150 Part 2 The Cultural Environment of Global Markets Despite the substantial prejudices toward women in foreign countries, evidence suggests that prejudice toward foreign women executives may be exaggerated and that the treatment local women receive in their own cultures is not necessarily an indicator of how a foreign businesswoman is treated. It would be inaccurate to suggest that there is no difference in how male and female managers are perceived in different cultures. However, this difference does not mean that women cannot be successful in foreign postings. A key to success for both men and women in international business often hinges on the strength of a firm’s backing. When a female manager receives training and the strong backing of her firm, she usually receives the respect commensurate with the position she holds and the firm she represents. For success, a woman needs a title that gives immediate credibility in the culture in which she is working and a support structure and reporting relationship that will help her get the job done.55 In short, with the power of the corporate organization behind her, resistance to her as a woman either does not materialize or is less troublesome than anticipated. Once business negotiations begin, the willingness of a business host to engage in business transactions and the respect shown to a foreign businessperson grow or diminish depending on the business skills he or she demonstrates, regardless of gender. As one executive stated, “The most difficult aspect of an international assignment is getting sent, not succeeding once sent.” The number of women in managerial positions (all levels) in most European countries, with the exception of Germany, is comparable to the United States. The International Labor Organization notes that in the United States, 43 percent of managerial positions are held by women, in Britain 33 percent, and in Switzerland 28 percent. In Germany, however, the picture is different. According to one economic source, German female executives hold just 9.2 percent of management jobs and meet stiff resistance from their male counterparts when they vie for upper-level positions. But the good news is an indication that some German businesses are attempting to remedy the situation. One step taken to help boost women up the exec-utive ladder is a so-called cross-mentoring system organized by Lufthansa and seven other major corporations. High-ranking managers in one company offer advice to female managers in another firm in an effort to help them develop the kind of old-boy network that allows male managers to climb the corporate ladder successfully.56 Increas-ingly, governments are mandating gender equality in the boardroom based in large part to Norway’s leadership on the matter, as reflected in Exhibit 5.4. From 2010 to 2013, the average increase in women’s membership on corporate boards across all EU countries was 5.9 percent. The largest increase was in France, at 17.4 percent.57 In Brazil, 27 percent of senior managers are women, compared with a global average of 21 percent.58 Russia India Brazil China Spain US Germany Britain France Sweden Norway 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 Female directors on corporate boards as a percentage of total. 55Nancy J. Adler, International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior (Mason, OH: Southwestern College Publishing, 2007). 56For broader information about global women’s equality (including scores for economic participation and opportunity), go to http://www.weforum.org for the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, 2014. On the economic opportunity scale, Norway ranks fifth, the United States sixth, Germany thirty-second, Japan one hundredth, and Saudi Arabia one hundred thirty-first, close to last on the list of 135 countries; also see “Closing the Gap,” The Economist, November 26, 2011, insert, pp. 1–19. 57“Gender Balance on Corporate Boards—Europe Is Cracking the Glass Ceiling,” European Commission report, March 2014, accessed at http://www.ec.europa.eu. Also see Lisa Abend, “Boys Won’t be Boys,” Time, December 16, 2013, pp. 39 – 44. 58The Economist, “Redeemers of a Macho Society,” June 15, 2013, p. 70. Exhibit 5.4 Few and Far Between Source: “All Aboard: The World in 2012,” The Economist. Copyright © The Economist Newspaper Limited, London, November 17, 2011.
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