dishonor to one’s entire family.

+ For an Arab country, Egypt has a relatively progressive attitude towards women’s rights. Many women work in business, although seldom in senior management positions. A high proportion of women are employed as doctors, dentists, lawyers, professors, diplomats, ministers and high officials.

+ Egyptians require little physical distance between speakers of the same sex. Men widen the gap considerably when speaking to a woman. They generally stand further away than you are accustomed to in your own culture. Attempting to close the gap could upset your Egyptian colleague, make him question your intentions, and jeopardize your business relationship.

+ Modify your speak pattern if you come from a culture that is direct and to the point. Arabic is a language of hyperbole.

+ Egyptians use indirect, circular, and ambiguous language rife with emotion. Although mirroring their speech pattern would be insulting, it is a good idea to temper directness. Your goal is to get your point across and this happens more readily if you speak in a manner that does not sound harsh and offensive to the listener.

- from RW3’s CultureWizard® Country Profiles

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+ Greeks are proud of their cultural heritage and their contribution to world civilization. A recent study found that Greeks’ pride in being Greek surpassed the ethnic satisfaction of all other European countries.

+ To a Greek, “philotimo” is similar to the Asian concept of face. It is an intangible quality that reflects a person’s reputation, dignity and prestige. Honor is everything to a Greek.

+ Greeks are spontaneously generous people, provided you do not offend them. They can be easily offended, for their pride matches their generosity. Therefore, they do not openly criticize, insult or put anyone on the spot.

+ Business is personal in Greece. As such, it is important to understand that exchanging favors is part of the business culture. If a Greek businessman feels sufficiently comfortable to ask you for a favor, it means he trusts you, which is necessary for successful business dealings.

+ As you might expect in a culture that appears spontaneous, Greeks often interrupt a speaker if they think that they understand what the person is saying. This conversational overlap is not rudeness, but merely the common communication style.

+ Greek businessmen will treat foreign businesswomen with the same courtesy and respect that they treat all women.

+ Women should expect attention and compliments from Greek men. While many businessmen are cosmopolitan, Greece remains a patriarchal culture. Men on the street may verbally show affection or make comments to women, believing such attention is flattering.

- from RW3’s CultureWizard® Country Profiles

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China’s first gay pride festival took place last summer in Shanghai, which was forcefully shut down after it started, but was a majorly important event for the country.

This year, according to the New York Times, a Chinese contestant joined the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition, hailing from Xinjiang, a majority Muslim region of Western China and where homosexuality is forbidden by religion. His pageant name is Xiaodai Muyi. After successfully getting a Norwegian visa, he flew to Oslo to partake in the competition.

While Chinese authorities shutdown the Mr. Gay China pageant, which was the group charged with sending a candidate to the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition, it was still able to quietly make a decision.

“After the cancellation, we thought our attempt to educate the Chinese public had failed for now,” said an organizer of Mr. Gay China. “By sending someone to Oslo, I guess we’re sending out a message to the world that still China is able to send a representative.”

The fact that the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, published an article on his participation in the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition says something about the publication’s perception of the matter. The tone of the article is positive, and it focuses on the inspiration Xiaodai Muyi has given to members of various LGBT groups in China, rather than focusing on what Chinese authorities have had to say.

Have you seen any trends in China’s gay culture? How does it blend with Chinese national culture?

Click here to read the article.

Sean

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In the Wall Street Journal, an article highlights the “secretive” culture of Toyota in relation to a series of recalls.

“Toyota is still very much run by its Japan headquarters, despite being active in the U.S. since 1957. Top leadership doesn’t include U.S. executives. The Toyota officials who run the recall process are in Japan.”

Because of this, Toyota’s US operations have not been able to react swiftly to safety issues that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified.

According to a person familiar with the matter, “what has really happened is a breakdown in communications within Toyota” between its D.C. office and Japan headquarters. “The Washington office didn’t have the information it needed to provide to the government.”

Why is this? While many of the facts are missing, a comment about cultural norms would shed some light on this issue. Communication in Japanese culture is quite indirect, and very hierarchical, which creates an obvious gap in understanding, e.g. when an American team is working remotely with a Japanese team. Certain information may be only for privileged executives, thus leaving a foreign team of less senior individuals out of the loop. Mistakes are viewed in a more negative light by collectivistic or group-oriented cultures, as in Japan, thus people will strive to avoid giving bad news or making direct confrontations to save face and to maintain harmony.

It will be interesting to see where exactly communication broke down for Toyota. Where do you think is may have occurred?

Click here to jump to the article.

Josh

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Check out an Economic Times video on this event in Mumbai. In its second year, the “Parx Super Car Show 2010″ saw a huge increase in interest from luxury car manufacturers (e.g. Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls Royce and BMW) than it did in 2009.

There was a pronounced interest from visitors to the show in knowing what wealthy individuals drive. One commentator, Bollywood star Sohail Khan, said that once the roads in Mumbai are improved, he envisioned seeing many more luxury cars on the streets of the city.

Sean

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Asia Business Media, a blog that focuses on B2B media and business information in Asia, posted on an interesting talk by James McGregor earlier this week at the US Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. As a media professional and an American expatriate in China, he offered his thoughts on changing attitudes that the Chinese have never been known for in the past.

According to the blog, “[McGregor] believes that the arrogance that was once a less-than-appealing feature of U.S. businesses abroad has been adopted by the Chinese at an alarming rate.” These attitudes represent a smaller, yet powerful portion of the country. Oftentimes, culture is influenced by entities of power, e.g. industry and media, so the implications of a more arrogant sphere of business may gradually prove to be an influential force in popular, mass Chinese culture.

Among other observations, McGregor added that Chinese officials are increasingly implementing policies to favor Chinese businesses over foreign businesses, and that the government is encouraging “indigenous innovation.” The competition for market share will be increasingly important for indigenous organizations in China, but are these observations a foreshadow of Chinese hegemony? How can cultural awareness help us understand Chinese attitudes towards the world, and towards globalization?

Click here to read more.

Mike

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The New York Times reports that despite the challenge women face to become leaders of banks in New York and London, many women fill senior positions in India. “HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Fidelity International in India are run by women. So is the country’s second-biggest bank, Icici Bank, and its third-largest, Axis Bank.”

This may come as a surprise, for many families in certain parts of India favor boys over girls. According to female professionals in the industry, “India provided the right combination of supportive, mostly male, managers and a diverse work environment that did not require them to be ‘one of the boys’ to succeed.” The freedom from conforming to a stereotypically masculine banker persona, which is prevalent in Western banks, has allowed women to climb the ladder in their own way, which isn’t to say that they are exempt from hard work and long hours.

A managing partner from head-hunting firm EMA said that “bosses sometimes gravitate toward women in India because they think ‘women are less corruptible, more straightforward and above board most of the time.’” How does this view of women differ in other cultures?

How do you think Indian culture influences the success of women in this industry? How does culture in other parts of the world make it more difficult for women to attain the same positions? The article reminds us that “there are no women leading major American or European banks, and no woman has ever run a Wall Street investment bank.”

Click here to read the article.

Valerie

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A BusinessWeek article explains how new Dean Peter Henry of New York University’s (NYU) Stern School of Business plans to re-focus the school towards industries outside of finance. Since the troubled financial industry is no longer the best option for new job hunters, Henry plans to transform the school’s orientation into one that is global, equipping its students with the skills to go beyond the environs of New York.

“Henry tells the story of a CEO of a Fortune 500 company who once told him that he knew emerging economies would be the best place to grow his company, but he was terrified of sending employees because they lacked the skills needed to operate in that environment. ‘At Stern we want to create leaders who say it is a corporate imperative that we train people who are as comfortable in the Middle East as they are in Manhattan,’” he explained. Intercultural training is typically conducted in classrooms, but innovative technologies can recreate the classroom into a virtual one, allowing students, graduates and professionals to build cultural awareness online through e-learning tools and resources.

Henry moved to the US from Jamaica when he was 9 years old. He “…knows how to assimilate and adjust to new cultures, and he wants Stern students to do the same.” One of his challenges will be to develop the academic materials and courses required to produce the kinds of graduates that global organizations want.

Click here to jump to the article.

Grayson

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