Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Authors
Nader Asgary,Associate Professor, Director of Center for International Business,
State University of New York - Geneseo, Geneseo, NY 14454, USA and Alf H.
Walle, School of Management, University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Ala-
ska 99775, USA
Introduction
1983, 1986; Triandis, 1989, 1990), following the lead of Hall, have concluded
that what works best in the West may not inevitably be effective cross-culturally.
In spite of the current popularity of homogeneous global strategies that centre
upon standardising products and employing Western management theories, the
recognition of cultural distinctiveness should not be ignored; those who do so, act
at their own risk.
Researchers and practitioners have long pondered the premise that the specif-
ics of the cultural tradition dictates what motivates employees and that people
typically do not act in a universal kind of way that responds to some sort of gener-
alised and rational cost-benefit analysis (i.e. Bigoness and Blakely, 1996). To
whatever extent this is true, management strategies need to be linked to subtle
cultural understanding.
Continuing this chain of thought, Walle has drawn a distinction between the
macro and the micro environment and discussed strategies of international inter-
vention accordingly. Thus discussing marketing he observes:
60 Cross Cultural Management
Homogenisation
As far back as the early 1980s, marketing guru Theodore Levitt (1983, 1983a)
used the term globalisation to depict an emerging cultural homogeneity caused by
increased communication, technological convergence, and their impact upon mar-
keting. Beyond merely stating that a new process of cultural diffusion was pro-
foundly transforming the world, Levitt proposed a strategic response to this
phenomenon that emphasises standardising the products offered by the firm. In a
world where cultures are converging, Levitt reasoned, organisations can be most
effective if they provide a limited variety of products and then force them upon
the global market in strategic ways. And because technology and social contact
are making cultures increasingly homogeneous, Levitt reasoned, selling homoge-
neous products is emerging as the optimum strategy for businesses to follow (as
well as being the wave of the future).
Future success, Levitt asserted, will result from lower prices created through
the economies of scale made possible when virtually identical products are sold
worldwide and promoted in parallel ways that gain the benefits of synergism. Le-
vitt continued by suggesting that firms that respond to narrow regional and na-
tional differences, in contrast, will be left in the dust, lose their competitive edge,
and be supplanted by those who use standardisation to achieve economies of scale
Volume 9 Number 3 2002 61
and, thereby, most effectively respond to the emerging global marketplace. Some
writers call for more flexible strategies that tailor global strategies to the actual
circumstances faced (i.e. Quelch and Hoff observe, 1986).2
Today, this “cultural homogeneity version” of global theory has often been
dubbed “McDonaldisation”: a term that implies that the popular consumer culture
of the economically dominant West is relentlessly and inevitably transforming
other, regions, cultures, nations, and societies (be they part of the developed or
developing worlds). Such perspectives imply that technological change, the mass
media, and consumer-oriented marketing campaigns work in tandem to remake
whatever they touch in their own image. Besides consumption patterns, some ob-
servers suggest that even attitudes and ideas about society, religion, and technol-
ogy are transformed by cultural diffusion brought by globalisation (Tomlinson,
1999:89). This perspective is reinforced and provided with a theoretical backbone
by models of economic determinism, such as the “cultural materialism” model of
Marvin Harris, that are increasingly influencing business theory and practice
(Walle, 2001, Chapter 3).
As a result of mass marketing and the tendency for global firms to standardise
their products, organisations such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Nike, MTV, and Cal-
vin Klein have emerged as global icons (Holton, 142). According to the strategies
anticipated by Theodore Levitt (discussed above), mass marketing, on an interna-
tional level, displaces strategies that revolve around national, regional, and cul-
tural differences. Distinctiveness fades to the point where young Japanese tourists
in America have marvelled, upon visiting a McDonalds, “that America also has
Japanese food” (Watson, 131).
A Consumer Mentality
Elite Culture
In such cases, global culture builds a familiar foundation that crosses national
borders. Beyond simply encouraging mass marketing, this international homoge-
neity can build unity among the world’s people or, at least, among the elite who
have significant discretionary income and/or are well connected. Building rapport
with colleagues and clients, of course, is the first step in establishing successful
business relationships. By embracing a universally acceptable arena for conduct-
ing business, different groups can most effectively communicate. The Western
style and the English language have emerged as the “lingua Franca” of the era and
they are embraced internationally by powerful and wealthy people.
The Internet
The Internet, although early in its life cycle, is making the world smaller and more
accessible. While international travel, although declining in price, tends to remain
in the realm of a privileged minority, computers are becoming available to an in-
creasing large percentage of the human race. As a result, diverse people are able
to communicate internationally as never before. These lines of communication
profoundly expand the speed with which cultural diffusion can take place; this
process can increase the level of cultural homogeneity shared by different people.
Certainly, the Internet and its impact upon the process of homogenisation are far
from reaching their peak. Although computers will never be available to all people
and even though the Internet does not permit people to fully experience other
places and lifestyles, it does allow greater access to more people and information
than has ever been possible in previous human history. As a result, computers and
the Internet provide an entry point into the global world and one that is available
to more and more people. Due to these trends, they emerge as a major engine of
the global revolution.
A New Enlightenment?
tined to unite all people. Those who embraced the Enlightenment clearly believed
that older traditions and those that were not based on science and reason could be
written off as vestigial remains that were doomed to oblivion as enlightened and
homogeneous ways of life came to dominate the world. In such circumstances, En-
lightenment visionaries predicted, traditional cultures would survive only in some
rather inconsequential hinterland pockets.
Polarisation
Global interconnections and interdependence, of course, will not, in all cases, in-
evitably result in cultural conformity and homogenisation. The distinctive aspects
of a culture’s ethos and its traditions are harder to standardise than economic sys-
tems, technological convergence, and/or parallel marketing strategies. The cul-
tural consequences of globalisation are diverse, multifaceted, and complex. The
limits upon cultural homogenisation has often been recast in terms of an opposite
conceptualisation: polarisation (Holton, 145). Polarisation is represented by cul-
tural, regional, or national distinctiveness that flies in the face of an alleged homo-
geneity. At times this polarisation results in distinctive tastes among specific target
markets; on other occasion, enclaves of peoples lash out in defence of their tradi-
tions and way of life. While technological and economic convergence can encour-
age a more global and homogeneous world, on the one hand, distinctive segments
of the population with their own heritage, values, and habits seek to preserve
their unique character, on the other.
And the same technology that leads to homogeneity can also serve the forces
of polarisation. Dispersed ethnic groups, for example, have often used technology
to maintain their traditions: a phenomenon that Benedict Anderson calls “long
distance nationalism.” Because technology provides people with a means of keep-
ing in contact with cohorts and nurturing their cultural heritages, actual geo-
graphic location no longer significantly impairs, diminishes, or undermines a
distinctive identity (Holton, 145).8
While there are many examples of peaceful people preserving their traditions
is idyllic, various resistance movements that use violence or confrontation to bol-
ster indigeneous cultures and religions have a higher profile. This kind of forceful
Volume 9 Number 3 2002 65
reaction takes place in both the developing and the developed worlds. Below, we
will examine illustrative case studies that explore significant aspects of this polari-
sation.
to the modern world.9 Important implications regarding this dual status and the
specific character of polarisation exist.
First, just because hinterland cultures and lifestyles are impacted by the
larger world does not inevitably indicate that these traditions are doomed to ex-
tinction. Indeed, they may be able to survive and thrive both within the educated
minority and among the less educated who, since they have minimal contact with
the outside world, are not significantly transformed by it.
Secondly, the global, outside world and hinterland traditions tend to be em-
braced by people at different times in their lives. In youth, for example, many peo-
ple are in an adventurous and innovative frame of mind and, as such, they tend to
embrace the more dominant mainstream/global culture. As time goes on, how-
ever, many of these same people tend to reconnect with their traditions (Walle,
1995).
Each action, of course, tends to have its equal and opposite reaction. And in
this case, the equal and opposite reaction to the Enlightenment is the Romantic
Movement (for fuller discussions of the following analysis see Walle, 2001, Chap-
ter 2). While the Enlightenment centred upon logic and rationality, Romanticism
focused upon emotions and the distinctiveness of specific peoples. And to a great
degree, the Romantic vision centred upon the emotional content of cultures and
traditions. The theoretical underpinnings of Romanticism were laid by Johann
Herder, a German philosopher who helped to popularise the concept of “volks-
geist,” a construct that coincides, more or less, with the more contemporary term
“national character.” Herder believed that all peoples and nations possess a
unique volksgeist/national character and that they need to be envisioned and in-
Volume 9 Number 3 2002 67
terpreted accordingly. In the 19th century, Frederick Hegel picked up the concept
of volksgeist and made it an integral part of his emphasis upon the social group as
the basis of life.
The Romantic era, furthermore, was a period in which diverse cultural tradi-
tions within Europe were struggling to free themselves from the yoke of alien cul-
tures that had long dominated them. Throughout Europe, the emotionally laden
and politically pregnant theories of Romanticism were integrated with the concept
of national character provided by Herder and Hegel. The result was a champion-
ing of the local cultural tradition above all else and a repudiation of the homoge-
neity largely created by the intrusion of alien cultures and oppressive regimes.
Contemporary Muslim fundamentalism and these 19th century nationalistic move-
ment of Europe are clearly akin to each other and they are both classic examples
of polarisation.
The theory of hybridisation argues that globalisation has not created a world that
is accurately depicted by either homogeneity or polarisation. It suggests that each
of these constructs, while possessing a kernel of truth, is over-zealous to the point
of error. To illustrate this point and to enter the discussion of hybridisation (by
which we mean adjustment, on the one hand, while maintaining an identity, on
the other) consider the following case study provided by Ulf Hannerz:
Not only does this formulation “fit” the examples that we are examining, the
dialectical method is well known and it has generated a long and respectable re-
search stream. By hybridisation, we are referring to a new combination of cultural
traits, attitudes, responses, etc. that are based upon a fusing and an adjusting of
somewhat different or conflicting systems. Hegel’s dialectical model is a useful
method that has a valuable role in describing and analysing this process.
ceptualising it as part of a continual and ongoing process. This is exactly the kind
of models that are needed by both scholars and practitioners involved in interna-
tional business.
Conclusion
Today, international business is growing and global strategies are being employed
as never before in modern times. Unfortunately, even though global themes have
become ubiquitous, speaking about them in precise terms can be difficult. This ar-
ticle has addressed that issue by discussing three implications of globalisation: the
tendencies towards homogeneity, polarisation, and hybridisation. As businesses
expand worldwide and the search for new markets intensifies, hitherto isolated
cultures and nations are increasingly drawn into the Western sphere of economic
and cultural influence. Certainly, these societies will borrow heavily from those
with whom they come into contact. But this does not inevitably imply that they
will be completely transformed.
There was a time when humanists tended to assume (as today’s homogenises
do) that older, circumscribed cultural traditions would inevitably fade and be sup-
planted by the modern world. In earlier generations, for example, folklorists vis-
ited hinterland enclaves in order to “salvage” cultural traditions because they
believed the cultural heritage they were studying was rapidly and inevitably dying
off as the modern world established itself within the hinterland.
suggests ways in which to most effectively respond to consumer needs and de-
mands. Both the forces of homogeneity and polarisation exist and they tend to
connect in ways that replicate Hegel’s thesis, antithesis, and synthesis model.
Thus, the dialectical method provides an invaluable model of this process. It also
provides a means of posing testable and debatable hypotheses regarding cul-
tural/commercial contact and the resulting hybridisation that springs from it.
Endnotes
2. Quelch and Hoff observe: Too often executives view global marketing as an ei-
ther/or proposition - either full standardised or local control. But when a global
approach can fall anywhere on a spectrum from tight worldwide coordination... to
loose agreement on a product idea, why the extreme view? In applying the global
marketing concept and making it work, flexibility is essential (1986:59).
3. Media giants such as Time Warner and MTV, embrace the global strategy and
in a way that parallels McDonalds, they adopt slogans such as “The World is Our
Audience” and “One Planet, One Music” (Street, 1997:79). Due to the universal
embrace of its popular culture clothing styles, music, and food, the impact of the
United States upon the rest of the world has been particularly strong.
5. Even leisure activities and tourism are affected by such trends. On the one
hand, many people will fly or drive long distances to large shopping malls or out-
let stores and they view their shopping spree as a holiday or as a recreational ac-
tivity (Tomlinson, 86).
6. For example, the role that motion picture “A River Runs Through It” played af-
ter it was released. The fly fishing was a recreational activity that was embraced
by a small market segment. After the film caught the public’s imagination, how-
ever, the popularity of the sport experienced a profound growth. Thus, a “commo-
dification” of fly fishing resulted from the mass media (in specific, from one
motion picture that caught the public’s imagination).
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