Cultural Analysis of Brazil
Introduction
A key to manage effectively across national and cultural boundaries, which is critical to the success (Browaeys and Price, 2011), lies in the understanding the different means of in various cultures (Trompenaars, 1993). Hence, basic cultural analysis should be conducted to better plan the new manufacturing business unit in Brazil where there are many differences from the Swedish culture. The famous analytic models from Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaars (1993) are applied to identify the key distinct dimensions of the two national cultures in terms of their management implications.
Cultural Analysis
The most influential factors chosen from Hofstede’s model are PD and UA, with the largest gap in scores and significant differences from table 1.
Table 1 Different Scores of Brazil and Sweden in the national cultural dimensions Power Distance Uncertainty
Avoidance Individualism Masculinity
Brazil 69 76 38 49
Sweden 31 29 71 5
Source: Hofstede (1980, p315)
Firstly, PD refers to the interpersonal power or influence between the powerful member of an organization and the least powerful one (Browaeys and Price, 2011). It, however, reflects the human inequality with a range of aspects, including rewards, wealth, prestige and privileges, etc., in the hierarchies of the organization. Normally, a higher high PD value implies the requirements of a centralised and direct decision-making process rather than plural participations of members in different levels (Velo, 2012).
Brazil is, as many as around one time larger in land size and populations of Sweden (Findthedata, 2012), which contribute to the centralisation trends of organisations. Meanwhile, the large PD of Brazil means inequalities of power and wealth are however likely tolerated (Stephen, 2006) since the resources are concentrated. For instance, Azevedo (2009) concluded that most companies from São Paulo Stock Exchange has strong power concentration characteristics in terms of fact that most
A key to manage effectively across national and cultural boundaries, which is critical to the success (Browaeys and Price, 2011), lies in the understanding the different means of in various cultures (Trompenaars, 1993). Hence, basic cultural analysis should be conducted to better plan the new manufacturing business unit in Brazil where there are many differences from the Swedish culture. The famous analytic models from Hofstede (1980) and Trompenaars (1993) are applied to identify the key distinct dimensions of the two national cultures in terms of their management implications.
Cultural Analysis
The most influential factors chosen from Hofstede’s model are PD and UA, with the largest gap in scores and significant differences from table 1.
Table 1 Different Scores of Brazil and Sweden in the national cultural dimensions Power Distance Uncertainty
Avoidance Individualism Masculinity
Brazil 69 76 38 49
Sweden 31 29 71 5
Source: Hofstede (1980, p315)
Firstly, PD refers to the interpersonal power or influence between the powerful member of an organization and the least powerful one (Browaeys and Price, 2011). It, however, reflects the human inequality with a range of aspects, including rewards, wealth, prestige and privileges, etc., in the hierarchies of the organization. Normally, a higher high PD value implies the requirements of a centralised and direct decision-making process rather than plural participations of members in different levels (Velo, 2012).
Brazil is, as many as around one time larger in land size and populations of Sweden (Findthedata, 2012), which contribute to the centralisation trends of organisations. Meanwhile, the large PD of Brazil means inequalities of power and wealth are however likely tolerated (Stephen, 2006) since the resources are concentrated. For instance, Azevedo (2009) concluded that most companies from São Paulo Stock Exchange has strong power concentration characteristics in terms of fact that most
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