Does Culture Matter? A Cross-Cultural Study Of Executives

A study investigated the effects of a manager's home culture on marketing decisions and included an examination of whether the impact of home culture diminishes in an open economy with intense exposure to international markets, giving way to a process of globalization. Decision making in 4 simulated international marketing situations was examined using 145 executives from the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Canada. The results confirm that home culture has predictable and significant effects on the decision making of executives from China and Canada. Chinese executives from Hong Kong were influenced by a combination of Chinese and Western cultural norms. A general comparative analysis of cultures may help marketing executives anticipate their rival's responses, understand their customs in business transactions, and deal with colleagues of different nationalities in joint decision making. Study results also indicated that cultural differences tend to diminish in the marketing world of intensive communications and similar decision technologies.