Chapter 4 International Business

Priyansh grew up in India, where caste systems have become less prevalent. Which of the following statements is true about a caste system?

A caste system is a rigid form of social stratification. A caste system is a closed system of stratification in which social position is determined by the family into which a person is born, and change in that position is usually not possible during an individual's lifetime.

According to the findings of the World Values Survey

As countries get richer, there seems to be a shift from survival values to well-being values.

What is the most widely practiced religion in the world?

Christianity, the vast majority of Christians live in Europe and the Americas, although their numbers are growing rapidly in Africa.

What is the concept of understanding how cultural differences across and within nations can affect the way business is conducted?

Cross-cultural literacy

Entrepreneurs and business-owners of high uncertainty avoidance cultures will be more willing to take risks and make changes.

False

People who violate folkways are considered to be evil or bad.

False

The value systems and norms of a country have little influence on the costs of doing business in that country.

False

Which of the following is a disadvantage of a high degree of managerial mobility between companies?

Lack of loyalty and commitment to an individual company. Although moving from company to company may be good for individual managers who are trying to build impressive résumés, it is not necessarily a good thing for American companies. The lack of loyalty and commitment to an individual company, and the tendency to move on for a better offer, can result in managers who have good general skills but lack the knowledge, experience, and network of interpersonal contacts that come from years of working within the same company.

Which of the following aspects of Protestantism paved the way for the subsequent emphasis on individual economic and political freedoms?

The emphasis on individual religious freedom. Protestantism gave individuals significantly more freedom to develop their own relationship with God. This emphasis on individual religious freedom may have paved the way for the subsequent emphasis on individual economic and political freedoms and the development of individualism as an economic and political philosophy.

Hofstede's power distance dimension focused on how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities.

True

Most of the world's ethical systems are the product of religions.

True

One of the biggest dangers confronting a company that goes abroad for the first time is the danger of being ill-informed.

True, international businesses that are ill-informed about the practices of another culture are likely to fail. Doing business in different cultures requires adaptation to conform to the value systems and norms of that culture. Adaptation can embrace all aspects of an international firm's operations in a foreign country.

A mudarabah contract of Islamic banks is similar to a profit-sharing scheme.

True, under mudarabah, when an Islamic bank lends money to a business, rather than charging that business interest on the loan, it takes a share in the profits that are derived from the investment.

Geert Hofstede added the dimension of indulgence to the World Values Survey to refer to

a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun.

Indulgence refers to

a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Indulgence refers to a society that allows relatively free gratification of basic and natural human drives related to enjoying life and having fun. Restraint refers to a society that suppresses gratification of needs and regulates it by means of strict social norms.

Values are

abstract ideas about what a group believes to be good, right, and desirable. Put differently, values are shared assumptions about how things ought to be.

This refers to a set of moral principles, or values, that are used to guide and shape behavior.

ethical system. Most of the world's ethical systems are the product of religions.

The belief in the superiority of one's own culture is known as

ethnocentrism.

Several studies have shown that economic advancement and _____ are important factors in societal change.

globalization

The social rules and guidelines that prescribe appropriate behavior in a particular situation are called

norms.

Culture is

not static.

It has been argued that the success of Japanese enterprises in the global economy has been based partly on which of the following

the cooperation between a company and its suppliers on issues such as design, quality control, and inventory reduction.

Hofstede's masculinity versus femininity dimension examined

the relationship between gender and work roles.

Folkways are

the routine conventions of everyday life. Generally, folkways are actions of little moral significance.