Cultural Analysis of Host Country: International Business in India

This report provides a detailed cultural analysis of India, focusing on its significance in international business. The analysis covers various aspects, including the rationale for choosing India as a host country, its unique cultural components like technology, languages, and symbols, and the business culture prevalent in the country. The report also highlights how India's business culture differs from Malaysia's, examining factors such as business environment, language, and economic overview. Furthermore, it explores the impact of unique cultural components on international business, emphasizing the role of Hofstede's cultural dimensions in understanding cross-cultural communication and its influence on business practices. The report utilizes secondary data analysis to compare and contrast the cultures of India and Malaysia, offering valuable insights and recommendations for international business strategies.

Running head: Cultural Analysis 1
International Business
Cultural Analysis of Host Country

Cultural Analysis 2
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Rational for choosing Malaysia.......................................................................................................4
Cultural analysis of host country.....................................................................................................5
Unique cultural components............................................................................................................5
Business culture of host country......................................................................................................6
Differs from Malaysia......................................................................................................................7
Impact of unique cultures in international business........................................................................8
Hofstede’s cultural dimension.........................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................12

Cultural Analysis 3
Introduction
The role of culture is valuable for doing trade in local market but it is more vital for international
marketing, it is because in international the beliefs, values and cultures are totally different. The
cultural of an organization is known as corporate culture and the feature of corporate culture is
different from organization of a country (Luthans & Doh, 2018). This report will focus on the
marketing cultural report of Malaysia. The culture of Malaysia is different from other country.
Depth information about its host country (India) will be mentioned in this assignment which will
be shown by analysing the culture of host country. Hofstede’s cultural dimension is a theory of
cross-cultural communication which is developed by Greet Hofstede. It would be helpful to
define the different acceptance of different culture of different country. By taking help of
analysis and evaluation of secondary data, the dissimilarity between the culture of Malaysia and
India will be described so that valuable recommendations can be made.

Cultural Analysis 4
Rational for choosing India
There are multiple reasons to choose India. It is a Southeast Asian Country with diverse terrain –
from Himalayan peaks to Indian Ocean coastline. This country has been chosen for its
multicultural population. There are various reasons liable to choose India for business that is
business friendly laws and markets of this country are ready to explode. The population of India
is friendly which can easily exchange the ideas and views with other country and have in impact
in global affairs. The similar diversity shows seemingly inflexible problems of social cohesion
(Adekola & Sergi, 2016). The major three things are defined below which shows the reason
behind bringing business to India from Malaysia.
Business friendly law: it has been found that major four bills are passed in last year that is
Goods and service tax bill which increase the efficiency to move the goods from India to other
country. The Direct tax code which cleans the tax laws and most important law is Land
Acquisition Bill and the companies bill which help to increase the business in India.
Moderate inflation: A falling inflation rate linked with the respectively high growth rate which
can be considered as the kind of the environment through which outside investors should delight.
Proper market: in the comparison of India’s GDP, the customer spending stands at just 57% in
comparison of the US where the ratio of it is 72%. It shows that approx $1.2 trillion worth of
opportunity of rising customer sector is increased (Chikermane, n.d.).

Cultural Analysis 5
Cultural analysis of host country
India is a democratic republic which is divided into 29 states, that each state has its own
government which is elected by the living people of there. Diversity can be considered as the
keyword to describe India, in relation to religion as well as the population and languages. There
are 14 official languages in India which is spoken by people of different states. India is the
second most populated country on earth with a population of 1.2 billion (CountryEconomy, n.d.).
It has been found that the culture of India is among the world’s oldest civilization. Indians made
noteworthy advances in mathematics such as the invention of zero, in architecture such as Taj
Mahal and medicine such as Ayurveda. The customs and celebrations of India are different from
other country as it develops relationship with other country politely. There are existences of
subculture which make different it from another country. The saying “Atithi Devo Bhavah” is
vital in India which shows that the guest is equal to God. It is a verse of Sanskrit which has been
taken from the scriptures of Hindu which developed into the major components of the code of
conduct for the Hindu society.
Unique cultural components
The unique cultural components of India is mentioned below which will be helpful to analyze the
culture of India.
Technology: the technology of India is more advanced as it never looks back to compete with
developed country and adapts the latest technology to bring change in the work style. The impact
of technology to the culture of India is considered as the promotion to their culture.

Cultural Analysis 6
Languages: India is a country that has numerous languages of different states. It has been found
that the people of India speak different language as per their comfort, culture and beliefs. More
than 14 languages are spoken by people in India which shows the huge example of diversity
(Patel, 2010).
Symbols: symbols are considered as anything that brings a different meaning identified by
people who share culture. National flag is the most well known symbol of India. Along with that
it has number of symbols that represent their country. These are mentioned below:
 The symbol of four lions on national emblem which are the indication of courage, power
and confidence.
 The national flower is lotus that represents the honour, fortune and ling life.
 The national bird is peacock that depicts beauty, pride and grace.
 The national animal is lion that represents the power, strength and grace.
Along with that India has different symbols that shows the integrity of the country to others
cultures. These are the way of greeting to others by saying Namaste.
Value and beliefs: respect is considered as the valued component of the daily life of people in
India. Children are taught from a very young age to give respect their elders. Children take care
of their parents when they are adults. Parents live with them until theory lives have ended.
Family is also vital component of Indian culture. The value to god is being given by Hindus.
They have faith on with good karma and reincarnation. It has been found that the ultimate goal of
the Hindus to reach “nirvana” which is the releasing of the soul from a cycle of rebirth.
Norms: the rules and regulations or folkways of India are quite different. People of India use
Namaste while meeting each other and when they say goodbye. It is done by putting palms

Cultural Analysis 7
together in a prayer like position. It has been evaluated that from the eternal snows of the
Himalayas to the developed peninsula of far south.
Business culture of host country
It is necessary for the success of the business to have the good understanding of the fundamental
values and beliefs of the culture of India. India is a diverse, populous and vast nation including
various languages, religions and identities. In the context of Indian Business culture, the
development of the business is entirely relied upon relationship building. Indians are inclined
towards providing effective deal to those whom they know and trust (Reis, Ferreira & Santos,
2011). The customer satisfaction is considered as priority for the business of Indians. The trust of
customer can be earned by demonstrating the firm business insight, displaying respect and
loyalty. Negotiation is involved in the business meeting of India and the process is slow of
meetings. The decision making process is slower in comparison of others country because
decision is taken at upper level and can take more time. Personal relationship has a huge role in
Indian Business Culture. The introduction of third party is necessary for Indians because they
tend to work with those whom they know and trust (Series, 2011). Trust is the key of success for
Indians and they will be seeking for an honest commitment to make the relationship (Halkos &
Tzeremes, 2008). They spread their business networks with partners they can rely on. The
businesses of India are often hierarchically structured. An Indian manager is not expected to
carry out tasks which could be assumed by someone at a lower level in the organization. The
government of India is more active by measuring and controlling the limits of private sector. The
company’s act 2013, consumer protection act 1986, commercial law and foreign exchange
regulation act 1973 are the major acts implemented by the government to establish the ethics
within the organization. There is a major role of Indian Government in handling the entire

Cultural Analysis 8
financial systems in India. However, it has been regulated by independent regulators in the area
of insurance and banking.
Differs from Malaysia
The business culture of India is entirely differing from Malaysia. The base of difference is
mentioned below between the business culture of India and Malaysia.
Business environment
The role of India is active in the United Nations by focusing on to increase the effectiveness,
credibility and the representative nature of the ongoing process of reforming the UN
organization. It has been analyzed from the doing business 2017 report, Malaysia has ranked on
23rd position out of 190 economies for entire simplicity of doing business. The market of
Malaysia is best in among the emerging market economies is Southeast Asia (Ghazali, Abdul‐
Rashid, Dawal, Aoyama, Tontowi & Sakundarini, 2017).
Business language
English is the common language which is used by both country to communicate with its business
partner and employees. Hindi is the native language of India. On the other hand, English is used
in legislations and business in Malaysia but the official language of Malaysia is Malay.
Economic overview
India is increasing into an open market economy. It has diverse economy including traditional
activities such as village farming, handicrafts, a huge range of modern industries and a modern

Cultural Analysis 9
agriculture. In the contest of exports, India has positioned on 19th rank which is 33% more than
Malaysia. On the other hand the rank of Malaysia is on 24th in the context of exporting
(Odhiambo, 2016).
Workforce
Men and women both are the major part of the labour force in both jurisdictions. The
participation of labour force is increased by 53% approximately in 2017 where as in Malaysia
the rate of workforce is increase by 63% approximately in 2017.
Income and corporate tax
The standard corporate tax rate is 24% in Malaysia. It has been evaluated that income tax in
Malaysia is inflicted on incoming accumulating in. On the other hand the government of India
has reduced the corporate tax to 25% from 30% (CountryEconomy, n.d.).
Impact of unique cultures in international business
The importance of culture is huge in terms of marketing. The whole economy of the world is
encompassed of smaller economies that are separate themselves (Pratap, 2017). Different
economies have various cultures and languages (Samaha, Beck & Palmatier, 2014). The impact
of unique cultures components has huge influence on international business because people from
different cultures can enhance the productivity of the business by sharing the different views and
ideas in order to develop the business (Hill, 2008). Culture is considered as vital factor in the
long term success of the organization. Culture is possessed knowledge that people of different
country use to generate social behaviour and interpret experience (Knight & Kim, 2009). It has
been analyzed that the success of the business in abroad is entirely dependent on the using skills

Cultural Analysis 10
of employee to handle the different culture. Unique culture has the ability to change the
technology, attitude and decisions of top management (Ferraro & Briody, 2017).

Cultural Analysis 11
Hofstede’s cultural dimension
In order to get better understanding about the differences between business and organizational
cultures of different country’s cultural dimensions has the noteworthy role. Dimensions are
considered as an important aspect of culture that can be evaluated in relation to other culture
(ITIM, 2015). Cultural dimensions help to provide the ways of understanding of behaviour in
various business situations that can be seen mysterious and odd at first (Banerjee, 2008). That is
why the role of cultural dimensions has the dominant role in understanding the different culture
of organization of different nations. Hofstede’s cultural dimensions comprise the six dimensions
which are defined below in the relation of India and Malaysia.
Power distance index defines the degree of inequality that remains between people with and
without power. This dimension has two categories such as low PDI and high PDI. The feature of
high PDI is centralized organization on the other hand the feature of low PDI is flatter
organization. The power distance index of India is 77, indicates the appreciation for hierarchy
and top down structure. It has been found that he score of Malaysia in power distance index is
100 which is very high. It shows that the people of this country accept hierarchical order which
require no justifications (Venaik & Brewer, 2013).
Individualism refers the fundamental issue of degree of interdependence. The score of Malaysia
in this dimension is 26 which show the collectivistic society while the score of India is 48 which
show that society of India is both collectivistic and individualistic. Masculinity is another
dimension of Hofstede. A high score of masculine shows the society will be driven by
competition and success while the low score of masculine represents the dominant value in the

Cultural Analysis 12
society. The score of India is 56 on this dimension and it considered as masculine society. The
score of Malaysia is 50 which are intermediate.
The dimension of uncertainty avoidance enhances the understanding in the people that future
cannot be predicted. The score of this dimension is reflected the rate of avoidance of
unambiguous and unknown situations (Schmitz & Weber, 2014). The score of Malaysia is 36
which show the low preference for avoiding uncertainty. On the other hand, the score of India is
40 that represent the medium low preference for avoiding improbability. The long term
orientation score of India is 51, the preference of dominant culture cannot be decided whereas
the Malaysia scores 41 in this dimension. The society of Malaysia has normative thinking and
they demonstrate the respect for traditions. Indulgence is the dimension that defines the extent to
which the people try to control their desires (Gupta & Bhaskar, 2016). In this dimension,
Malaysia scores high with 57 which indicates the culture of this country is indulgence. On the
other hand India attains the low scores of 26 in indulgence dimension. The society of India has
tendency to pessimism.
By analysing the above discussion, it can be said that Malaysia can get efficient business
opportunity by understanding the business culture of India. Malaysia (Home country) should
focus on the difference between the cultures of both countries. The role of human resource
management is integral in managing the difference of cultures that is why the business
organization of home country should focus on training and development program, appraisal,
target setting and recruiting (NCBI. n.d.).

Cultural Analysis 13
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that the differences in culture for the
organization is beneficial because it brings the different ideas and views which can be helpful for
the growth of the organization. The unique cultural component of India (host country) has been
evaluated in the terms of language, symbols, technology, norms, values and beliefs. The business
culture of every country is different that is why the difference between the business culture of
India and Malaysia has been discussed. The Hofstede’s cultural dimensions have been evaluated
in the terms of analyzing the business opportunities and efficiency of the business of both
countries.

Cultural Analysis 14
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