International Business: Cultural Analysis of the UK Business Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business culture in the United Kingdom. It begins with an introduction to the UK, highlighting its geographical, historical, and economic significance. The report then delves into a cultural analysis, exploring the influence of history, individualism, and masculinity on the British people and their business practices. The business culture section discusses aspects such as punctuality, communication styles, and the importance of first impressions. Furthermore, the report incorporates Hofstede's cultural dimensions to provide a structured understanding of UK culture, touching upon individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation. The report contrasts the UK with Malaysia in terms of business opportunities and culture. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and implications for international business interactions with the UK. The report uses sources like Kaasa (2016), Farcas & Gonçalves (2019), Mazanec et al. (2015), Huang & Crotts (2019), Bakir et al. (2015), Block & Walter (2017), Li (2018), and Mackie (2018) to provide a detailed and well-supported analysis.

Running head: ISSUE IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS
Table of Contents
Introduction of the chosen host country and rationale of the choices (UK)..............................3
Cultural analysis of the host country..........................................................................................4
Business culture of the host country..........................................................................................5
Hofstede’s cultural dimension analysis......................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction of the chosen host country and rationale of the choices (UK)
In order to understand the definite cultural dimensions, it is important to have an insight into
the host country that has been chosen. Since this definite study aims at the identification of
the definite perspectives of the host country, it will help in creating s propagation of the
definite cultural, economic and social attributes that exists in this country. Hence, United
Kingdom has been chosen to proceed with the tenets of the study. It is to be noted that, the
UK is an island country and is located on the northwestern coast of mainland Europe. The
medieval conquests as well as that of the subsequent annexation aspects of Wales by the
kingdom of England eventually followed the union between England and Scotland in the year
1707 in order to form the Kingdom of Great Britain (Kaasa, 2016).
The capital of the United Kingdom is London, which is considered to be one of the leading
commercial and that of financial and cultural centers. It is to be noted that, the United
Kingdom is the 78th largest sovereign state located in the world. The country has an
estimated 67.0 million inhabitants as per the reports of 2018. In addition to this, the United
Kingdom is further characterised by a unitary form of parliamentary democracy and
constitutional monarchy. At present, the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth who has
managed to reign since 1952.
On the other hand, the topographical features of the country tend to include the definite
features, which an island country needs to have. The topographical features of the United
Kingdom is further characterised by hilly regions located in the north, west and southwest as
well as the rolling downs located in the low coastal areas of the country. In addition to this,
the plains located in the east and southeast regions of UK demands to run from east to west
on the Scottish border that is located in the north (Farcas&Gonçalves, 2019).
From an economic point of view, it is important to understand the fact that, there
United Kingdom has made extensive contribution to the wealth of the country and that of the
world. The global trade functions of the country are further essentially influenced by the
definite facilitation of the definite economic factors that leads to extensive development. It is
to be noted that, the GDP growth of the country has managed to make the United Kingdom
the fifth largest country with the highest purchasing power in an effective manner. It was in

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the year 2015, that the United Kingdom was the 10th largest goods exporter from a global
point of view. The global market condition of the world are somewhat influenced by the
definite growth and development that is being carried out by the United Kingdom. In this
definite way the country has managed to carry out their business and cultural attributes in an
effective manner (Mazanec, Crotts, Gursoy& Lu, 2015).
Cultural analysis of the host country
In order to conduct effective cultural analysis of the country of United Kingdom it is to be
concerned that the culture of the people living in the country isgreatly influenced by the
history of the nation. The nation has traditionally followed the Christian region and has led
their life in a similar manner as complied with the Christianity. However, United Kingdom
has been found to be a country of great power. This enables the entire nation to be working
with certain aggressiveness that has allowed the people to develop their own culture and
follow them over the years. In order to analyse the culture of the country of United Kingdom
it is important to understand the people, their masculinity and individualism.
The nation United Kingdom scores about 89 in the index of individualism. The score of 89
that has been scored by the United Kingdom is one of the highest of the scores in different
countries and communities. The individualist score of United Kingdom is found to be below
only of few commonwealth countries like USA and Australia. Therefore, the individualistic
signs are existing among the people of UK. Being at higher score of individualism, the
country and the people living in the country is found to be prefer to take care of themselves
rather than showing loyalty to the entire community (Mazanec,Crotts,Gursoy& Lu, 2015).
One of the major factors to be considered in MALAYSIA is the high level of masculinity in
the society. It is identified that children in Malaysian society get the learning of being success
driven from the very early stage. Along with taking care of own-self the people are also
indulged to take care of their immediate family. In the communities of United Kingdom
children are taught from their very early age to take care of themselves. Along with this the
community teaching also helps the children in learning at very young age to find out the
uniquepurpose of their life and also the unique manner in which they are able to serve the
society. The common thinking of the members in the country is that happiness is enroute to
personal fulfilment. However, it should be noted that social and cultural factors between the

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home and host country are different and it is important for address them accordingly. It is
also identified that the major sections of the population in Malaysia are career oriented and
they prefer to follow their in succeeding in the long term career goals.
In order to draw the masculinity of the United Kingdom society it has been found to be a
society with very high masculinity. Hence, United Kingdom can be concerned as a masculine
society that is highly driven by success. Hence, being a masculine society the people of
United Kingdom is found tobe motivated mostly through wanting to the best and standing out
in the crowd. This is rather different from a feminine society that ensures that the people do
what they like rather than aging success. However, certain contradiction lies between the
understatement among the British people and the modesty lying within them (Huang&Crotts,
2019). The British people have a unique culture making it more competent to lead them to the
indulgenceof their career. It is the uniqueness of the society in UK that people are less likely
to have their gap in equality bridged.Hence, the criticality lies in this sector that in order to
under the people in the United Kingdom community one should be able to read between the
lines with criticality. This is because what is said is not always what is meant. On the other
hand, Malaysian society is having lower power distance that denotes that power distance is
less between the people. It is also identified that Malaysia is more collectivist society
compared to the individualistic society of the UK.
 In order to understand the long term orientation of a community it must be understood
that a normative society that scores low to the long term orientation are the ones who
likes to hold on to their past traditions. In such kind of a society the people prefer to
maintain the traditions that are time-honoured rather than welcoming the changes. The
norms in such traditional society are to look at the changes or modernism with
suspicion (Bakir, Blodgett,Vitell& Rose, 2015). However, the other type of country
where the score is high is known as the pragmatic society. In such society the
approach of the commons is to encourage learning and exercising changes. This is
seen as a way to prepare to adapt the changes in future. However, the country United
Kingdom has an intermediate score in the long term orientation which is 51.
Therefore, it is ambiguous that preference of which form is dominant to the society.

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Business culture of the host country
The culture of business of the British is quite effective and charming. They have a well
grown sense of the punctuality in the business matters as well as quite effective in their
business discussions. The indulgence of the contemporary functions is imperative and can be
taken into consideration as a leading aspect in the business cycle in the United Kingdom.
British believe in making effective first impression when it comes to business. The business
opportunities are the best acquired by the British people (Block& Walter, 2017). They
believe that when meeting with someone for the first time boldness should be maintained in
the character. Singaporean has been found to be quite cosmopolitan in their approaches with
business. The language they use while working is English. However, the official languages
are Malay, Chinese and Tamil.Hence, business benefits can be gained through such
methodical approaches.
On the other hand, certain areas in British business can be aggravated through looking into
the following points. The people in United Kingdom look into a very playful manner to their
business. For example, understatements and humour in the business communication of the
United Kingdom as well as in the workplace is quite common. While on the other hand,
considering the discussions on the ways in which the business is dealt in Singapore, it is
found that they are quite liberal in certain terms. Development of the opportunities in
UKhaslooked into development of common self that would ensure that the opportunities for
the sake of the business can be considerable with certain common methods of interaction (Li,
2018). Thus, it can be concluded that employees are more involved in the workplace due to
their collectivist nature. This will have benefits for both the managers and the employees in
having effective workplace environment in Malaysia. The land of Malaysia as well as the
workforce in the business firms of Malaysia is found to be multi-ethnic. Therefore, there is
presence of people from the Singapore, China, India as well as Eurasian communities.On the
other hand, the people in United Kingdom consider the punctuality to be very important in
the business meetings. Hence, it can be understood that they are quite strict and always on
time whenever they carry out functions and operations leading to the development of the
counterpart of the business dealings. However, this should be mentioned that the business
meetings are considered very important and is always scheduled beforehand. Random
planning is

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considered to be vague in the cases of business and is considered to be a drawback in
performance.
The business meetings or entertainment aspects and purposes vary with that of the British
people in a large range. For example, the business meetings are often hosted along with
arrangements of food and alcohol in United Kingdom. However, in the case of Malaysia it is
completely different (Mackie, 2018). Hence, when a party would be invited in business
meetings the Singaporeans expect to take up and talk on the bill. The rest of the parties are
concerned later on after the confirmation on the bill they haveaimed to discuss on. The
punctuality for the Singaporeans in the business meeting is valued at the most just as like the
people of United Kingdom. The Singaporeans also expect the other party to be similarly
punctual like they are. Both the sexes are given importance in Singapore. Therefore, it is not
rare to expect women delegates in business meetings. This is similar with the case among the
British people.However, the menu is required to be effectively chosen in Malaysia along with
addressing the delegates in the first meeting is to be concerned.
Figure 1: Comparing Business opportunities in UK and Malaysia
(Source: Chew, 2017)

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Hofstede’s cultural dimension analysis
In order to derive the 5 cultural dimensions of United Kingdom the Hofstede’s cultural
dimension has been taken in consideration. The sections below discuss in brief the orientation
of the same.
 Power distance: The dimension of power distance deals with the equality in the
society. Hence, it effectively reflects on the presence of inequality in the society
which is in turn reflected by the attitude of the national culture on a region. The
United Kingdom has been found to have scored 35 at the Power Distance Index.
Hence, the rank is quite low. The low rank of United Kingdom is considered to be
making the society the one which believes in the fact that inequality is required to be
minimized in the society in order to bring the balance in the society. Malaysia ranks
high in this index. The country is therefore, driven by highly hierarchical factors. This
is to ensure that the operations conducted by people in Malaysia beliefs in there
should be high power gap. However, the research on the PDI has shown an interesting
fact in the society of United Kingdom (Lim& Tan, 2018).
 Individualism: The dimension of individualism is considered to be developed with the
comparative dependence of one person to another. This is described in the
consideration of the interdependence that is produced among the members of a society
(Pheng& Chua, 2019). UK has a score of 89 which shows that the societies in
believes more in “I” rather than in “WE”. In comparison to this, the Britain has PDI of
35 which is low. This looks into the functions that relate to development of equality in
the society as per the belief of the commons.
 Masculinity: The masculinity in the society deciphers the fact that the development of
the society is mainly driven by the completion and achievement. With the score of 66,
the persons in the United Kingdom are considered to be highly success oriented. They
are also driven by sense of development. In case of Malaysia the score is 50 which
show that the society is less driven by the success and career but more turned to that
softer aspect of culture are addressed.The development of perspective shows that
there is indulgence in the development of the comparative development of the society.
The development of the success orientedculture of the children begins right from the

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school where they are given the sense of competition and it sufficiently continues
throughout the employment cycle.
 Uncertainty avoidance: This dimension focuses on the attributes that show that there
is uncertainty about the future. For example, the development of the opportunities is
liable to be attributed through the development of the comparative factor that relies on
the fact that it reflects on the development of fear for the future. The community of
United Kingdom has been found to have scored at 35 (Yum, Canary& Baptist, 2015).
On the other hand, the Malaysia scores 36 in the same and thus it can be concluded
that both the home and host countries are same in this factor. Therefore, it can be
understood that the people in the United Kingdom is happy enough to be uncertain of
the future. They prefer in changing plans with the new challenges and opportunities
that are produced by the passing days.
 Indulgence: The indulgence is the degree to which the children are socialised in a
nation. The United Kingdom has a score of 69which shows that they have weak
control on their impulses and desires. People in United Kingdom believe making the
most of their pleasure along with instances to spend money the way they wish.
Malaysia scores intermediate in this scale at 57. Hence, they are high in such culture
which shows the people there are not restrained.
Conclusion
The report had aimed in developing an account of the differences as well as the similarities
lying in the business as well as societal activities of two countries. The report has therefore,
chosen the two countries to be Malaysia which is the host country and United Kingdom
which is the guest country. The report has therefore, effectively addressed different areas in
the business functions as well as the personal and societal differences in the behaviour
between the two countries.Initially, the report clarified the choice of the host country as well
as the reason for the choice. Once it has been effectively put forward in the report it moved
forwardto discuss onthe cultural aspects of the host country. The cultural analysis was done
effectively addressing the areas of strengths and weaknesses of the communities. The report
further moved to discuss the business culture of the country that is UK. The greatest area of
similarities in two countries is the sense of punctuality. This is seen both among the British
and Malaysian. On the other hand, woman empowerment is also found to be readily accepted
as a result to which women representatives in the business meetings are often found.

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On the other hand, the development of the functions of the contribution of the persons in the
business meetings has been found to be different. In case of Malaysian business meetings the
discussion is preferred rather than a feast. In case of UK, they make it point to have a mutual
meeting and feast altogether. However, Malaysian people are multi-ethnic while the UK
people are more convinced to their string culture.

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References
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Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity
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Mazanec, J. A., Crotts, J. C., Gursoy, D., & Lu, L. (2015). Homogeneity versus heterogeneity
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dimensions in a single nation. Tourism Management, 48, 299-304.

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Yum, Y. O., Canary, D. J., & Baptist, J. (2015). The roles of culture and fairness in
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