Understanding Cultural Differences and Their Impact on Business

Running head: CRITICAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
CRITICAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The first learning material gave a description about the word culture. The first thing that is
stated is Culture is the cultivation of the mind that is prepared for anything that comes in the
way (Wagner 2015). Here I have learnt about the different definitions of cultures from
different authors. Many have a different take on the word culture. According to Schneider
and Barsoux culture is an important factor in international business. It can pave way for
success and also for loss if not considered an important factor. I completely agree to this
definition. To expand a business it is important for a company to understand the value and the
cultures of the company. Once I was having a conversation with my friend who was from
South Korea about the company Walmart and how it is a success. I later got to know from
him that Walmart was not a success in South Korea. Walmart could not understand the local
culture of South Korea and the importance of shopping small packages at a local store.
Walmart suffered for this reason and hence had to shut down their stores in South Korea. I
realized the importance of the cultural differences and how it can affect a giant business. In
this chapter I read about seven things about culture that were not known to me before. The
first thing was that people were not born with culture but rather acquired from the society.
Culture cannot be seen with the naked eye, it is intangible and mainly in our brain. Culture is
symbolic and measured by the language, the gestures, images and places. Cultures are not
constant by change with time and even adaptable. Cultures become organized and structured
by the society some times. Cultures often influence the way we think and interpret things.
Culture also controls the behavior of the people. I have also learnt that cultures are directly
proportionate to shared values. In order to understand the culture of a person I need to
understand the belief’s of the people like how they perceive the world and how they would
want the world to be. Values usually do not change because of a person’s mood or situations.
In this chapter I have learnt how culture influences us in many different ways like behaviors,
following rituals and also cuisines. I agree to this completely as there are certain behaviors

2CRITICAL REFLECTION PORTFOLIO
that are influenced according to their culture. Cuisines also influence the culture as once I
traveled to Jamaica for a vacation I found that Jamaicans have spicy food. It is their culture
that influences food to be spicy. Edward Hall who is a famous anthropologist describes
culture as invisible jet streams in the sky that determine the course of storms. In this chapter I
have learnt about the model that shows the relationship between behavior and values. The
first thing is that values are basically our beliefs and assumptions and this influences our
attitude. Our attitude towards life later influences our behavior. This is an interconnected
relationship that is intangible but exists within ourselves. I have experienced this in my work
place. There was a work that was assigned to me and when I got the briefing I assumed that I
am not the right person for the job and I would not be able to do justice to the work. I wanted
to dismiss but my senior had faith in me and asked me to complete the job. Later I was
appreciated for my performance on that particular assignment which made me realize that
how my assumptions made me reject work that I excelled in. This has helped me in
understanding that the assumptions I make is not always going to be like that and the attitude
and culture reflects on a person’s behavior`
In the next chapter I learnt about the cultural brain. This chapter describes how our cultural
brains influence intercultural communication or interaction. It states that our brains are lazy
and very little effort is put in to simplify the world and the experience. It says that people
more than thinking rationally make assumptions and one of the common things is
stereotyping. We categorize on the basis of culture in two ways one is that we categorize
things or people on the basis of past or present experiences and the other one is by making
interpretations and judgment of our own experiences. Culture influences how we interpret
and perceive the world where we live thus make it elemental to culture. Here I have learnt the
different aspects or factors that determine usually while categorizing. People tend to
categorize people in two ways. One is in group where they find similarities with each other