Cross-Cultural Practices in Business

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 Frameworks and Skills

Binod Sundararajan
Oksana Shkurska & Shannon Lin
Cross-Cultural Practices in Business
and Finance
Binod Sundararajan · Oksana Shkurska ·
Shannon Lin

Cross-Cultural Practices
in Business and Finance
Frameworks and Skills
Binod Sundararajan Oksana Shkurska
Dalhousie University Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS, Canada Halifax, NS, Canada

Shannon Lin
Dalhousie University
Halifax, NS, Canada

ISBN 978-3-031-06439-5 ISBN 978-3-031-06440-1 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06440-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2023
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar
or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant
protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book
are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or
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This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland
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The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgments

Binod Sundararajan’s Acknowledgments

I would like to first acknowledge both my co-authors Dr. Oksana Shkurska and
Dr. Shannon Lin, for agreeing to take this journey with me and help co-create
a one-of-a-kind, from the scratch textbook aimed at the International & Inter-
cultural Management and International Business practices space. Their talent and
knowledge have helped enhance this work and has resulted in the creation of a
unique book, by immigrant academics to Canada, diverse perspectives of people
who have lived, traveled, and worked in multiple countries and bring their rich,
lived experiences into this textbook.
I would like to thank our Faculty of Management that has helped nurture a
fertile and nurturing environment to enable such efforts. A huge thank you to
Marcus Ballenger and Geetha Chockalingam of Palgrave Macmillan for their help
and support during the writing process.
I would like to thank my wife Dr. Alamelu Bharadwaj, a renowned Cancer
researcher in her own right, and my two children Lara and Mithra, for giving me
the love and the space to forego spending time with them and allowing me to
take these leaps of creative endeavor. I would like to thank my father, late, Mr.
Sundararajan Parthasarathy, my mother Komala Sundararajan, sister Dr. Malavika
Sundararajan, brother Sharad Sundararajan, and sister-in-law Shreya Amin, for
their constant support and cheerleading.

Oksana Shkurska’s Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge Kim Brooks, the Dean of the Faculty of Management
(now an Acting Provost and Vice-President Academic at Dalhousie University),
and Mike Smit, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Management, for their contin-
uing support and encouragement. Special thanks go to Linda Macdonald, a very
good colleague and friend who is always full of innovative teaching ideas and
inspiration.
I also wish to thank Marcus Ballenger, a senior editor, and Geetha Chock-
alingam from Palgrave Macmillan for their patience and guidance during the whole
writing process.
v
vi Acknowledgments

Finally, I would like to thank my husband Serge and my daughter Dasha who
never fail to support and push me to move forward.

Shannon Lin’s Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my co-authors Dr. Binod Sundararajan and Dr. Oksana
Shkurska for their intellectual contributions, as well as support and patience
throughout the writing of this book. I also wish to thank my husband Dr.
Lorn Sheehan and my daughters Caroline and Linnette for their love and
encouragement.
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PESTLE (STEEPLE, PESTEL, PESTLIED, SLEPT,
LONGPESTLE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Political Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Economic Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Sociocultural Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Technological Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Legal Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Environmental Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Waterbody Innovations and Technologies Inc. (WITI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International
Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Perceptions of Business Across Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Types of Economies that Have Flourished Across Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Market Economies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
State Capitalism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
State Run . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Distributed Economies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
National Culture vs. Organizational Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
National Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Organizational Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Does Culture Override Business Strategy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Cultural Sensitivity, Diversity Training, and Truly Benefiting
from a Culturally Diverse Workforce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Unconscious Biases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Affinity Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Confirmation Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Attribution Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Conformity Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Halo Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

vii
viii Contents

The Horns Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Contrast Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Gender Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Ageism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Name Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Beauty Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Height Bias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Gaslighting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Micro-aggression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3 Culture Shock, Work, and Study Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Read and Reflect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
What Is Culture Shock? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Oberg’s Culture Shock Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Kim’s Adaptation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Bennet’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) . . . 43
Berry’s Acculturative Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Cultural Intelligence and Intercultural Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Coping with Culture Shock and Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Practical Recommendations/Survival Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Culture Shock and Business Jargon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
4 Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas Across the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Globalization and Ethics of International Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Cultural Differences in Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Guidelines for Ethical Decision-Making Across Cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable
Development Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5 The Role of Technology in Doing Business Across Cultures . . . . . . . . . 67
What Is Technology? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Connected Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Social and Professional Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Distributed Networks and Virtual Teams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Challenges to VTs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
The ConnecT Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Dealing with Complexities and Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Types of Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Types of Tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Integrate Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Creating a Sense of Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Contents ix

Types of Conflict Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Co-activate Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Disruptive Technologies and Adoption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
6 Accounting Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Accounting: The Language of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
A Brief History of the Double-Entry Accounting System . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
The Usefulness of Accounting Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
The Role of Financial Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Types of Audits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
What Is Accounting Fraud? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Types of Fraud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Infamous Past Scandals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Enhanced Regulation: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Why Accounting Frauds Matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Current Accounting Practice and GAAP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
One Common Standard: IFRS Adoption Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Accounting, Legal Structure, and Tax Considerations
for Operations Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Recent Trend Away from Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
7 Banking and Financial Markets Around the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Brief History of Banking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Equity and Bond Markets Around the Globe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
What Is a Bond? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
What Is Equity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Why Banking Regulation Is Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Regulation Full Disclosure (Reg FD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Technological Disruptions to Banking and Financial Markets . . . . . . . . . 113
Cryptocurrencies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Central Bank-Issued Digital Currency (CBDC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Global Financial Contagion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Listing a Business Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
8 Negotiating Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Who Is Involved in Negotiations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Steps in Intercultural Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Communication Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Survival Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Long-Term Versus Short-Term Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Negotiation Tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Forms of Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
x Contents

Team Building and Decision-Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Approaches to Conflict and Conflict Management Strategies . . . . . . . . . . 136
Approaches to Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Developing Intercultural Negotiation Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Online Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
9 International Organizational Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
International Organizational Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Multinational Corporations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
How a Multinational Corporation (MNC) Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Foreign Investment (FDI—Foreign Direct Investment) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Mergers and Acquisitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Joint Ventures (JV) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
International Market Entry Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Potential Export Challenges and Factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Planning to Enter International Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Other Modes of International Market Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Emerging Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Cultural Considerations in Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
People—Expatriates, Host-Country Nationals,
Third-Country Nationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
International Business Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Incoterms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
10 Bringing It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Together, From Aways© . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Core Principles from Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Themes of Christian Social Teachings (Estimated at About
2.4 Billion Followers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
The Five Pillars of Islam and Social Teachings (Estimated
at About 1.9 Billion Followers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Basic Tenets of Hinduism (Estimated at About 1.2 Billion
Followers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Principles of Buddhism (Estimated at About 0.5 Billion
Followers) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Principles of Ubuntu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Cultural Practices Around the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Flowers to a Russian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Gifts to Chinese Classmates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Avoid Salt While Dining in Egypt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Concept of Punctuality in Many States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Contents xi

Table Manners in Norway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

Using Sharp Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Losing a Tooth in Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Avoid Clinking Glasses but Say Cheers in Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Avoid Discussing Business in the Events in Bolivia . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Don’t Try to “Go Dutch” in Turkey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Avoid Using Red Ink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
A Trip to the Sauna in Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Sitting Seat in the Taxi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Greeting a Magpie in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Birthday Greetings in the Netherlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Greeting People in Japan and Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Finger-Pulling Tradition in Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Tradition for Unmarried People in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Face on a Birthday Cake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Wife-Carrying as a Competitive Sport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Durga Puja in Bengal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Lucia Festival of Sweden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Yi Peng in Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Fasching Parade in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Shinbyu in Myanmar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
How Does One Acquire Cultural Sensitivity? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
About the Authors

Dr. Binod Sundararajan, Ph.D. is a Professor of Management at the Rowe

School of Business, Dalhousie University. He received his doctorate from Rens-
selaer Polytechnic Institute, NY in Communication & Rhetoric. He has an M.S.
in Electrical Engineering and B.E. in Electronics & Communication Engineering.
His research interests lie in organizational, professional, and business communica-
tion; computer-mediated communication; CSCW, CSCL, social network analysis,
sensitivity training around EDI, and intercultural and international management
practices. He conducts research in adoption and diffusion of mediated technolo-
gies, use of CMC in such diverse areas as entrepreneurship, justice, teaching,
collaborative work and learning and management education, and historical data
analysis. He has 30 publications (peer-reviewed journals, peer-reviewed book
chapters & conference proceedings), over 60 national and international conference
presentations, several research grants, and has authored a textbook, Lean, Eth-
ical Business Communication. He teaches Business Communication, Corporate
Communication, International & Intercultural Management, Management Skills
Development at the undergraduate level, and Managing People and Sustainable
Leadership at the Graduate M.B.A. level. He has over 10 years of industry experi-
ence and over 13 years of academic experience, as a researcher, teacher, and about
seven years in administrative roles.

Oksana Shkurska, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Rowe School of Business,

Dalhousie University, with a Ph.D. in Linguistics and Master’s in Education. She
has 18-year experience teaching a variety of courses at a university level, including
Business Communication, Intercultural and International Management, Intercul-
tural Communication, and Business Ethics & CSR. Her research interests focus
on overcoming barriers to effective intercultural communication, in particular, the
role of politeness strategies in establishing trust with culturally diverse stakehold-
ers, successful intercultural transition and adaptation, ethical communication, and
negotiation across cultures. In addition to teaching and conducting research, Dr.
Shkurska has industry experience in managing human resources in a multinational
company.

xiii
xiv About the Authors

Shannon Lin , Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the Rowe School

of Business, Dalhousie University. Dr. Lin obtained her Ph.D. from the Queen’s
School of Business at Kingston, Ontario. She has an undergraduate degree in
Commerce and a Master of Science degree in Finance. She is an award-winning
researcher, with current research interests primarily in financial accounting and
corporate finance. Her work has been published in outlets such as the Journal of
Banking and Finance, the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, the Finan-
cial Review, the Global Finance Journal, and the Journal of Economics and Business.
She has taught corporate finance and financial accounting courses at undergradu-
ate and graduate levels. Dr. Lin’s industry experience includes working at Toronto
Hydro Corporation and State Street Corporation in Boston.
List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 PESTLE variants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Fig. 1.2 Competing values framework—Quinn and Rohrbaugh
(1983). https://www.artstrategies.org/2012/12/the-compet
ing-values-framework/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Fig. 1.3 EDC’s trade confidence Index on key markets to export
to—https://www.edc.ca/en/article/trade-confidence-index.
html . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Fig. 1.4 WITI top management organization chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Fig. 2.1 MSCI classification of markets—https://www.msci.com/
our-solutions/indexes/market-classification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Fig. 2.2 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—UN
SDGs (https://sdgs.un.org/goals) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Fig. 2.3 Deal and Kennedy—corporate culture—macho & work
hard/play hard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Fig. 2.4 Deal and Kennedy—corporate culture—bettering
and process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Fig. 2.5 Handy—organizational culture—power and role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Fig. 2.6 Handy—organizational culture—task and person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Fig. 2.7 Durier-Copp, Sundararajan, Makani, and Mechoulan
(2019)—integrating culture with the Ts—team, task,
timeline, and technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Fig. 2.8 Types of diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Fig. 3.1 Oberg’s U-Curve model (Source Based on Oberg [1960]) . . . . . . 40
Fig. 3.2 W-curve adaptation model (Source Based on Oberg
[1960] and Gullahorn and Gullahorn [1963]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Fig. 3.3 Kim’s Stress-Adaptation-Growth Theory (Source Based
on Kim [2001]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Fig. 3.4 Bennett’s developmental model of cultural sensitivity
(DMIS) (Source Based on Bennet [2013]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Fig. 3.5 Berry’s acculturation model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Fig. 3.6 Cultural intelligence components (Source Based
on Thomas [2006]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Fig. 3.7 The development of CQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

xv
xvi List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Consequences of corruption (Comte et al., 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Fig. 4.2 Donaldson’s (1992) moral languages (Source Cullen
and Parboteeah [2014]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Fig. 4.3 Carroll’s pyramid of CSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Fig. 5.1 The ConnecT framework (Durier-Copp et al., 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Fig. 5.2 ConnecT framework—dealing with complexities
and contexts and the Ts (Durier-Copp et al., 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Fig. 5.3 ConnecT framework—integrating culture with the Ts
(Durier-Copp et al., 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Fig. 5.4 ConnecT Framework—managing conflict and the Ts
(Durier-Copp et al., 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Fig. 5.5 ConnecT Framework—effective communication
with the Ts (Durier-Copp et al., 2019) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Fig. 8.1 Engagement in negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Fig. 8.2 Steps in intercultural negotiations (Based on Cullen &
Parboteeah [2014]) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Fig. 8.3 Factors that influence intercultural negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Fig. 8.4 Differences between high-context and low-context
cultures based on Hall (1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Fig. 8.5 Eye contact across cultures (Samovar et al., 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Fig. 8.6 Touching across cultures (Axtell, 1998 as cited
in Suderman, 2008) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Fig. 8.7 Nonverbal communication and the use of “no”
in Japanese, American, and Brazilian cultures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Fig. 8.8 Long-term versus short-term orientation cultures
(Hofstede, 1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Fig. 8.9 Commonly used ploys during negotiation (Cullen &
Parboteeah, 2014) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Fig. 8.10 Differences in forms of agreement across cultures
(Hall, 1976) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Fig. 8.11 High-power distance versus low-power distance societies
(Hofstede, 1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Fig. 8.12 Approaches to conflict (Samovar et al., 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Fig. 8.13 Differences in Conflict Management Strategies
(Ting-Toomey & Kurogi, 1998) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Fig. 8.14 Preferences in conflict management strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Fig. 8.15 Monochronic versus polychronic cultures (Hall, 1976) . . . . . . . . . 139
List of Tables

Table 5.1 Managing individual and corporate identities on social

networking sites (Sundararajan & Macdonald, 2016) . . . . . . . . . . 72
Table 5.2 Managing individual and corporate identities
on professional networking sites (Sundararajan &
Macdonald, 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Table 9.1 Expatriates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Table 9.2 Host-country nationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Table 9.3 Third-country nationals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

xvii
Introduction
1

The Introduction section will lay out broadly, not only the scope of the textbook,
but also provide instances of the complexities and uncertainties that can develop
when people do business across borders and across cultures. For example, what
can businesses do when there is a potential for a global pandemic to which gov-
ernments do not yet have an organized response? Would technology be able to
come to the rescue? Possibly, at the least for meetings across time zones. How-
ever, what about supply chain-related issues? Movement of goods across borders
can be affected, resulting in shortages in goods or other equipment and resources
to make goods. If the movement of people is affected, even for a few months, the
tourism industry, a lifeline for many smaller countries with little else to produce
or offer to the world, can be seriously affected. Financial markets are very sensi-
tive to global events, political events, and force majeure (acts of God) are part of
all international contracts for trade. The trickle-down effect of even a few months
of downturn in businesses can be devastating for many small and medium-sized
(SME) businesses.
People generally want a peaceful and predictable life. But local and global
events often tend to make people nervous and very quickly they revert to type, i.e.
protective of the local and shunning of the global. Backlash occurs when domi-
nant cultures, usually ignorant, misinformed, or misled, start openly antagonizing
minority populations, often ascribing blame for their country’s misfortunes (slow-
ing down of global trade affects imports and exports alike) on the presence of the
minorities amidst them. In one fell swoop, all the good work done to integrate
newcomers to countries will be wasted and people must start all over again.
Moving beyond just posing these questions, the introduction will aim to pre-
pare the students, specifically, to understand cross-cultural nuances beyond just the
usual discussions of high vs. low contexts, power distance, uncertainty avoidance,
and such dimensions of cross-cultural interactions. These cultural dimensions,
introduced in this Chapter, but treated more thoroughly in Chapter 3, will be

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 1

B. Sundararajan et al., Cross-Cultural Practices in Business and Finance,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06440-1_1
2 1 Introduction

woven across the textbook and will form the background for presenting and dis-
cussing chapter concepts. Broadly, the textbook will also aim to equip students
and readers with very useful and practical information that will allow them to use
this knowledge and build towards proactive behaviors when doing business across
cultures.
Each chapter will discuss broadly major cultural aspects of business practices
in the different regions around the world but provide specific examples and sce-
narios involving different types of businesses in specific countries and specifically
treat the aspect of accounting and international finance and banking practices in
Chapters 6 (Accounting Practices) and 7 (Banking and Financial Markets around
the globe). It would be a steep challenge to discuss every country in the world,
but there would be sufficient information provided to allow students to begin ask-
ing the right questions when faced with the opportunity to work with people from
other cultures, be it in their home countries or in a host country halfway around
the world. Using both theories to provide context and allowing for current research
in the topics to inform the students, and with real examples from several cross-
cultural business operations, the content in each chapter will lead and scaffold
students towards a better understanding of the need for such an approach and help
create a mindset that takes into account, adaptability, awareness of complexities,
uncertainties, and an openness and eagerness to learn about the different cultures
and making working globally and locally, a richer experience.
In this book we will explore and lay out business, financial, cultural, and media
use practices across different countries and cultures. Similar ideas have been
made available to the academic and practitioner communities via textbooks on
International and Intercultural Communication & Management, Global Business
Practices, and online articles on how to do something or how not to do some-
thing when interacting with people across cultures, particularly in the context of
a business meeting or collaboration. These books make an excellent case for the
ideas professed, using established and not so well-established theories about high-
context and low-context cultures, collectivist and individualist cultures, cultural
norms, practices, and expectations. However, while we will discuss these aspects
and frameworks in the earlier chapters, our purpose in writing this book is to
provide very practical and situational examples involving countries and regions
around the world that will serve as a starting point for business professionals,
academics, and students (on exchange, new job opportunities etc.) to learn about
the cultural and business practices of people from different backgrounds, ethnici-
ties, diversities, educational levels, and social strata and hierarchies. Towards this
effort, we will integrate the discussion of chapter concepts within the context of
these cultural frameworks. We will include discussions on how academics can be
supportive and encouraging of the international students in their classrooms and
how practitioners can help their international recruits/employees (in house or as
part of their global teams) feel that they belong to the team and the organization.
As we write these chapters, the world entered the second year of being gripped
by the pandemic, COVID-19 variants are causing several waves of infection surges,
the world’s supply chains have been disrupted, and global and national businesses
PESTLE (STEEPLE, PESTEL, PESTLIED, SLEPT, LONGPESTLE) 3

and governments are dealing with new realities and new ways of doing things,
particularly, transacting business across countries and continents. While saving the
lives of citizens of every country is the topmost priority of every government on
the planet, these governments also need to ensure that their country’s economic
engines, businesses, continue to operate and survive disruptions and continue to
contribute to national GDP’s (Gross Domestic Product). Additionally, as the book
has neared publication, we have emerged from the pandemic, but the threat of
variants still looms over people and nations, and travel across and between coun-
tries has been plagued by airline fare hikes, increases in the prices of gasoline,
commodities, and goods, coupled with surging inflation and recession in many
countries.
In our treatment of the various aspects of cross-cultural business and financial
practices, we will adopt the following approach:

1. At the broad level, we adopt PESTLE (variously PESTEEL, LESTEEP etc.

which we will shortly elaborate upon).
2. Consider mini cases and follow the progress of a fictitious North American
multinational company (MNC) that has plans to enter several global, devel-
oped, and emerging markets. Where suitable, some of the chapters have mini
scenarios or cases, involving other fictitious events, companies, and people.
These are based on real life events, characters, and multinational organizations.
3. Use fictitious characters, employees of the N. American MNCs, as they navigate
cross-cultural business and financial practices and the lessons they learn.
4. And, have the COVID19 Pandemic as a backdrop to the changing global
dynamics, but also touch upon key global issues like Climate Change, Equity,
Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the
United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), Carbon Trad-
ing/Offset, Cryptocurrencies, use of Blockchain (distributed ledger systems)
in shipping, logistics, and many organizations, the increasing use of Artificial
Intelligence (AI or Machine Learning) in business processes, and many such
future trends and cycles that are interconnected with doing business anywhere
on the planet.

PESTLE (STEEPLE, PESTEL, PESTLIED, SLEPT, LONGPESTLE)

Among the many assessments or analyses of markets, whether they are domestic or
international, the PEST or PESTLE approach has allowed organizations to consider
the broadest possible set of factors to consider when they plan to expand the orga-
nizational footprint into these markets. Figure 1.1 describes some of the variants of
this approach—that consider Political, Economic, Sociological (or Sociocultural),
Technological, Legal, Ethical/Environmental (PESTEL or PESTEEL) factors in a
bid to aid the organization in long-range planning and adapting the business to the
potential new market or environment. These factors play an even more important
4 1 Introduction

Fig. 1.1 PESTLE variants

role when the organization wishes to conduct business in international markets

where business practices intertwine with the cultural norms of that country.
Strategists have also regularly conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of their organizations to assess how the orga-
nization is positioned with respect to the market, the industry in which it operates,
the competitors, and other factors. Typically, the Strengths and Weaknesses are
internal to the organizations, while Opportunities and Threats are external to the
organization. Both these approaches (SWOT and PESTLE) have different areas of
focus. While the PESTLE approach looks at factors that might influence or impact
a business decision, a market entry option, or even whether to start a new business,
the SWOT typically is used to look at factors that influence or impact a specific
business, product line, or product level. Since they complement each other, they
are often used together to allow a business to consider a broad range of factors as
they plan to expand their footprint.
The Corporate Finance Institute (corporatefinanceinstitute.com) defines PES-
TEL as a strategic framework used to evaluate the external environment of a
business by breaking down the opportunities and risks into Political, Economic,
Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal factors. PESTEL Analysis can
be an effective framework to use in Corporate Strategy Planning and for identi-
fying the pros and cons of a Business Strategy. The PESTEL framework is an
extension of the PEST strategic framework, one that includes additional assess-
ment of the Environmental and Legal factors that can impact a business. We will
now explore each of the components of the PESTEL.
 5

Political Factors

When considering doing business in an international setting, some of the early

inputs required by organizations will be around the geopolitical environments
between the home country (where the business is currently situated) and the des-
tination country (our countries). The answers to the following sets of questions
will then provide the necessary inputs for the business decision to expand to the
desired international market.

. When is the country’s next local, state, or national election? How could this
change government or regional policy?
. Who are the most likely contenders for power? What are their views on business
policy, and on other policies that affect your organization?
. Depending on the country, how well developed are property rights and the rule
of law, and how widespread are corruption and organized crime? How are these
situations likely to change, and how is this likely to affect you?
. Could any pending legislation or taxation changes affect your business, either
positively or negatively?
. How will business regulation, along with any planned changes to it, affect your
business? And is there a trend towards regulation or deregulation?
. How does government approach corporate policy, corporate social responsi-
bility, environmental issues, and customer protection legislation? What impact
does this have, and is it likely to change?
. What is the likely timescale of proposed legislative changes?
. Are there any other political factors that are likely to change?

Economic Factors

Economic Factors consider the various aspects of the economy, and how the out-
look on each area could impact your business. These economic indicators are
usually measured and reported by Central Banks and other Government Agencies.

. How stable is the current economy? Is it growing, stagnating, or declining?

. What is the unemployment rate? Will it be easy to build a skilled workforce?
Or will it be expensive to hire skilled labor?
. Are there any other economic factors that you should consider?
. Are key exchange rates stable, or do they tend to vary significantly?
. Do consumers and businesses have easy access to credit? If not, how will this
affect your organization?
. Are customers’ levels of disposable income rising or falling? How is this likely
to change in the next few years?
. How is globalization affecting the economic environment?
6 1 Introduction

Sociocultural Factors

Are concerned with the cultural and demographic trends of society. Social and
cultural norms and pressures are key to determining consumer behavior, i.e. what
do people in that country prefer, how do they prefer things, what sociocultural
practices determine buying and adopting behaviors for products produced in other
countries, etc.

. What is the population’s growth rate and age profile? How is this likely to
change?
. Are generational shifts in attitude likely to affect what you’re doing?
. What are your society’s levels of health, education, and social mobility? How
are these changing, and what impact does this have?
. What employment patterns, job market trends, and attitudes toward work can
you observe? Are these different for different age groups?
. What social attitudes and social taboos could affect your business? Have there
been recent sociocultural changes that might affect this?
. How do religious beliefs and lifestyle choices affect the population?
. Are any other sociocultural factors likely to drive change for your business?

The Competing Values Framework—1983 was created by R.E. Quinn and

J. Rohrbaugh, from their research into organizational culture and leadership
(Fig. 1.2).

. The CVF was created to help an organization understand its culture, and to
determine what makes it truly effective.
. The model is based on the finding that most organizations can be described
using two dimensions, represented by a horizontal and vertical axis each
running between opposite or “competing” values.
. In practice, this means that even the most transformational and innovative
companies have somewhat predictable patterns.
. What’s great about the CVF is that it helps organizations to locate their start-
ing point, and to predict what tensions and trade-offs they can expect when
implementing change.

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

In 2001, Geert Hofstede proposed one of the most comprehensive studies on how
values in the workplace are influenced by culture. While revisions of this approach
are ongoing, it is important to understand that any measure of values is a snapshot
Sociocultural Factors 7

Fig. 1.2 Competing values framework—Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983). https://www.artstrategies.

org/2012/12/the-competing-values-framework/

in time and constantly evolves. Hofstede defines culture as “the collective program-
ming of the mind distinguishing the members of one group or category of people
from others” and proposed a six-dimension model, with a caveat that all individual
members of a society are unique and so the country scales are only meaningful
for comparison purposes and as a first step towards a broad understanding of the
major cultural aspects of a country. The second caveat is that even if a certain
country’s characteristics can be assessed on a broad scale, there are likely to be
many within-country differences in regions, dialects, ways of doing things, and
behavior. We provide this here as a brief introduction and the cultural aspects are
treated more thoroughly in Chapter 3. Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions are:

. Power distance—the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions

and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed
unequally
. Individualism—the degree of interdependence a society maintains among its
members
. Masculinity—The fundamental issue here is what motivates people, wanting to
be the best (Masculine) or liking what you do (Feminine)
. Uncertainty Avoidance—The extent to which the members of a culture feel
threatened by ambiguous or unknown situations and have created beliefs and
institutions that try to avoid these
8 1 Introduction

. Long Term Orientation—Describes how every society has to maintain some

links with its own past while dealing with the challenges of the present and
future
. Indulgence—The extent to which people try to control their desires and
impulses.

The website Hofstede-Insights (https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/com

pare-countries/) allows as to perform broad, country level comparisons, again as
an initial step towards gaining a much deeper understanding of the various aspects
of that country. One can also view these dimensions in comparison to their most
likely opposites.

. Power Distance Index (high versus low).

. Individualism Versus Collectivism.
. Masculinity Versus Femininity.
. Uncertainty Avoidance Index (high versus low).
. Long- Versus Short-Term Orientation.
. Indulgence Versus Restraint.
– Countries with a high IVR score allow or encourage relatively free gratifica-
tion of people’s own drives and emotions, such as enjoying life and having
fun.
– In a society with a low IVR score, there is more emphasis on suppressing
gratification and more regulation of people’s conduct and behavior, and there
are stricter social norms
We will discuss these aspects of cultural and cultural intelligence in the next
chapter.

Technological Factors

Technological factors are linked to innovation in the industry, as well as innovation

in the overall economy. Not being up to date to the latest trends of a particular
industry can be extremely harmful to operations. Technological factors include the
following:

. Research and Development Activity

. Automation
. Technological Incentives
. The Rate of change in technology
Environmental Factors 9

Legal Factors

There is often uncertainty regarding the difference between political and legal
factors in the context of a PESTEL analysis. Legal factors pertain to any legal
forces that define what a business can or cannot do. Political factors involve the
relationship between business and the government. Political and legal factors can
intersect when governmental bodies introduce legislature and policies that affect
how businesses operate.

. Consumer law.
. Employment law.
. Discrimination law.
. Fraud law.
. Copyright law.
. Pyramid scheme legality.
. Health and Safety law.
. Import/Export law.

Environmental Factors

Environmental factors concern the ecological impacts on business. As weather

extremes become more common, businesses need to plan how to adapt to
these changes. Additionally, there is increasing importance for businesses to be
environmentally friendly with their operations, as evidenced by the rise of Corpo-
rate Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Examples of CSR initiatives
include carbon footprint reduction efforts and transitions into renewable material
and energy sources.

. Environmental Policies. Environmental policies are considered the major exter-

nal factor that can impact the strategy of a business. …
. Climate Change. …
. Green Agenda. …
. Pollution. …
. Availability of natural resources. …
. Recycling. …
. Waste Disposal.

Sustainable Action for Org Initiative—Change, Sustainability, etc.—Depending on

the stakeholder.

. Internal stakeholders—evidence-based case for change, persuasive communica-

tion, empathetic communication, consistent communication, small wins
. External stakeholders
10 1 Introduction

– Supply Chain—more power—so a different strategy—context cues, again

depending on power of the supplier
– Partners—equal footing/power—so a different strategy—collaboration
– Competitors—important depending on where the primary org is situated in
the competitive landscape—industry leader, no ranking, but aspirational
– Government—building partnerships, urging change, limiting bureaucracy,
ensuring regulations are doing what they are supposed to do vs. strangling
innovation, advocacy
– NGOs—strategic alliances, lead-follow-lead, partnerships and exchanges,
advocacy.
This broad overview of the PESTEL allows a business to consider as many fac-
tors as possible when they contemplate growing their businesses into international
markets. International markets are typically classified as mature markets, emerg-
ing markets, and transitioning markets (no longer emerging, but must become a
fully mature market). They are also classified as Frontier, Emerging, and Devel-
oped (MSCI Market Classification Framework—www.msci.com). Peter G. Hall,
Vice President and Chief Economist at Export Development Canada (EDC), in his
last commentary of the previous decade (December 19, 2019—https://www.edc.ca/
en/weekly-commentary/surprise-of-the-decade.html), indicates that doing business
in international markets (foreign operations) is a great way strengthen domestic
employment and operations, provides opportunities for domestic companies to be
more competitive, increase both profits and market share, and allows for prod-
uct and business diversification leading the way for strategic growth. Of course,
in retrospect, no one expected the pandemic and the effects it has had on global
economies and EDC’s Trade Confidence Index (TCI—https://www.edc.ca/en/art
icle/trade-confidence-index.html#) a biannual index arrived at by surveying over
900 Canadian companies, “showcases the concerns and expectations of Canadian
exporters for the future and their evolving international strategies”. From a Cana-
dian perspective, the TCI provides information on the key markets for businesses
planning to start export operations and Fig. 1.3 provides this information.
When considering international markets from a North American perspective,
Canada, Mexico, and the United States are key trading partners of one another,
with the NAFTA—North American Free Trade Agreement (that came into effect
on January 1, 1994) becoming the USMCA (that came into effect on July 1,
2020). From Fig. 1.3, we can see that the US, Canada, Mexico, the UK, Aus-
tralia, Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Japan can all be classified as
developed markets based on economic development, size and liquidity criteria, and
market accessibility criteria, which looks at openness to foreign ownership, ease
of capital inflows and outflows, efficiency of the operational framework, availabil-
ity of investment instrument, and stability of the institutional framework. Brazil
and India have long been considered emerging markets but have steadily also been
transitioning to mature or developed markets. While the different classifications of
international markets exist, companies can always make decisions around which
markets to enter or expand into, based on their product or service offerings and
Environmental Factors 11

Fig. 1.3 EDC’s trade confidence Index on key markets to export to—https://www.edc.ca/en/art
icle/trade-confidence-index.html

other growth strategies that best suit the company. We now look at a fictitious
N. American company with existing business operations in the US, Canada, and
Mexico (so they can be considered a multi-national company or MNC) and now
looking to expand into other international markets.
In the next section, we introduce one of the fictitious multinational companies
that we will follow in some of the subsequent chapters. This company has been
created for the purpose of this book and allows us to see and play out various
scenarios that MNCs and its organizational members are likely to face as they
12 1 Introduction

consider entry into various global markets. Coupled with the discussion earlier of
the Trade Confidence Index (TCI) that serves to guide students in their understand-
ing of global markets and international business practices and decisions that need
to be taken when faced with PESTEEL-related challenges.

Waterbody Innovations and Technologies Inc. (WITI)

Waterbody Innovations and Technologies Inc. (WITI), is an ocean technology com-

pany that designs, builds, manufactures, and distributes its cutting-edge software
and hardware marine products to three main markets in the United States, Canada,
and Mexico. Based in Ocean City in Middle Coastal State, WITI was founded in
2012. Stanley Bhargav, Stella Liang, Olga Shevchenko, and Farhad Nillson, four
friends and collegemates, decided to combine their various backgrounds, interest
in creating sustainable technology solutions, love of the ocean and marine life,
and many collective decades of experiences in international markets and launched
the start up. After nearly two years of hard work, perseverance, and patience, they
were able to find funding for their venture and ten years later, they were the proud
Founding Partners of a company that had over 75 employees and a revenue of
around $35 million. While each of the four founding partners had different back-
grounds and international experiences, they were clear that having the headquarters
in the United States would serve them well and with NAFTA (which later became
the USMCA), the company, if it became successful, will be well positioned to do
business in all three countries, US, Canada, and Mexico.
All four were focused on creating sustainable products and business operations
and believed in the quadruple bottom line of society, economy, environment, and
culture and increasingly towards another extension to the quintuple bottom line
that focuses on sociocultural aspects, environment, economy, ethics, and equity.
With this core organizational culture in mind, Bhargav, Liang, Shevchenko, and
Nillson built a strong team of senior management (Vice Presidents and Direc-
tors), who in turn were entrusted with leading by example and walking the talk.
WITI was culturally diverse and there was gender parity across the entire organi-
zation, which also ensured that people of all dispositions, orientations, ethnicities,
cultures were welcomed and celebrated. The work culture and environment were
dynamic and, while not devoid of conflict, still afforded everyone to be heard in
the decision-making processes be they strategic or operational. Figure 1.4 provides
the organization chart of the top management team at WITI.
Bhargav, Liang, Shevchenko, and Nillson had been discussing WITI’s strategic
directions and had meetings with the country VPs Jennifer Howe (USA), Latisha
Johnson (Canada), and Pedro Pascales (Mexico) about how the business was doing
in the three countries. Birgitte Sultan (VP International) was also present at these
meetings and had indicated to the Top Management Team (TMT) that it was time
that WITI started looking at other international markets. The idea appealed to
everyone, considering that competition in the three markets that WITI operated
Waterbody Innovations and Technologies Inc. (WITI) 13

Fig. 1.4 WITI top management organization chart

in—USA, Canada, and Mexico, had been steadily increasing and revenue projec-
tions were moderate, and the pandemic had an impact on global shipping and
supply chains, this may be the right time for WITI to look to enter other interna-
tional markets. Birgitte Sultan was to make a presentation at an upcoming meeting
about possible markets that WITI could explore, prior to entering, the geographi-
cal, economic, cultural, and market barriers to entry, and the best options for WITI
in the short, medium, and long term for such strategic global expansion.

End-of-Chapter Assignments and Exercises-Case Scenarios

Your assignment is to be in the shoes of Brigitte Sultan and select three potential
global markets for WITI to enter. Once you have selected the three countries,
you need to go to the Hofstede’s Insights’ website and enter the names of the
countries and compare them with the US/Canada.
Based on the cultural insights you find on the six dimensions, make a short
report recommending the best country to start exploring possible business oper-
ations with. Once you have done the cultural analysis, respond to the following
questions:

1. Why did you choose the country to start business operations with? Remem-
ber, you are Birgitte Sultan.
2. Support your recommendation with a short PESTEL analysis.
14 1 Introduction

3. While actual market entry will probably require more time, make a recom-
mendation to the founding partners on what the initial steps should be? For
this you will need to use your knowledge from the Introduction to Marketing
or other Marketing courses.

References

EDC. Export Development Canada. https://www.edc.ca/en/article/trade-confidence-index.html

Hofstede’s Insights. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/
MSCI. Retrieved from www.msci.com
Quinn, R., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1983). A spatial model of effectiveness criteria: Toward a competing
values approach to organizational analysis. Management Science, 29, 363–377. https://doi.org/
10.1287/mnsc.29.3.363
Political, Economic, and Cultural
Climate of International Business 2

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the key issues that businesses face when
planning to do business with organizations in other countries and conversely, the
issues faced by people in other countries when having to work in multinational cor-
porations, with coworkers from different countries or be part of virtual teams that
consist of people with diverse backgrounds (whether in-country or abroad). These
issues both converge and diverge, depending on who is having a vantage position,
who is in a position of authority in the organization, what levels of autonomy are
given to coworkers, managers, or senior management, and would cultural faux pas
be the end of the business deal or be a key determinant of the survival of the orga-
nization in the foreign country. Many things in the business world are dependent on
the trade-offs that businesses make when negotiating deals, contracts, or business
collaborations or even non-governmental operations (charity and volunteer work).
These trade-offs or Gets-Gives are a part of doing business, and students can learn
whether these trade-offs have a cultural context or a purely business context. What
that means is, would people in a foreign country be offended by a seeming lack
of appreciation of the local cultures and practices by the employees and managers
of the visiting multinational corporation, but look the other way, because doing so
would make the country lose potential tax revenues, employment opportunities for
its citizens, and possible outlets and customers for its local trades and businesses?
Alternatively, would a North American company not do business with, say, a
Caribbean or other country, that has undocumented financial practices, where the
word is the bond? Understanding the contexts where each organization, currently
doing business in different countries or with aspirations to do business in different
countries, determines whether its business objectives of entering new markets is
of priority over the cultural nuances of the foreign market or that the cultural
sensitivity to both its own employees (in-country) and those of the people in the
foreign country are a priority and is part of a mature globalization strategy? This
begets the discussion around national culture (of the host country and the origin
country of the MNC) vs. the organizational culture of the MNC, which will have

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023 15

B. Sundararajan et al., Cross-Cultural Practices in Business and Finance,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06440-1_2
16 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

employees belonging to both the host country and the origin country. Additionally,
we will begin the discussion around cultural sensitivity and diversity training in
organizations, often a reasonable reflection of the communities they exist in. In this
discussion, we will discuss racism, bigoty, gaslighting, micro aggressive behavior
in organizations as they rally to create culturally inclusive environments in the
organization and truly benefit from cross-cultural collaboration.

Learning Objectives—This chapter will

1. Provide descriptions of different types of economies prevalent around the

world.
2. Introduce the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—UNSDGS.
3. Provide an overview of important aspects of organizational culture.
4. Introduce the concept of unconscious biases and describe aspects of diversity
training.
5. Suggest ways for managers to create an organizational culture that is wel-
coming, supportive, embracing, and celebratory of all forms of diversity,
particularly in cross-cultural workplaces.

Perceptions of Business Across Cultures

Business or doing business is the mainstay of most, if not all, economies around
the world. People need essential goods and services and want the non-essential
ones, regardless of where they live and how much they can afford to pay for these
goods and services. While the main functions of governments (local, municipal,
state/provincial, regional, or national) are to provide the infrastructure, roads, util-
ities, security, and regulations for communities to live in, these functions allow
small, medium, and large companies to operate, trade, manufacture, and supply
these goods and services and by doing so, provide employment for the people in
the communities these businesses are located in. These businesses though need
to operate under the umbrella of the laws, statutes, and regulations of the coun-
tries/regions they operate in, including the payment of business or corporate taxes.
When it comes to businesses or other types of organizations, every country needs
these organizations to be able to perform their functions to the best of their abili-
ties and the governments provide the frameworks and guidelines for the effective
operations of these organizations. In this chapter, we will first look at the different
types of economies that have existed and exist currently and what cultural norms
they operate under in their respective nations. Organizational strategies are built
around the need for effective functioning, the culture within the organization, the
cultural in the broader society and they intertwine in practices that can at times
seem puzzling to those viewing from the outside but make perfect sense in the
context of a nation and its cultural norms and organizational practices.
Types of Economies that Have Flourished Across Cultures 17

Types of Economies that Have Flourished Across Cultures

The OECD—Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, states

that it is “an international organization that works to build better policies for bet-
ter lives” (https://www.oecd.org/about/#). It consists of 38 member countries, but
many OECD candidates, key partners, and several regional initiatives around the
world. There are many definitions of economies, but one common understand-
ing of an economy, as defined by Investopedia, is “An economy is the large set of
inter-related production and consumption activities that aid in determining how
scarce resources are allocated. In an economy, the production and consumption
of goods and services are used to fulfill the needs of those living and operating
within it”. How decisions are arrived at by the entities that are engaged in this
production and consumption of scarce resources, determines the type of economy
and while there are several, a few are most prevalent around the world, and we
will look at a few of them. Broadly speaking there are generally three types of
economies—command (also known as State Run or Government Run, Centrally
Planned), traditional (typically found among indigenous communities around the
world—simple exchange or barter-system based), and market (variously known as
capitalism, consumer economy, free or private enterprise, or free market). A mixed
economy can have each of these types operating at various levels with the govern-
ment and individuals (or communities) involved in making economic decisions,
while a transition economy occurs when a country is moving from one type of
economy to another, typically from a command to a market economy. Often the
political system extant in a country determines the types of business organizations
that can be found in that country and the levels of autonomy for these organizations
are regulated by the political system and how much is owned by the government
(public sector) and how much is left in the private sector.
In addition to classifying economies around the world, to facilitate global
trade, many organizations look at these countries as markets of opportuni-
ties. To aid that effort, financial institutions such as Morgan Stanley Capital
Investments (MSCI), an American company headquartered in New York City,
provide knowledge of equity, fixed income, real estate indexes, multi-asset portfo-
lio analysis tools, ESG (Environment, Social, & Governance) and climate change
products (www.msci.com). They operate as MSCI World, MSCI All Country
World Index, and MSCI Emerging Market Indexes. Every year, MSCI releases a
report on the Global Market Accessibility Review and the Annual Market Classi-
fication Review (found at this link—https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/indexes/
market-classification). Figure 2.1 illustrates the currently effective classification of
markets (as of January 2022) and consists of information received and analyzed
on 84 countries around the world.
Some of the key drivers of organizations and companies wishing to do business
in different countries are employment, wages, competitiveness, strategic growth,
and diversification (EDC—Export Development Canada).
18 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

Fig. 2.1 MSCI classification of markets—https://www.msci.com/our-solutions/indexes/market-

classification

. Employment—foreign affiliates strengthen Canadian employment and domes-

tic operations: most firms are hiring more at home because of their foreign
operations.
. Wages—foreign affiliates enhance the ability of Canadian companies to aug-
ment compensation for Canada-based employees: most firms are hiring more
at home because of the increased demand that comes from foreign operations,
and that hiring is increasingly specialized with higher wages.
. Competitiveness—foreign affiliate activity makes Canadian companies
stronger: they have better sales, more customers, more profits, and increased
market share.
. Strategic Growth—the main driver of foreign affiliate activity is strategic rev-
enue growth and improved access to global markets: reducing production costs
is not a prime motivator for Canadian companies when setting up operations
abroad.
. Diversification—foreign affiliates allow Canadian companies to diversify their
client base and business model: Canadian companies are increasingly shifting
their investments towards emerging markets like China, India, and Brazil at a
much greater pace than direct exports.
Types of Economies that Have Flourished Across Cultures 19

While this information is from Export Development Canada, it holds true for most
countries around the world where some or all these drivers are at play, motivating
organizations to expand to markets outside their home countries. To elaborate more
on the various opportunities, it will be good to understand these markets first and
then discussing them in the context of the different types of economies. According
to MSCI, countries are classified as Frontier, Emerging, or Developed based on
the following three criteria:

. Economic Development—sustainability of economic development.

. Size and Liquidity Requirements—number of companies meeting a standard
index criterion.
. Market Accessibility Criteria—includes factors such as openness to foreign
ownership, ease of capital inflows and outflows, efficiency of operational frame-
work, availability of investment instrument, and stability of the institutional
framework.

Another source of data on the various international markets and countries is the
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development—UNCTAD and the statis-
tics they gather and disseminate for free for individuals and organizations to use
as they plan their global market entry strategies (https://unctadstat.unctad.org/EN/
About.html). UNCTAD also releases an SDG Pulse that provides an update on
the evolution of a selection of official SDG indicators and complementary data
and statistics; provide progress reports on the development of new concepts and
methodologies for UNCTAD custodian indicators; and to also showcase, beyond
the perspective of the formal SDG indicators. While we will discuss the SDGs
a little later, to provide context in this section, we will explore it briefly. In the
context of doing business across cultures and understanding cultural and financial
practices around the world, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(UN SDGs—https://sdgs.un.org/goals) are a critical aspect that needs to be under-
stood. Figure 2.2 illustrates the 17 SDGs and the link above provides more detailed
information on each of the goals and what has been achieved so far with these
goals.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is a collection of 17 global
goals to transform our world by 2030 published and adopted by the United Nations
in 2015.

1. No Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere.

2. Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and
promote sustainable agriculture.
3. Good Health and Well-being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for
all at all ages.
4. Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
5. Gender Equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
20 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

Fig. 2.2 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals—UN SDGs (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)

6. Clean Water and Sanitation: Ensure availability and sustainable management

of water and sanitation for all.
7. Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustain-
able, and modern energy for all.
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth: Promote sustained, inclusive, and sus-
tainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work
for all.
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure—Build resilient infrastructure, pro-
mote inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and foster innovation.
10. Reduced Inequalities: Reduce income inequality within and among countries.
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities and human settlements
inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable.
12. Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption
and production patterns.
13. Climate Action: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
by regulating emissions and promoting developments in renewable energy.
14. Life Below Water: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine
resources for sustainable development.
15. Life on Land: Protect, restore, and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and
reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions: Promote peaceful and inclusive soci-
eties for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build
effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels.
17. Partnerships for the Goals: Strengthen the means of implementation and
revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
Types of Economies that Have Flourished Across Cultures 21

When we see how the UN SDGs have been created and how they are crucial for
all markets and all economies for they impact every aspect of humans engaged in
productive work and organization for the betterment of their lives, their societies,
the environments in which they live in, and their nations. With this context, we
now explore the different economies prevalent around the world.

Market Economies

As we presented earlier, a market economy is one in which individuals answer the

economic questions and market forces are allowed to operate; also called capital-
ism, capitalist economy, consumer economy, free enterprise, free market economy,
and private enterprise. While no country is a truly free market economy, in a
general free market economy individuals and companies buy and sell with a rel-
atively little, but enough governmental regulations. We will discuss regulations
subsequently, but at this point it is good to be aware that a certain amount of
regulations are required in order to provide for some level of standardization and
boundaries within which organizations can operate and individuals and companies
can have protection and recourse for legal action.
The World Population Review (www.worldpopulationreview.com) defines a
market economy as, “a system driven by self-interest in which economic deci-
sions (investment, production, and distribution) are guided by the pricing of goods
and services, which are determined by individuals and businesses and which rely
on the forces of supply and demand to determine the prices and the quantities
of goods and services that need to be produced”. They list six characteristics of
market economies:

1. Private property
2. Freedom of choice
3. Motive of self-interest
4. Competition
5. System of markets and prices
6. Limited government.

However, most countries have mixed economies, where some element of the econ-
omy is owned and operated by the government, while many other enterprises
are privately owned by individuals or publicly traded corporations and with the
central government having little interference or interventions with these enter-
prises, other than taxation and possibly providing some benefits in the form of
reduced taxes and broad regulations. Some of the top free market economies
in the world are Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United
States, Ireland, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius (holding the
top ten spots according to the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World
Rankings—https://www.fraserinstitute.org/economic-freedom/).
22 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

State Capitalism

The World Population Review defines capitalism as “an economic ideology in

which the means of production is controlled by private business”. This means
that individual citizens run the economy without the government interfering in
production or pricing. Instead, pricing is set by the free market. This means that
value is based on supply and demand and the relationship between producers and
consumers.
Capitalism is very different from socialism and communism, in which the gov-
ernment maintains tight control of the economy. On the contrary, State Capitalism
is when the government or the State, decides to own and operate businesses (for
profit) or capital accumulation and the means of production and distribution of
resources, goods, and services are nationalized as state-owned businesses. So, it
can be considered as a socialist system that combines a capitalist approach with
state ownership of the economy and acts as a giant corporation. There is a general
agreement that the former Soviet Union and even China and Singapore today have
some form of State-Capitalistic approach, but are closer to being mixed economies,
where private individuals and some corporations also have access to resources and
engage in the production and distribution of goods and services, with some say in
pricing as well.

State Run

If free market or purely capitalistic economies occupy one aspect of the world eco-
nomic spectrum, where there is economic freedom with little interventions from
the State, then State Run economies occupy the other end of that spectrum, where
the State owns and operates all the businesses, uses the labor force towards max-
imizing the production and distribution of goods and services, and any profits are
accrued towards the production and the national economy. Such a system is also
called a command economy or a centrally planned economy. Many totalitarian
states, where the authority for governing rests on one individual (the leader) have
State Run economies, with Cuba, North Korea, and other such countries being
examples. There is little to no economic freedom, the state determines the prices
and wages, there is no competition, and international trade is restricted to those
countries who would trade with them. The culture of such countries, while pre-
cious, is determined by what the State determines will be the cultural norms that
are to be celebrated.

Distributed Economies

Allan Johansson and co-authors Kisch and Mirata (2005), coined the term
“Distributed Economies” as a way of organizing economic activity to spur inno-
vation, particularly among small and medium-sized companies and with a focus
National Culture vs. Organizational Culture 23

on sustainable development and business practices. This concept allows for a net-
worked economy to emerge, enabling companies and organizations in the network
to work more closely near the sources of finance, labor, data, knowledge, technol-
ogy, and local, regional, and national resources. Such an economy also provides
the flexibility to organizations to respond to market needs, change in market forces,
and can drive innovative changes to the business is conducted. Additionally, orga-
nizations can also respond to the changing needs of the society they operate in, pay
heed to cultural and consumer needs and behaviors, as well as the attention needed
to the environment, ever moving towards sustainable production, distribution, and
consumption. Pre-industrial economies operated in this fashion but were probably
more localized. With the rapid onset of the information era, this approach is being
adopted in many countries and certain industries.

National Culture vs. Organizational Culture

National Culture

LibreTexts (2021) states that according to anthropologists, there are generally three
types or levels of culture: international, national, and subculture. They however
caution that such a broad classification can result in, and has resulted in, gener-
alizations and stereotyping of entire groups of people and nations. However, for
the purpose of gaining an understanding, it is always to start at some level and
delve deep into the nuances and variations that any cultural norm can afford. For
example, take the three North American countries Canada, the United States of
America, and Mexico. At the surface level, one would rush to assume that Canada
and the US were mainly English speaking and Mexico was mainly Spanish speak-
ing. At the surface level, for those who would be somewhat aware, these three
are Christian countries and because they are Western countries all three are devel-
oped countries. Again, from the broad view, based on the popular media, movies,
and TV, we would only assume that these countries are mostly inhabited by Cau-
casian origin, with some mix of other subcultures like African American, African
Canadian, and possibly some African Mexican. Based on the same diet of popular
culture, people from other parts of the world could assume that everyone carries
guns in the US, Canadians are mostly polite, and those from Mexico only want to
go to the US.
All of these are generalizations and while they have a semblance of truth, the
actual reality is that each of these three countries is extremely diverse. All three
North American countries have a long history of diverse migrations of people
from different parts of the world. Canada has significant populations of French-
speaking (Francophone) people, settled not only in the Province of Quebec, but in
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, parts of Ontario, and several provinces. In fact, New
Brunswick is the only bi-lingual (French and English) province in Canada, while
Quebec is French or French Quebecois. Also, all three countries have large num-
bers of Indigenous Peoples, variously called Native, First Nations, and by their
24 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

actual First Nation names, like Mi’k Maq, Cree, Anishinaabe, Navajo, Ojibwe,
and several hundred others. These were the original settlers in the North Ameri-
can continent and with treaties signed over centuries have shared their land with
the immigrant white and other settlers who came looking for land and oppor-
tunity to the New World in the 1400s. Mexico has for long been the home of
Aztec, Toltec, Olmec, Maya, and Zapotec civilizations, during the pre-colonial era.
Today, they are home to several indigenous groups, chief among them being, Náhu-
atl (22.7% of indigenous language speakers), Maya (13.5%), Zapoteco (7.6%),
Mixteco (7.3%) Otomí (5.3%), Tzeltal (5.3%), Tztotzil (4.3%), Totonaca (3.9%),
Mazateco (3.2%) and Chol (2.4%). (3). The larger languages include several very
distinct variants (https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/). When you over-
lay the Spanish culture, post colonization, Mexico has evolved into a very rich and
diverse country where many long-held cultural and sub-cultural traditions are kept
alive, along with the dominant Catholic religion and a rich and vibrant country
emerged and continues to evolve.
The United States too, has benefited by centuries of migration from Europe, and
while the early years were not kind to the indigenous peoples of the continental
US, particularly because of wars and battles between competing colonial powers
like England, France, Spain, the Dutch, Germany, and others, after independence
from England, the US began in earnest setting up a democratic republic. That the
early US economy was built on the backs of enslaved Africans and land taken
away from indigenous peoples must not be forgotten. That the early European
settlers, mainly from the above-mentioned countries, did not treat new migrants
from Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and other parts of Europe well, must also not be
forgotten. That the later Americans, building the infrastructure of a vast geograph-
ical land, exploited Chinese and Japanese workers, must not be forgotten. Waves
of immigrants have come to North America for centuries and slowly, but surely,
the immigrants become part of the National Culture and embellish their beliefs,
norms, and values on the national psyche. These are always enriching, but can be
polarizing and every so often, a nation has to look within itself to realize what it is,
what culture and beliefs it espouses and lives, and what it needs to do to continue
to evolve. The key piece of such a reflection is not to forget what happened and
erase the memory of such events, but to create narratives that retain all aspects
so future generations can know and learn. Then any polarization can be slowly
resolved. The polarization is also part of the renewal and evolution of the national
culture as it seeks to become something more meaningful to the people that inhabit
that nation and therein is the pride or national pride that a culture gives to a citi-
zen. These aspects of national culture that involve rituals, practices, and ways of
doing things, the clothing that is worn on special occasions, seeks to exemplify
not only the dominant cultural aspects of that nation, but all subcultures get to
partake at various levels. While the Hofstede’s Insights site can give a great deal
of information about a national culture, it takes a long time for anyone interested
in learning about different cultures to properly understand them and then use this
knowledge when interacting across cultures whether to do business or just learning
about them.
 25

Organizational Culture

Organizational culture has generally been described in the following ways, one
less formal than the other.

. “the way we do things around here”

. “It is manifested in the rituals of an organization, in its people, dress, habits,
working times and styles, attitudes, office layout, almost every intangible aspect
of its being. It is also perpetuated by stories, office gossip, heroes and hero-
ines, décor, social life, and the language that various parts of the organization
regularly use at work”.

These specifically play out in different ways within the organization and while not
every member of an organization will exhibit these traits, many are quite common.
Deal and Kennedy (1982) describe four types of organizational or corporate culture
and these are summarized in Figs. 2.3 and 2.4.
Charles Handy (1981) on the other hand, adapting the work of others, typi-
fies organizational cultures into four categories, Power, Role, Task, and Process,
resembling Deal and Kennedy’s in some way, and focusing on traits behaviors,
habits, etc. involving these aspects of an organization (Figs. 2.5 and 2.6).

Fig. 2.3 Deal and Kennedy—corporate culture—macho & work hard/play hard
26 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

Fig. 2.4 Deal and Kennedy—corporate culture—bettering and process

Fig. 2.5 Handy—organizational culture—power and role

Does Culture Override Business Strategy?

It has been generally accepted that the key aspects of creating and maintaining a
positive org culture involve the following in some way or degree, with a focus on
what managers and leaders need to do.
 27

Fig. 2.6 Handy—organizational culture—task and person

. Communication is key—internal communication by leaders.

. Stay on message, be consistent.
. Carry employees with you.
. All managers are empowered to deliver powerful/persuasive messages—may
not always be welcome.
. Take culture into account to be more effective.
. Lead by example.
. Respect established processes/policy, change with consensus where and when
possible.
. Defining and using corporate culture, while predominantly an internal discipline
designed to assist strong and relevant communication, can also be used exter-
nally to create, and sustain a corporate image without which an organization
might have a negligible chance of success (Fig. 2.7).

Durier-Copp et al. (2019) in their ConnecT framework, describe steps to help

leaders, particularly those that lead virtual teams, how to integrate culture when
leveraging Technology to empower Teams, to focus on the Tasks, and accomplish
these in the stated Timelines. One key element in this process is to always look
for a “culture add” from diverse team members, as opposed to a “culture fit”. We
will discuss these a bit more when we discuss biases in the next section.
28 2 Political, Economic, and Cultural Climate of International Business

Fig. 2.7 Durier-Copp, Sundararajan, Makani, and Mechoulan (2019)—integrating culture with
the Ts—team, task, timeline, and technology

Cultural Sensitivity, Diversity Training, and Truly Benefiting

from a Culturally Diverse Workforce

Understanding the national culture and subculture of any country forms the basis of
understanding how people from these cultures work together, navigating their dif-
ferences, and working on the commonalities as they achieve organizational goals.
This is particularly important for the following reasons.

. Changing demographics in society and the workplace

. Need to increase population in response to an aging citizenry.
. Increased multiculturalism within existing citizenry.
. Societal attitude changes not keeping pace with the rate of diversity change.
. This creates a gap for the societal unit under analysis, in terms of gaining the
desired level of productivity and of reaping the economic benefits attributed to
having diverse workforces.
. Racial diversity is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers,
greater market share, and greater relative profits.
. Gender diversity is associated with increased sales revenue, more customers,
and greater relative profits. Herring (2009).

However, what we also as being prevalent in organizations is the marginalization

and social exclusion of people who exhibit differences and they end up being
harassed, directly or indirectly through reduced opportunities for growth and pro-
motion, conflicting with coworkers, being the target of micro aggressions and
Cultural Sensitivity, Diversity Training, and Truly Benefiting from a Culturally … 29

incivility in the workplace, undergo distress and as a result affecting their per-
formance, and being the receivers of unkind language. Many organizations have
recognized this and have begun putting in place several orientation and cultural
sensitivity training opportunities to allow employees and leaders to better under-
stand one another, one another’s cultural differences, and improve organizational
effectiveness. This holds true particularly for organizations that conduct business in
different countries and have employees of different backgrounds working together.
Many of these training sessions often start with an awareness of biases, con-
scious, unconscious, and even subconscious biases. We discuss a few here and
point to a few ways in how employees, managers, and leaders can have better
hiring, retention, and cultural practices.

Unconscious Biases

Unconscious biases, also known as implicit biases, are the underlying attitudes
and stereotypes that people unconsciously attribute to another person or group of
people that affect how they understand and engage with a person or group. We
will go over some of the more common biases we see at the workplace.

Affinity Bias

. Affinity bias, also known as similarity bias, is the tendency of people must con-
nect with others who share similar interests, experiences, and backgrounds. It
is also called homophily or “birds of a feather, flock together”.
. Culture fit is a common euphemism for affinity bias. Similarities are good but
can result in homogeneity in the group and in the long term resist any changes.
. To avoid affinity bias, one must actively note the similarities, but also look for
differentiators that can be a “culture add” instead of a “culture fit”.

Confirmation Bias

. Confirmation bias is the inclination to draw conclusions about a situation or

person based on your personal desires, beliefs, and prejudices rather than on
unbiased merit.
. Happens early on and results in opinions being formed about a person, based
on inconsequential attributes like names, ethnicity, where they went to school,
etc. and can determine the questions, the answers to which, confirm the initial
bias.
. To avoid this, it is good to ask standard questions, neutral even, and allow the
person a fair chance to state their case.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Amid all the multiplicity of special dainties, appreciated by different
peoples, the prejudices of the stomach are, perhaps, more
unconquerable than any other that tyrannize over the human mind. It
is almost impossible to get people to adventure, or experimentalize
upon a new kind of food. There is a great want of courage and
enterprise on this head among Englishmen. John Bull is resolved to
eat, drink, and do only what he has been accustomed to. He wants
none of your foreign kickshaws, frogs, and snails in fricassées, or
sea slug, or bird’s nest soup, or horse flesh steak. It is true he has
gradually adventured upon, and now appreciates, a few select
foreign delicacies. Real lively turtle and caviar, reindeer tongue, an
imitation Indian curry, and such like, have become luxuries; and,
probably, under the mysterious manipulations of Gunter, Soyer, and
other distinguished chefs de cuisine, some other foreign delicacies
have found, or may yet find, their way upon English tables.
They will probably displace ere long the four standard Scotch dishes,
a haggis, a sheep’s head, tripe, and black puddings, or the common
dishes of the Devonshire peasant and Cornish fisherman, parsley
and squab pies, in which fish, apples, onions, and pork are
incongruously blended.
Queen Elizabeth and her ladies breakfasted on meat, bread, and
strong ale. Our modern ladies take tea or coffee, and thin slices of
toast or bread. The Esquimaux drink train oil, and the Cossacks
koumis, an ardent spirit made from mares’ milk. The inhabitants of
France and Germany eat much more largely than we do of vegetable
diet; and drink, at all times of the day, their acid wines. In Devonshire
and Herefordshire, cyder is the common beverage, and in the
Highlands of Scotland, oatmeal porridge is, in a great measure, the
food, and whiskey the drink of the inhabitants. The Irish peasant
lives, or used to do, chiefly on potatoes, and most of the Hindoos of
the maritime provinces on rice.
Yet all this variety, and much more, is digested, yields nutriment, and
promotes growth; affording undeniable evidence that man is really
omnivorous, that he can be supported by great varieties of food.
A recent writer speaking of human diet says, ‘it is a remarkable
circumstance, that man alone is provided with a case of instruments
adapted to the mastication of all substances,—teeth to cut, and
pierce, and champ, and grind; a gastric solvent too, capable of
contending with any thing and every thing, raw substances and
cooked, ripe and rotten,—nothing comes amiss to him.’
If animals could speak, as Æsop and other fabulists make them
seem to do, they would declare man to be the most voracious animal
in existence. There is scarcely any living thing that flies in the air,
swims in the sea, or moves on the land, that is not made to minister
to his appetite in some region or other.
Other creatures are, generally, restricted to one sort of provender at
most. They are carnivorous or graminivorous, piscivorous, or
something ivorous; but man is the universal eater. He pounces with
the tiger upon the kid, with the hawk upon the dove, with the
cormorant upon the herring, and with the small bird upon the insect
and grub. He goes halves with the bee in the honey cell, but turns
upon his partner and cheats him out of his share of the produce. He
grubs up the root with the sow, devours the fruit with the earwig, and
demolishes the leaves with the caterpillar; for all these several parts
of different vegetables furnish him with food.
Life itself will not hinder his appetite, nor decay nauseate his palate;
for he will as soon devour a lively young oyster as demolish the
fungous produce of a humid field. This propensity is, indeed, easily
abused. Viands of such incongruous nature and heterogeneous
substance, are sometimes collected, as to make an outrageous
amalgamation, so that an alderman at a city feast might make one
shudder; but this is too curious an investigation, it is the abuse of
abundance too, and we know that abuse is the origin of all evil. The
fact should lead us to another point of appreciation of goodness and
beneficence. The adaptation of external nature to man has often
been insisted on; the adaptation of man to all circumstances, states,
and conditions, is carrying out the idea. The inferior animals are tied
down, even by the narrowness of their animal necessities, to a small
range of existence; but man can seldom be placed in any
circumstance in which his universal appetite cannot be appeased.
From the naked savage snatching a berry from the thorn, to the well-
clad, highly civilized denizen of the court, surrounded by every
comfort, every luxury; from the tired traveller, who opens his wallet
and produces his oaten cake beside the welling lymph which is to
slake his thirst, to the pursy justice, ‘in fair round belly with capon
lined,’ who spreads the damask napkin on his knees, tucks his toes
under the table, and revels in calapash and calapee,—what an
infinite diversity of circumstances!
Man, with all his natural and artificial necessities, all his social and
domestic dependencies,—more dependent, indeed, upon his fellows
than the fowls of the air, from the grand exuberance of nature, and
his remarkable adaptation to it in the point alluded to, finds
subsistence under circumstances in which other animals might
starve.
Perhaps we might properly urge the advice of a recent writer.
—‘Make use of every material possible for food, remembering that
there are chemical affinities and properties by which nutriment may
be extracted from almost every organic substance, the greatest art
being in proper cooking. Make soup of every kind of flesh, fish, and
leguminosæ.—Every thing adds to its strength and flavour.’
Man eats to satisfy his hunger, and to supply warmth to the body; but
the lover of good things, who finds a pleasure in eating, may also be
told that there is a beautiful structure of nerve work spread out on the
tongue, which carries upwards to the brain messages from the nice
things in the mouth.
Moderation in food is, however, one of the great essentials to health.
Sydney Smith, in a letter to Lord Murray, tells him that, having
ascertained the weight of food that he could live upon, so as to
preserve health and strength, and what he had lived upon, he found
that between ten and seventy years of age, he had eaten and drunk
forty-four one-horse wagon loads of meat and drink more than would
have preserved him in life and health, and that the value of this mass
of nourishment was about £7,000.
Sir John Ross tells us that an Esquimaux will eat twenty pounds of
flesh and oil daily. But the most marvellous account of gormandizing
powers is that published by Captain Cochrane, who in his Narrative
of a Pedestrian Journey through Russia and Siberian Tartary, says,
that the Russian Admiral, Saritcheff, was told that one of the Yakuti
consumed in twenty-four hours, ‘the hind quarter of a large ox,
twenty pounds of fat, and a proportionate quantity of melted butter
for his drink.’ The Admiral, to test the truth of the statement, gave
him ‘a thick porridge of rice, boiled down with three pounds of butter,
weighing together twenty-eight pounds; and although the glutton had
already breakfasted, yet did he sit down to it with great eagerness,
and consumed the whole without stirring from the spot; and, except
that his stomach betrayed more than ordinary fulness, he showed no
sign of inconvenience or injury!’ The traveller I have just quoted also
states, that he has repeatedly seen a Yakut, or Tongouse, devour
forty pounds of meat a day; and he adds, ‘I have seen three of these
gluttons consume a reindeer at one meal.’
It has been well remarked by Dr. Dieffenbach, in the Transactions of
the Ethnological Society, that the labours of modern chemistry have
thrown a new and most interesting light on the food of the various
races of men, or inhabitants of parts of the globe which are widely
different from each other in their geographical and climatological
relations. The substances which serve as food, or the quantity which
is taken, appear to the superficial observer often of a most
extraordinary nature, because they are apparently so heterogeneous
from what we are accustomed to; so that travellers relating such
facts, do not withhold their astonishment or reprobation.
But it has been demonstrated, that the general use of certain
articles, for instance, tea and coffee, betel-nut, tobacco, and wine,
depends upon the presence in those substances of elements which
are often identical, and which are necessary to the maintenance of
the animal economy, more or less, according to the presence or
absence of other elements in the food, the different occupation,
mode of living, and so on. These points have been well illustrated
and explained in the Chemistry of Common Life, of the late
Professor Johnston. The fact of the Esquimaux consuming large
quantities of train oil and blubber ceases to be astonishing, when we
reflect that these highly carbonized substances serve to furnish fuel
for his increased respiration.
In one word, it is necessary in the present state of chemical and
physiological science, to collect analyses of all the substances which
are consumed by a particular race, either as food or drink, or by an
habitual custom, as so called matters of luxury, or as medicine. The
ethnologist has the great merit of working here hand in hand with
chemists and physiologists, and fills up in this manner a most
important chapter in the natural history of man; as it shows how
instinct and necessity have led him to adopt different customs, and
to make use of different articles of consumption in different climates.
Among the ordinary domestic animals, there is little of novelty in the
food they supply to man. But I may notice in passing, before
proceeding to an investigation of unusual or extraordinary articles of
consumption, a few things that may not be generally known.
Jerked beef, or tasajo, as it is termed in Cuba, is imported to the
extent of 200 to 350 thousand quintals a year into that island, for
feeding the slaves on the plantations.
That imported from Buenos Ayres and Monte Video is preferred for
consumption on the sugar estates, to that which is received from Rio
Grande, Venezuela, Campeachy, and the United States, it being
more substantial, coming in larger and thicker pieces, better cured
and salted, and also of handsomer appearance. The class imported
from Venezuela and Campeachy, comes in thin pieces called
rebenque, which is not generally liked, and only bought in small
parcels, for consumption in the city of Havana. The beef which is
cured in the River Plate, from December to May, or in summer, is
preferred in Cuba, by reason of its being more nutritive than that
which is cured in the other or winter months; the colour is yellowish,
and it keeps a longer time.
In South America, the jerked beef is called charqui, and when salted,
and smoked or dried in the sun, sesina. The commerce is very large
in this species of provision.
The mode of preparing it in Chili is as follows:—When the horned
cattle are sufficiently fat, or rather at the killing season, which is
about the months of February and March, from 500 to 1000,
according to the size of the farm, are slaughtered. The whole of the
fat is separated from the meat and melted, forming a kind of lard,
called grasa, which is employed for domestic purposes. The tallow is
also kept separate, and the meat is jerked. This process is
performed by cutting the fleshy substance into slices of about a
quarter-of-an-inch thick, leaving out all the bones. The natives are so
dexterous at this work that they will cut the whole of a leg, or any
other large part of a bullock, into one uniformly thin piece.
The meat thus cut is either dipped into a very strong solution of salt
and water, or rubbed over with a small quantity of fine salt.
Whichever mode is adopted, the whole of the jerked meat is put on
the hide, and rolled up for ten or twelve hours, or until the following
morning. It is then hung on lines or poles to dry in the sun, which
being accomplished, it is made into bundles, lashed with thongs of
fresh hide, forming a kind of network, and is ready for market. In this
operation it loses about one-third of its original weight. The dried
meat, or charqui, finds immediate sale at Lima, Arica, Guayaquil,
Panama, and other places. About 6000 quintals of charqui, with a
proportionate quantity of tallow and fat (grasa) are shipped from
Talcahuana to Lima alone. Besides the large quantity consumed in
Chili, it furnishes a great part of the food of the slaves in Brazil, the
negroes in some of the West India Islands, and seamen, being the
general substitute for salt beef and pork. The grasa and tallow are
also readily sold throughout South America, and are of more value
than the meat.
The slaughtering season is as much a time of diversion for the
inhabitants of that country as a sheep shearing is in England. The
females too are all busied cutting up the fat, frying it for grasa, and
selecting some of the finer meat for presents and home
consumption. The tongue is the only part of the head that is eaten,
the remainder being left to rot.[1] Dried meat enters largely into
consumption in several other countries.
In the Cape Colony dried meat is called biltonge. In the East,
especially in Siam, the dried sinews of animals are considered a
great delicacy; and dried elephant’s flesh we shall find is stored up
for food, under the name of pastoormah. Beef is preserved in Asia
Minor with garlic and pepper, and dried in the sun for winter food. It
is prepared in Wallachia and Moldavia, and largely shipped from
Varna in the Black Sea. Besides providing all Anatolia, Aleppo, and
Damascus, 6000 cwt. or more is yearly sent from Kaissariah to
Constantinople. Hung beef from Germany is well known at our
tables.
Portable and concentrated animal food is of great consequence to
explorers and travellers, and therefore it may be well to allude here
to the article pemmican, which is so much used by arctic travellers
and the Hudson’s Bay Company’s traders. This is meat of any kind
dried and pounded, and saturated with fat. There is as much
nourishment in one pound of pemmican as in four pounds of ordinary
meat. It may be eaten as it is, or partially cooked, and has a pleasant
taste. Sometimes it is mixed with a sufficient quantity of Indian meal
and water to cause it to adhere, and then fried or stewed.
The North American Indians dry their venison by exposing thin slices
to the heat of the sun, on a stage, under which a small fire is kept,
more for the purpose of driving away the flies than for promoting
exsiccation; and then they pound it between two stones on a bison
hide. In this process the pounded meat is contaminated by a greater
or smaller admixture of hair and other impurities.
The fat, which is generally the suet of the bison, is added by the
traders, who purchase it separately from the natives, and they
complete the process by sewing up the pemmican in a bag of
undressed hide, with the hairy side outwards. Each of these bags
weighs 90 lbs., and obtains from the Canadian voyageurs the
designation of ‘un taureau.’ A superior pemmican is produced by
mixing finely powdered meat, sifted from impurities, with marrow fat,
and the dried fruit of the Amilanchier.
Sir John Richardson having been employed by government to
prepare pemmican on a large scale, at the Victualling Yard, Gosport,
for the use of the different arctic expeditions, it will be interesting to
describe the process he adopted, as given in his Arctic Searching
Expedition, or a Journal of a Boat Voyage, &c.—
‘The round or buttock of beef of the best quality having been cut into
thin steaks, from which the fat and membraneous parts were pared
away, was dried in a malt kiln, over an oak fire, until its moisture was
entirely dissipated, and the fibre of the meat became friable. It was
then ground in a malt mill, when it resembled finely grated meat.
Being next mixed with nearly an equal weight of melted beef suet or
lard, the preparation of plain pemmican was complete; but to render
it more agreeable to the unaccustomed palate, a proportion of the
best Zante currants was added to part of it, and part of it was
sweetened with sugar. Both these kinds were much approved of in
the sequel by the consumers, but more especially that to which the
sugar had been added. After the ingredients were well incorporated
by stirring, they were transferred to tin canisters, capable of
containing 85 lbs. each; and having been firmly rammed down and
allowed to contract further by cooling, the air was completely
expelled and excluded by filling the canister to the brim with melted
lard, through a small hole left in the end, which was then covered
with a piece of tin and soldered up.
‘As the meat in drying loses more than three-fourths of its original
weight, the quantity required was considerable, being 35,651 lbs.
(reduced by drying to about 8000 lbs.); and the sudden abstraction
of more than one thousand rounds of beef, from Leadenhall Market,
occasioned speculation among the dealers, and a rise in the price of
a penny per pound, with an equally sudden fall when the extra
demand was found to be very temporary.’
We import about 13 or 14 tons of gelatine a year from France,
besides what is made at home, and the greater part of what passes
under this name is, I believe, used for food. The Americans, some
years ago, tried to pass off upon us isinglass made from fish bones,
but it would not go down.
Gelatine of all kinds has usually been considered wholesome and
nourishing; and while few object to cow-heel or calf’s foot jelly, very
many are possibly unaware of the sources of much of the gelatine
vended in shapes so beautifully transparent, but which is made from
bones and hide clippings, and parchment shavings. It is said that a
pair of lady’s gloves have ere now made a ragout; and there is a
hiatus in the parchment specifications at the Patent Office, caused
by an unlucky boy, who changed them away for tarts, in order that
they might be converted into jellies.
The dust of the ivory turner in working up elephants’ tusks forms an
excellent material for jellies, and is commonly sold for this purpose,
at about 6d. per lb.
M. Payen has recently been at pains to disprove the vulgar notion
that bones make good soup. The celebrated Gelatine Commission,
some years ago, declared, as the results of many experiments, that
gelatine was not nutritious; and this result has been repeated in
almost every text-book of physiology as conclusive, and is adopted
by M. Payen, who tests it in another series of experiments. He boiled
in one pot a portion of beef completely divested of bone, and in
another the bone taken from the beef, with only a little salt. After five
hours’ slow boiling, the liquid from the beef was perfectly limpid, and
of a light amber colour, leaving that aroma and delicate taste known
to belong to good beef tea. The liquid from the bones was whitish-
gray, troubled and opaque, having a very slight odour, and a not
agreeable taste. Nothing could be more opposed than the two soups
thus produced. In another experiment, he repeated this process with
the addition of some vegetables, and even some drops of caramel.
The beef-soup here maintained its delicious aroma, agreeably
combined with that of the vegetables; its limpidity was the same, but
its colour of course stronger. The bone-soup had a dominant odour
of vegetables, but its troubled and opaque aspect made it very
unappetising. From these experiments M. Payen concludes that the
prejudice in favour of the addition of bones to the soup is a prejudice,
and that, in fact, bones are not at all nutritious.
Liebig also, in his Letters on Chemistry, pp. 424 and 425, says:—‘It
has now been proved by the most convincing experiments, that
gelatine, which by itself is tasteless, and when eaten excites nausea,
possesses no nutritive value; that even when accompanied by the
savoury constituents of flesh, it is not capable of supporting the vital
process, and when added to the usual diet as a substitute for plastic
matter, does not increase, but on the contrary diminishes the
nutritive value of the food, which it renders insufficient in quantity and
inferior in quality; and that its use is hurtful rather than beneficial,
because it does not, like the non-nitrogenous substances provided
by nature for respiration, disappear in the body without leaving a
residue, but overloads with nitrogenous products, the presence of
which disturbs and impedes the organic processes.’ And he further
observes, that ‘the only difference between this and joiner’s glue is
its greater price.’ Jellies no doubt were considered most nutritious
during the Peninsular war, but we have learned many things since
then, of which our poor soldiers ought to have the benefit.
Portable soup is prepared in a very simple manner. The meat is
boiled, and the scum taken off as it rises, until the soup possesses
the requisite flavour. ‘It is then suffered to cool, in order that the fat
may be separated. In the next place it is mixed with the whites of five
or six eggs, and slightly boiled—this operation serves to clarify the
liquid, by the removal of opaque particles, which unite with the white
of egg, at the time it becomes solid by the heat, and are
consequently removed along with it. The liquor is then to be strained
through flannel, and evaporated on the water bath, to the
consistence of a very thick paste, after which it is spread rather thin
upon a smooth stone, then cut into cakes, and lastly dried in a stove,
until it becomes brittle. These cakes may be kept four or five years, if
defended from moisture. When intended to be used, nothing more is
required to be done than to dissolve a sufficient quantity in boiling
water.’[2]
For some years past there have been imported into the Continent
rather large quantities of dried meat from the southern countries of
America, where it is known under the name of assayo. It gives a
soup nearly similar to that of fresh meat. Another sort of food which
is prepared in Texas, the meat-biscuit, is generally used in the
American navy; but, although greatly appreciated at the Great
Exhibition of London, it has not yet entered into general use in
Europe. It is made of boiled beef free from grease, the liquor of
which is evaporated to the consistency of syrup, and this is mixed
with wheaten flour in sufficient proportion to form a solid paste. This
paste is then spread out by a rolling pin, is pierced with a number of
little holes, is cut into the ordinary dimensions of sea biscuits, and
then baked and properly dried. The biscuit is eaten dry, or may be
broken, boiled in twenty or thirty times its weight in water, for from
twenty-five to thirty minutes, and then seasoned with salt or other
things.
The following is the process of manufacturing this biscuit:—
There are four wooden caldrons or tubs for boiling the meat and
evaporating the liquid or broth—the two for boiling the meat, holding
2,300 gallons, will each boil 7,000 lbs. of meat in twelve to sixteen
hours. The other two, for evaporating, will contain some 1,400
gallons each. All the tubs are heated or boiled by steam passing
through long coiled iron pipes, supplied at pleasure, either from the
escape steam from the engine, or direct from the boiler.
When the meat is so far boiled or macerated, that the liquid or broth
contains the entire nutriment, the meaty, or solid portions are
separated by a simple process of filtering, so that the broth goes into
the evaporator pure and free from fibrous matter. It is then
evaporated to a degree of consistency resembling the golden or
Stewart’s sugar house syrup, its uniform density being determined
by a liquid or syrup gauge. Two pounds of this syrup or extract
contains the nutriment of some eleven pounds of meat (including its
usual proportion of bone) as first put into the caldron. This is then
mixed with the best and finest flour, kneaded and made into biscuit
by means of machines. The biscuit is baked upon pans in an oven
so constructed as to produce an uniform firmness. The proportion is
as two pounds of extract are to three pounds of flour, but by baking,
the five pounds of dough is reduced to four pounds of biscuit, and
this will make what the inventor claims—the nutriment of over five
pounds of meat in one pound of bread, which contains, besides, over
ten ounces of flour.
The biscuit resembles in appearance a light coloured sugar-cake. It
is packed in air-tight casks or tin canisters of different sizes, part of
the biscuit being pulverized by grinding in a mill for the purpose, and
then packed with the whole biscuit.
In discussing the extension of our resources of animal food, it is
strange to notice that while we eat the blood of pigs and fowls, we
throw aside as waste the blood of oxen, sheep, goats, calves, &c.
Now blood contains all the principles out of which the tissues are
formed, and must, one would therefore imagine, be eminently
nutritious. Why prejudice has excluded these, while admitting the
blood of pigs, is an anomaly which I cannot understand.
In France, where there are not, as in America, large quantities of
animals which are killed simply for the sake of their hides, it would be
impossible to prepare or supply at a low price either the assayo or
the meat biscuit; but the idea of using the blood of animals killed,
which blood is at present wasted without profit, or, at best, is used as
manure, might have occurred to some one. M. Brocchieri has
conceived this idea. In treating the blood of our slaughter-houses by
means which he has invented, and uniting to flour of the best quality,
the albumen and fibrine which he extracts from it—he makes bread
and biscuits which are easily preserved, and which may be
employed to make very nutritious soups.
At the Great Exhibition, in 1851, he produced bon-bons made of the
blood of the ox, cow, sheep, and hog; biscuits and patties of the
blood of the bull, and delicacies made of calves’ blood. I have
specimens of these preserved in my private museum, although I
have not ventured to taste them.
Generally speaking in England, we do not do much with the blood of
animals, at least, in the shape of food—unless it be in those strings
of black-puddings, with tempting little bits of fat stuck in them, which
stare us in the face in some shops.
But M. Brocchieri has attempted to utilize the nutritious principles of
the blood of animals killed for food, by reducing it to a concentrated
and dried state, for preservation during long periods. The first step is
to prepare a liquid, considered innocuous and antiseptic by the
inventor, by which various bloods are kept fluid and apparently fresh.
Samples of these were shown, and the series of specimens
illustrated the solid parts forming the crassamentum or clot, in a
dried and semi-crystalline state. These solid constituents, including
the gelatine, albumen, and fibrine are next produced, combined with
small proportions of flour, in the form of light, dry masses, like
loaves, cakes, or biscuits. These are inodorous, almost flavourless,
and may be made the bases of highly nutritious soups. They are
very uniform in composition, containing half the nitrogen of dried
blood, or forty-four per cent. of dry flesh, the equivalent of double the
nutritive value of ordinary butcher’s meat. Both the bull’s and calf’s
blood gave 6·6 per cent. of nitrogen, equal to forty-three per cent. of
flesh-forming principles. Combined with sugar, the cakes have been
made into bon-bons.
The evidence, as to the value of the process, in preserving the
samples in an undecomposed state, is now satisfactorily arrived at. It
was stated in 1851, that the preparations had been advantageously
employed in long voyages. The samples I have in my collection have
now been kept seven years, and have not shown any tendency to
decay. Thus proving that the first attempt has been successful, in
rendering available for food, and portable in form, the otherwise
wasted blood of cattle.
This notice of blood recalls to my recollection a laughable story told
in a French work, of the life of an unfortunate pig.
‘A French curé, exiled to a deserted part of our forests—and who,
the whole year, except on a few rare occasions, lived only on fruit
and vegetables—hit upon a most admirable expedient for providing
an animal repast to set before the curés of the neighbourhood, when
one or the other, two or three times during the year, ventured into
those dreadful solitudes, with a view of assuring himself with his own
eyes that his unfortunate colleague had not yet died of hunger. The
curé in question possessed a pig, his whole fortune: and you will see
the manner in which he used it. Immediately the bell announced a
visitor, and that his cook had shown his clerical friend into the
parlour, the master of the house, drawing himself up majestically,
said to his housekeeper: ‘Brigitte, let there be a good dinner for
myself and my friend.’ Brigitte, although she knew there were only
stale crusts and dried peas in her larder, seemed in no degree
embarrassed by this order; she summoned to her assistance ‘Toby
the Carrot,’ so called because his head was as red as that of a
native of West Galloway, and leaving the house together, they both
went in search of the pig. This, after a short skirmish, was caught by
Brigitte and her carroty assistant; and, notwithstanding his cries, his
grunts, his gestures of despair, and supplication, the inhuman cook,
seizing his head, opened a large vein in his throat, and relieved him
of two pounds of blood; this, with the addition of garlic, shalots, mint,
wild thyme, and parsley, was converted into a most savoury and
delicious black-pudding for the curé and his friend, and being served
to their reverences smoking hot on the summit of a pyramid of yellow
cabbage, figured admirably as a small Vesuvius and a centre dish.
The surgical operation over, Brigitte, whose qualifications as a
seamstress were superior, darned up the hole in the neck of the
unfortunate animal: and as he was then turned loose until a fresh
supply of black-puddings should be required for a similar occasion,
this wretched pig was never happy. How could he be so? Like
Damocles of Syracuse, he lived in a state of perpetual fever; terror
seized him directly he heard the curé’s bell, and seeing in
imagination the uplifted knife already about to glide into his bosom,
he invariably took to his heels before Brigitte was half-way to the
door to answer it. If, as usual, the peal announced a diner-out,
Brigitte and Gold-button were soon on his track, calling him by the
most tender epithets, and promising that he should have something
nice for his supper—skim-milk, &c.,—but the pig with his painful
experience was not such a fool as to believe them. Hidden behind an
old cask, some fagots, or lying in a deep ditch, he remained silent as
the grave, and kept himself close as long as possible. Discovered,
however, he was sure to be at last, when he would rush into the
garden, and, running up and down like a mad creature, upset
everything in his way. For several minutes it was a regular
steeplechase—across the beds, now over the turnips, then through
the gooseberry-bushes—in short, he was here, there, and
everywhere; but, in spite of all his various stratagems to escape the
fatal incision, the poor pig always finished by being seized, tied,
thrown on the ground, and bled: the vein was then once more
cleverly sewn up, and the inhuman operators quietly retired from the
scene to make the curé’s far-famed black-pudding. Half-dead upon
the spot where he was phlebotomized, the wretched animal was left
to reflect under the shade of a tree on the cruelty of man, on their
barbarous appetites; cursing with all his heart the poverty of
Morvinian curates, their conceited hospitality, of which he was the
victim, and their brutal affection for pig’s blood.’
Sir George Simpson, speaking of some of the northern tribes of
Indians in America, says, the flexibility of their stomachs is
surprising. At one time they will gorge themselves with food, and are
then prepared to go without any for several days, if necessary.
Enter their tents; sit there if you can for a whole day, and not for an
instant will you find the fire unoccupied by persons of all ages
cooking. When not hunting or travelling, they are in fact always
eating. Now it is a little roast, a partridge or rabbit perhaps; now a tit-
bit, broiled under the ashes; anon a portly kettle, well filled with
venison, swings over the fire; then comes a choice dish of curdled
blood, followed by the sinews and marrow-bones of deer’s legs,
singed on the embers. And so the grand business of life goes
unceasingly round, interrupted only by sleep.
Dining within the arctic circle, when such a thing as dinner is to be
had, is a much more serious matter than when one undergoes that
pleasing ceremony at a first-rate eating house, hotel, or club.
In arctic banquets, the cheerful glass is often frozen to the lip, or the
too ardent reveller splinters a tooth in attempting to gnaw through a
lump of soup. We, in these temperate climes, have never had the
pleasure of eating ship’s rum, or chewing brandy and water. It is not
only necessary to ‘first catch your fish,’ but also essential to thaw it;
and there is no chance of the fish being limber, although it is not
unusual for heat to bring them to life after they have been frozen stiff
a couple of days. In the arctic circle even the very musquitoes,
which, by the way, are frightfully large and numerous, become torpid
with the intense cold, and are frozen into hard masses, which the
heat of the sun, or fire, may restore to animation.
Dr. Sutherland, in his voyage in Baffin’s Bay, says—‘It was
necessary to be very careful with our drinking cups. Tin never suited,
for it always adhered to the lips, and took a portion of the skin along
with it. A dog attempting to lick a little fat from an iron shovel stuck
fast to it, and dragged it by means of his tongue, until by a sudden
effort, he got clear, leaving several inches of the skin and adjacent
tissue on the cold metal. One of the seamen, endeavouring to
change the size of the eye of the splice in his tack-rope, put the
marling spike, after the true sailor fashion, into his mouth; the result
was that he lost a great portion of his lips and tongue.’
We hear frequent jokes of the partiality of the Russians for tallow
candles, and, like all inhabitants of the polar regions, the Esquimaux
are very fond of fat, the physiology of their craving for fat is now
known to everybody. My esteemed friend, the late Mr. Hooper, one of
the officers of H.M.S. Plover, in his account of his residence on the
shores of Arctic America, states, that ‘one of the ladies who visited
them was presented, as a jest, with a small tallow candle, called a
purser’s dip. It was, notwithstanding, a very pleasant joke to the
damsel, who deliberately munched it up with evident relish, and
finally, drew the wick between her set teeth to clean off any
remaining morsels of fat.’
He gives also in detail, the history of a Tuski repast of the most
sumptuous nature, to which he and his companions were invited,
and I must find room for some portion of it.
‘First was brought in, on a huge wooden tray, a number of small fish,
uncooked, but intensely frozen. At these all the natives set to work,
and we essayed, somewhat ruefully it must be confessed, to follow
their example; but, being all unused to such gastronomic process,
found ourselves, as might be expected, rather at a loss how to
commence. From this dilemma, however, our host speedily
extricated us, by practical demonstration of the correct mode of
action; and, under his certainly very able tuition, we shortly became
more expert. But, alas! a new difficulty was soon presented; our
native companions, we presume, either made a hasty bolt of each
morsel, or had, perhaps, a relish for the flavour of the viands now
under consideration. Not so ourselves—it was sadly repugnant to
our palates; for, aided by the newly-acquired knowledge that the fish
were in the same condition as when taken from the water, uncleaned
and unembowelled, we speedily discovered that we could neither
bolt nor retain the fragments, which, by the primitive aid of teeth and
nails, we had rashly detached for our piscatorial share. It was to no
purpose that our host pressed us to ‘fall to;’ we could not manage
the consumption of this favourite preparation (or rather lack thereof),
and succeeded with difficulty in evading his earnest solicitations. The
next course was a mess of green stuff, looking as if carefully
chopped up, and this was also hard frozen. To it was added a lump
of blubber, which the lady presiding, who did all the carving,
dexterously cut into slices with a knife like a cheesemonger’s, and
apportioned out at different quarters of the huge tray before
mentioned, which was used throughout the meal, together with a
modicum of the grass-like stuff, to the company; the only distinction
in favour of the strangers and guests of high degree being, that their
slices were cut much thinner than for the rest. We tasted this
compound, and ... we didn’t like it: at this no one will wonder—the
blubber speaks for itself; and the other stuff, which really was not
very unpalatable, we discovered in after-times to be the unruminated
food of reindeer which had been slaughtered—at least, so we were
told: but I am not quite clear on this point. Our dislike to the dish had
no offensive effect upon our host, who only seemed to be astonished
at our strange want of taste, and, with the rest of the guests, soon
cleared the board; the managing dame putting the finishing stroke by
a rapid sweep of her not too scrupulously clean fingers over the dish,
by way of clearing off the fragments to prepare for the reception of
the next delicacy. After this interesting operation she conveyed her
digits to her mouth, and, engulfing them for a brief period, withdrew
them, quite in apple pie order once more. The board was now again
replenished, this time with viands less repellent to our unnurtured
tastes. Boiled seal and walrus flesh appeared, and our hospitable
friends were greatly relieved when they beheld us assist in the
consumption of these items, which, being utterly devoid of flavour,
were distasteful only from their extreme toughness and mode of
presentation; but we did not, of course, desire to appear too singular
or squeamish. Next came a portion of whale’s flesh, or rather whale’s
skin. This was perfectly ebony in hue, and we discovered some
apprehensions respecting its fitness as an article of food; but our
fears were groundless. It was cut and re-cut crosswise into
diminutive cubes; venturing upon one of which we were agreeably
surprised to find it possessing a cocoa-nut flavour, like which it also
cut, ‘very short;’ indeed, so much astonished were we on this
occasion, that we had consumed a very considerable number of
these cubes, and with great relish too, before we recovered from our
wonder. The dish was ever afterwards a favourite with me. On its
disappearance, a very limited quantity of boiled reindeer meat, fresh
and fat, was served up, to which we did ample justice; then came
portions of the gum of the whale, in which the ends of the bone lay
still embedded; and I do not hesitate to declare that this was
perfectly delicious, its flavour being, as nearly as I can find a parallel,
like that of cream cheese. This, which the Tuski call their sugar, was
the wind-up to the repast and ourselves, and we were fain to admit
that, after the rather unpleasant auspices with which our feast
commenced, the finale was by no means to be contemned.’
A merchant at a banquet to which he was invited with several
respectable Greenlanders, counted the following dishes:—Dried
herrings; dried seal’s flesh; the same boiled; half-raw, or putrid seal’s
flesh, called Mikiak; boiled auks; part of a whale’s tail in a half-putrid
state, which was considered as a principal dish; dried salmon; dried
reindeer venison; preserves of crow-berries mixed with the chyle
from the maw of the reindeer; and lastly, the same enriched with
train oil.
Dr. Kane, enumerating arctic delicacies, says, ‘Our journeys have
taught us the wisdom of the Esquimaux appetite, and there are few
among us who do not relish a slice of raw blubber or a chunk of
frozen walrus-beef. The liver of a walrus (awuktanuk), eaten with
little slices of his fat—of a verity it is a delicious morsel. Fire would
ruin the curt, pithy expression of vitality which belongs to its
uncooked juices. Charles Lamb’s roast pig was nothing to
awuktanuk. I wonder that raw beef is not eaten at home. Deprived of
extraneous fibre, it is neither indigestible nor difficult to masticate.
With acids and condiments, it makes a salad which an educated
palate cannot help relishing; and as a powerful and condensed heat-
making and antiscorbutic food, it has no rival. I make this last broad
assertion after carefully testing its truth. The natives of South
Greenland prepare themselves for a long journey in the cold by a
course of frozen seal. At Upernavik they do the same with the
narwhal, which is thought more heat-making than the seal; while the
bear, to use their own expression, is ‘stronger travel than all.’ In
Smith’s Sound, where the use of raw meat seems almost inevitable
from the modes of living of the people, walrus holds the first rank.
Certainly this pachyderm, whose finely-condensed tissue and
delicately-permeating fat—(oh! call it not blubber)—assimilate it to
the ox, is beyond all others, and is the very best fuel a man can
swallow. It became our constant companion whenever we could get
it; and a frozen liver upon our sledge was valued far above the same
weight of pemmican.’
Mr. Augustus Petermann, in a paper upon Animal Life in the Arctic
Regions, read before the Royal Geographical Society, thus
enumerates the food resources:—
‘Though several classes of the animal creation, as for example, the
reptiles, are entirely wanting in this region, those of the mammals,
birds, and fishes, at least, bear comparison both as to number and
size with those of the Tropics: the lion, the elephant, the
hippopotamus, and others not being more notable in the latter
respect than the polar bear, the musk ox, the walrus, and, above all,
the whale. Besides these, there are the moose, the reindeer, the
wolf, the polar hare, the seal, and various smaller quadrupeds. The
birds consist chiefly of an immense number of aquatic birds. Of
fishes, the salmon, salmon trout, and herring, are the principal, the
latter especially crowding in such myriads as to surpass everything
of that kind found in tropical regions.
‘Nearly all these animals furnish wholesome food for men. They are,
with few exceptions, distributed over the entire regions: their number,
however, or the relative intensity of the individuals, is very different in
different parts. Thus, on the American side, we find the animals
decreasing in number from east to west. On the shores of Davis’
Straits, in Baffin’s Bay, Lancaster Sound, Regent Inlet, &c., much
less in number are met with than in Boothia Felix, and Parry groups.
The abundance of animal life in Melville Island and Victoria Channel,
is probably not surpassed in any other part on the American side.
Proceeding westward to the Russian possessions, we find
considerable numbers of animals all round and within the sea of
Kamtschatka, as also to the north of Behring’s Straits. The yearly
produce of the Russian Fur Company, in America, is immense, and
formerly it was much greater. Pribylon, when he discovered the small
islands named after him, collected, within two years, 2,000 skins of
sea otters, 40,000 sea bears, (ursine seals,) 6,000 dark sea foxes,
and 1,000 walrus-teeth. Lütke, in his Voyage Round the World,
mentions that, in the year 1803, 800,000 skins of the ursine seal
alone were accumulated in Unataski, one of the depôts of the
Russian Fur Company, 700,000 of which were thrown into the sea,
partly because they were badly prepared, and partly to keep up the
prices. But in no other part of the arctic zoological region is animal
life so abundant as in the northern parts of Siberia, especially
between the Rivers Kolyma and Lena.
‘The first animals that make their appearance after the dreary winter,
are large flights of swans, geese, ducks, and snipes; these are killed
by old and young. Fish also begin to be taken in nets and baskets
placed under the ice.
‘In June, however, when the river opens, the fish pour in in immense
numbers. At the beginning of this century, several thousand geese
were sometimes killed in one day at the mouth of the River Kolyma.
About twenty years later, when Admiral Wrangel visited those
regions, the numbers had somewhat decreased, and it was then
called a good season when 1,000 geese, 5,000 ducks, and 200
swans were killed at that place. The reindeer chase forms the next
occupation for the inhabitants. About the same time, the shoals of
herrings begin to ascend the rivers, and the multitudes of these fish
are often such that, in three or four days, 40,000 may be taken with a
single net.
‘On the banks of the River Indejiska the number of swans and geese
resorting there in the moulting season, is said to be much greater
even than on the River Kolyma.’