International Intercultural Management

International Intercultural
Management

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................4
Theoretical analysis of France and China................................................................................................5
Cross cultural issues & adaptations.........................................................................................................9
Appropriate Framework........................................................................................................................11
Implications for future expansion..........................................................................................................12
CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................................14

Introduction
Culture refers to norms and social behavior which is found within human society. It is the
knowledge and characteristics which are possessed by specific group of people, comprises of
language, social habits, religion and art. Intercultural management refers to managing team
works in such a way that that differences in culture, preferences and practices of consumers in
domestic and international business context. It assists to comprehend and accept cultural
differences to prevail over intercultural problems for creation of win win mode.
Coordinating and managing people who are from different cultures within organization is
one of the greatest challenge for corporate world. It is mandatory to acknowledge subtleties as
well as complexities associated with management of others within multicultural environment.
Intercultural communication will assist management to share information across various cultures,
social groups which comprises of various religious, ethnic, social and educational backgrounds.
It will help to recognize the differences in ways people of wide range of act, culture,
communicate and perceive world surrounding them. Lack of cultural sensitivity within business
will offend current as well as prospective clients, employees who work in some other place. This
will have downbeat company’s bottom line. Therefore it is essential for companies who are
working cross cultural to take into account culture of different countries in which they are
rendering their services.
In this assignment, Carrefour S.A. is taken into consideration. It is a French
multinational retailer and it is one of the largest hypermarket chains. It is headquartered in
Boulogne Billancourt, France. They operate their services in around 30 countries. This
assignment is based on different frameworks which are used for analyzing differences as well as
similarities. Carrefour has expanded them from France to China and to meet intercultural
differences, they are making use of Hoffstede and Trompenaars with respect to these two
countries. These frameworks are applied to overcome the certain barriers associated with
operating intercultural. Furthermore, cross cultural issues and adaptations are analyzed by use of
essential framework. Apart from this, implications of the analysis are examined with respect to
future expansion.

Theoretical analysis of France and China
Intercultural management refers to study of behavior of people within organization which
is present within different cultures as well as nations in the world. With expansion in
international trade and continuous immigration flow has lead to work place which comprises of
people from diverse culture. Carrefour has opted to make use of Hoffstede and Trompenaars in
France and China. These models assist them to operate their services effectively in different
cultures.
Hoffstede Cultural dimensions
It is a framework for cross cultural communication which describes the effects of culture
on society with respect to their values and way in which these values are associated with
behavior. It is adopted by Carrefour to carry out their functionalities smoothly. It is described
below with respect to China and France.
Power distance: It addresses that fact that all individuals are not similar and it articulate
attitude of culture towards these inequalities. It is defined as an extent to which less powerful
members of organization as well as institutions within country accept and expect the power
which is shared and is equivalent. With respect to China the highest ranking of PDI is 80. This
implies that inequality among people is acceptable. Relationship between superior and
subordinates tends to be polarized. People should not expect beyond their position within
Carrefour. France has 68 score which implies that here organization have hierarchical levels
with respect to UK and Germany. In this case within Carrefour superiors possess privileges and
are not easily accessible.
Individualism: It denotes degree of interdependence which is maintained by society
towards their members. It addresses that either self respect of individuals is defined by ‘I’ or
‘We’. In individualism people only look after their need and in collectivism people belongs to
groups & are responsible for each other. In China there exists high collectivist culture which is
relevant by score 20, they act as a group. In this case commitment of employee towards
Carrefour is low but toward employees is cooperative. Importance is given to relationship rather
than organization and tasks. France has scored 71 which depict individualist society. In this
people make their children independent with respect to group they belong to. In this case,