140 Part 2 The Cultural Environment of Global Markets The internationalization of top executives throughout the world is a topic of increasing study and importance.18 The training and background (i.e., cultural environment) of managers significantly affect their personal and business outlooks.19 Society as a whole establishes the social rank or status of management, and cultural background dictates patterns of aspirations and objectives among businesspeople. One study reports that higher CEO compensation is found in Scandinavian firms exposed to Anglo-American financial influence and in part reflects a pay premium for increased risk of dismissal.20 These cultural influences affect the attitude of managers toward innovation, new products, and conducting business with foreigners. To fully understand another’s management style, one must appreciate an indi-vidual’s values, which are usually reflected in the goals of the business organization and in the practices that prevail within the company. In dealing with foreign business, a marketer must be particularly aware of the varying objectives and aspirations of management. Security and Mobility. Personal security and job mobility relate directly to basic human motivation and therefore have widespread economic and social implications. The word security is somewhat ambiguous, and this very ambiguity provides some clues to managerial variation. To some, security means a big paycheck and the training and abil-ity required for moving from company to company within the business hierarchy; for others, it means the security of lifetime positions with their companies; to still others, it means adequate retirement plans and other welfare benefits. European companies, particularly in the more hierarchical (PDI) countries, such as France and Italy, have a strong paternalistic orientation, and it is assumed that individuals will work for one company for the majority of their lives. For example, in Britain, managers place great importance on individual achievement and autonomy, whereas French managers place great importance on competent supervision, sound company policies, fringe benefits, security, and comfortable working conditions. French managers have much less mobility than British. Finally, research has shown such differences to be general—commitment of workers to their companies tended to be higher in countries lower in individualism (IDV) and higher in power distance (PDI).21 Such cultural influences on personnel pat-terns regarding security are are reflected in companies’ investment behavior–cultures higher in individualism (IDV) make risker R&D investments, having less fear of harm-ing the collective good of the firm.22 Personal Life. For many individuals, a good personal and/or family life takes priority over profit, security, or any other goal. In his worldwide study of individual aspirations, David McClelland23 discovered that the culture of some countries stressed the virtue of a good personal life as far more important than profit or achievement. The hedonistic outlook of ancient Greece explicitly included work as an undesirable factor that got in the way of the search for pleasure or a good personal life. Alternatively, according to Max Weber,24 at least part of the standard of living that we enjoy in the United States today can be attributed to the hard-working Protestant ethic from which we derive much of our business heritage. To the Japanese, personal life is company life. Many Japanese workers regard their work as the most important part of their overall lives. The Japanese work ethic—maintenance of Management Objectives and Aspirations 18Lars Oxelheim, Aleskandra Gregoric, Trond Randoy, and Steen Thomsen, “On the Internationalization of Corporate Boards: The Case of Nordic Firms,” Journal of International Business Studies 44 (2013), pp. 73 –194. 19Ted Baker, Eric Gedajlovic, and Michael Lubatkin, “A Framework for Comparing Entrepreneurship Processes across Nations,” Journal of International Business Studies 36 (2005), pp. 492–504. 20Lars Oxelheim and Trond Randoy, “The Anglo-American Financial Influence on CEO Compensation in non–Anglo-American Firms,” Journal of International Business Studies 36 (2005), pp. 470–83. 21Ronald Fischer and Angela Mansell, “Commitment across Cultures: A Meta-Analytic Approach,” Journal of International Business Studies 40 (2009), pp. 1339–58. 22Liang Shao, Cuck C. Y. Kwok, and Ran Zhang, “National Culture and Corporate Investment,” Journal of International Business Studies 44 (2013), pp. 745–63. 23David C. McClelland, The Achieving Society (New York: The Free Press, 1985). 24Weber, The Protestant Ethic.
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