TABLE OF CONTENTS We have already introduced the importance of national cultural values as a key factor in explaining the relatively enduring differences among countries and their approach to business and management. This 'cultural' school has resulted in many cross-cultural studies, usually comparing values and practices in a range of countries to shed light on the difficulties that organizations may face in doing business outside their own territory, or to provide advice for managers on how to behave with 'foreigners'. The cultural values approach has been extremely influential in the management literature, but it is not without its critics, some of whom believe the 'national cultural card' has been overplayed. In this section of the chapter we shall review the work of two of its most influential theorists, and point out its limitations. First, however, we should describe what culture means in an international context.
Generally, in the management literature at least, culture refers to 'systems of meanings' values, beliefs, expectations and goals shared by a particular group of people distinguishing them from members of other groups (Gooderham and Nordhaug, 2003, p. 131; Schneider and Barsoux, 2003). Ed Schein, one of the founding fathers of cultural studies in management, has defined culture as:
'a set of basic assumptions shared solutions to the universal problems of external adaptation (how to survive) and internal integration (how to stay together) which have evolved over time and are handed down from one culture to another'
(Schein,...
