The Impact of Culture on Business

Introduction

The importance of good performance in developing international relations, political, commercial, cultural worldwide today is essential to achieve the integral development of nations. No single nation can be complacent about itself and does not need the assistance and support of other countries, even the richest nations need resources and through global negotiations and agreements supplement their needs and wants in other areas.

The climatic conditions of each nation it makes exchange with areas where will produce goods necessary for survival and development of vital areas between nations. The international trade development it makes countries prosper and then exchange with other countries, which in turn they have a better produce.

When companies are interested in participating in international trade or are looking to diversify markets, the need arises to negotiate with foreign businessmen. The international negotiation involves two or more parts, each one looking to obtain a satisfactory result. To achieve this, they have to resolve conflicts or mishaps that may arise when negotiating. It’s not an easy task because necessary is to plan strategies for reach an agreement.

It is important to know the essential aspects of international negotiation, definitions and the parties involved in it, aspects that are commonly traded, as well as the stages through which most international negotiations are going through, that is, the general outline negotiation.

Proper planning is an essential part of trade negotiations and to obtain as much information as possible and care should be taken to communicate. There are also strategies that allow the negotiators to achieve better results in international trade negotiations. However, a crucial appearance that must be taken into account before making any negotiation is the cultural aspect. The culture it has an influence directly in international negotiations, as not all countries negotiate the same way. In many looks such as fundamental values, habits, customs, religion or morality is essential to know. You can have good communication and negotiating for a mutually beneficial.

Trading is the branch of economic activity concerns the exchange of goods and services through barter or money, for sale, profit or to satisfy needs. Operating international trade is necessary to perform negotiations. They deal with issues of interest for two or more individuals who look therefore a convenient solution. At the international level negotiation has gained strength in recent years because the borders are suffering openings to sign trade agreements between countries, so there are often trades and international negotiations.

It is important and necessary to plan strategies that work together to reach an agreement.

Such strategies have to be handled for obtaining greater efficiency objectives which are the reliability and constant and lasting relationships. Using mentioned strategies allows us knowing more and better the negotiations situation performing the mutual purpose.

Defining negotiation as the process which the parties involved - where one has or can do something which the other wants and vice versa - they communicate each other with the aim of reaching an agreement that provides the basis for a correct understanding to help achieving the requirements and therefore the satisfaction of stakeholders. In international trade negotiations, it seeks to achieve conditions in which both parties win, making build confidence and therefore favor the long-term relationship.

While there are so many definitions of culture, most of them conceive of culture as the sum of beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions and instruments that characterize human groups. In other words, culture is common patterns of behavior that are learned from the members of a society, which represents the particular style of life of a specific group of people.

Most anthropologists agree that:

1. Culture is learned, not innate

2. The various aspects of culture are interrelated

3. Culture is shared

4. Culture defines the boundaries of different groups

BUSINESS CULTURE

Because society is composed of people who have a culture, it is virtually impossible to talk about them if they relate to their culture. Anthropologists often use the terms interchangeably or combined into a single word: sociocultural. This is the term used by entrepreneurs whose interests are both social and cultural rights.

When people work in societies and cultures that differ from their own, the problems multiply with all cultures that are in each foreign market. Too often, unfortunately, those who know a single cultural pattern they believe they have knowledge of the cultural characteristics of other places, when in reality it is not. Unless they are able to compare with other cultures, may not even know the most important features of their own. The first step learning to live with other international business cultures is to understand that there are cultures different from their own. Then they need to go a step further and learn the characteristics of these cultures to adapt to them.

International businesses comprise a huge and growing portion of total global business. Today almost all companies, large or small, suffer the effects of global events and competition, as most companies sell their products or receive supplies from foreign countries, or both, and compete with products and services from abroad. Companies that get into international business arrangements may be taken by businesses, such as export and import, other than those to which they are used on a national scale. To operate effectively, managers need to know these different modalities. It is also common for international business under the elapse internationally (conditions prevailing outside the company, opposed to domestic conditions) more diverse than the prevailing national level. The conditions, physical, social and competitive, this external field affect the execution of business functions such as marketing.

When operating internationally, a company should consider its mission (what purports to be and do in the long term), objectives (specific performance purposes to carry out its mission) and strategy (the means by which will get your goals). There are four main objectives of operation that may induce companies to undertake international business:

• The increase in sales

• Resource acquisition

• Diversification of sources and supplies sales

• Minimizing the competitive risk