Chapter 4 Questions

Mario, a U.S. manager, is attending a business meeting with Saudi Arabian executives. During conversations, Mario should most likely expect that the Saudi Arabian executives will stand ____ from him.

10 inches

Tristan is attending a business meeting in Saudi Arabia. How often during the day should Tristan expect to host to stop the meeting to pray to Allah each day?

5 times

What percentage of information is transmitted among members of a culture by some means other than language?

80-90 percent

According to the text, _____ of the world's population claims a religious affiliation.

85%

People in New Zealand and Norway tend to have a high power tolerance

FALSE

Social mobility tends to be lower in less stratified societies

FALSE

Spanish is the lingua franca of international business

FALSE

The Japanese concept of wa encourages individual achievement as a way to achieve social harmony

FALSE

_____ is the process by which people not only understand a foreign culture but also modify and adapt their behavior to make it compatible with that culture.

Acculturation

Which of the following is not one of the basic elements of culture?

Architecture

According to Ronen and Shenkar, which of the following countries is NOT in the same cultural cluster?

Austria

In which country does the attitude "time is money" prevail?

Canada

In which country is nepotism valued?

China

Which of the following countries is considered a high-context culture?

China

Which term refers to the collection of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, and attitudes that distinguish one society from another?

Culture

______ is the lingua franca of international business.

English

From what source do cultural changes usually occur?

External Forces

According to Sharia law, interest payment are required in business transactions

FALSE

Because English is the common language of business, experts believe that managers from English-speaking nations do not need to learn foreign languages

FALSE

Countries with multiple languages tend to be homogeneous

FALSE

Culture is permanent; it does not change

FALSE

Family is more important to business in the U.S. than it is in China.

FALSE

Government officials in China would most likely prefer to deal with a young manager from the U.S. than a senior level manager

FALSE

In Japan, it is most appropriate to open a business gift publicly to ensure that the gift giver gains status

FALSE

Movies that are successful in the United States and the United Kingdom are generally successful in other developed markets such as Japan and India

FALSE

Nonverbal communication involves only about 20 percent of all information transmitted among members of a culture

FALSE

In which country would an employee most likely question the decision of a manager?

Germany

Country X has 14 official languages and nearly 2000 dialects. Which of the following is most likely a true statement?

Income and value differences exist among of citizens of Country X

According to Ronon and Shenkar, which of the following countries does NOT belong to a country cluster?

India

Which country listed below is NOT considered socially mobile?

India

Which virtue of a job candidate would most likely NOT be perceived as valuable by a Japanese employer?

Individualism

_____ is the cultural belief that the person comes first.

Individualism

According to the text, the second most popular religion in the world behind Christianity is _____.

Islam

Which country listed below is a group-focused society?

Japan

Which of the following countries is not considered a low-context culture?

Korea

Which country cluster is made up of Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal, and Spain?

Latin European

According to the low-context-high-context theory, business decisions made by ____ managers are more likely to be impulsive.

Mexican

Which of the following countries is NOT considered a collectivist culture?

New Zealand

Why did the producers of the The Apprentice have problems selling the Japanese version of the show to Japanese TV networks?

Public humiliation is avoided in the Japanese culture.

In _____, it is acceptable to interrupt meetings to greet family or friends who wander by.

Saudi Arabia

______ is the ability of individuals to move from one stratum of society to another.

Social mobility

______ is a person's beliefs about the relative importance of the individual and the groups to which that person belongs.

Social orientation

According to the low-context-high-context theory, in which of the following countries should advertisement be fact-oriented?

Switzerland

A cultural cluster comprises countries that share many cultural similarities

TRUE

Backtranslation can help a firm avoid sending the wrong message to their customers

TRUE

Business transactions between firms in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom are facilitated by a shared language

TRUE

Countries dominated by Islamic adherents typically limit job opportunities for women

TRUE

Culture is a learned behavior that is passed from one society member to another

TRUE

If a manager accepts the power and authority of his superiors simply on the basis of the superior's position in the hierarchy, the person is probably from a culture that is characterized by power respect.

TRUE

In highly stratified societies, MNCs must consider class differences among workers when making decisions about promotions

TRUE

Individuals with a shared culture are members of a society

TRUE

Language can provide important clues about the cultural values of a society

TRUE

Personal characteristics are more important than personal accomplishments in group-focused societies

TRUE

Silence communicates meaning just the same as sound does

TRUE

The attitude that parents should be treated as superiors is common in a culture characterized by power respect

TRUE

According to the text, what is the most likely reason that Japan's cultural values could hinder the country's future prospects?

The needs of young workers are being sacrificed to protect older workers.

____ refers to the extent to which members of a culture adopt a long-term versus a short-term outlook on work, life, and other aspects of society.

Time orientation

____ is the feeling people have regarding ambiguous situations.

Uncertainty orientation

Bolton Products, an MNE based in Chicago, is developing a marketing campaign for a new laundry detergent that will be sold in Canada. What is the most relevant question that Bolton's marketers should ask when adapting their campaign for linguistic differences?

What are the attitudes and needs of French Canadians and English Canadians?

What is a greenfield investment?

a brand-new investment

Which form of family is most emphasized in Somalia?

ancestral

Bad news in Korea should be delivered _____.

at the end of the day

The primary purpose of conducting a backtranslation is to _____.

avoid communication mistakes

Before finalizing a new advertisement for the Chinese market, Barton Soda assigns one person to translate the advertisement from English to Chinese and another person to translate the translated version back into English. Barton is most likely using _____.

backtranslation

In India, a person's status depends on _____.

caste

Social Stratification refers to how people in a society are

categorized by attributes

According to Hofstede's Five Dimensions, _____ is the opposite of individualism.

collectivism

Lingua franca means ______.

common language

Hinduism stresses all of the following EXCEPT _____.

consumption

The Protestant ethic stresses all of the following EXCEPT

consumption

What is the first step in acculturation?

cross-cultural literacy

A _____ comprises countries that share many cultural similarities.

cultural cluster

Communication senders and receivers from different cultures use _____ to encode or decode the message.

cultural filters

Which of the following is NOT one of Hofstede's Five Dimensions?

cultural orientation

In a collectivist society, changing jobs is most likely interpreted as _____.

disloyalty

In a high-context culture, the presence of a lawyer during business dealing would be considered a sign of _____.

distrust

Historically, the rigid class system and low social mobility in the United Kingdom has led to _____.

fewer young people seeking higher education

Cultural attitudes toward social mobility are LEAST likely to affect an international business in the area of _____.

foreign exhange

In Japan, a collectivist society, a CEO's pay primarily reflects ____.

group performance

Countries with multiple language groups tend to be ______.

heterogeneous

Which of the following is NOT characteristic of the Latin American negotiating style?

hiding of emotions

Quadro Tires is an MNE with facilities in Australia, Ireland, Canada, and the U.S. Which of the following is the LEAST likely problem that Quadro experiences in global management?

language complications

The _____ the society, the more possible it is for individuals to move from one stratum to another.

less stratified

In a _____ culture, a speaker's words explicitly convey the speaker's message.

low-context

Which of the following is a negotiating style common among Japanese managers?

making subtle power plays

During a business meeting with Japanese executives, Jay, an American manager, uses his hands to make the "okay" signal. The Japanese executives will most likely interpret Jay's hand signal to mean _____.

money

Cultures emphasizing collectivism are more likely to emphasize _____.

nepotism

Which form of family is most emphasized in the United States?

nuclear

Brandon, a U.S. manager, is on a business trip to Tokyo meeting with a group of executives. Brandon receives a gift from one of the Japanese executives. What should Brandon most likely do?

open the gift in private

Social structure is best defined as the

overall framework that determines the roles of individuals within a society

In cultures characterized by _____, people at all levels in a firm accept the decision of those above them because of the implicit belief that higher-level positions carry the right to make decisions.

power respect

_____ is the unconscious use of one's own culture to help assess new surroundings.

self-reference criterion

Attitudes _____.

shape the behavior of and opportunities available to MNCs operating in a given culture

Language ______.

shapes the attitudes its adherents have toward work, consumption, individual responsibility, and planning for the future

Which of the following is NOT a component of social structure?

societal dress codes within regions

The rise of capitalism has been attributed by Max Weber to _____.

the Protestant ethic

Businesses in _______ discourage nepotism while in _______ family ties are crucial to ensure the growth of a company.

the U.S.; China

In which of the following countries is social mobility likely to be highest?

the United States

Formal rules and standards in the workplace are preferred by individuals from a culture high in _____.

uncertainty avoidance

While negotiating a contract between an American firm and a Japanese supplier, the Japanese manager responds by saying "yes." The Japanese manager probably meant _____.

yes, I understand