Esame Cross Cultural management

EXAM: Cross Cultural Management

Case study: Nora & Sakari or Raysun

1. Based on the Nora & Sakari case, which culture dimensions can best describe

the different behaviors, expectations and communication patterns of the

two parties? Explain the link between behaviors and cultural dimensions in

the case study.

At first sight, we can clearly identify the contraposition between a collectivistic culture like Malaysia (Nora)

in opposition to a more individualistic one like Finland (Sakari)

Malaysian managers put more emphasis on the relationship between employees that should be honest and

consistent.

The establishment of good working condition is crucial in a Country like Malaysia in order to face a

multicultural environment in which coexist citizens coming from all-over the world and especially from Asia

(China and India). The creation of a peace-full environment increase the acceptance of the different

cultures, in terms of traditions and religions. This process of integration will even reinforce in the future

thanks to second-generation immigrants

Finnish people instead are deeply different they look surly and in some way even impolite, in fact, the Ceo

of Nora was in difficulty to deal with people with such a different culture in fact one time he even quit the

negotiation.

Finnish managers replied saying that they are not impolite but they are simple serious, silent and they don’t

love to have long speeches with strangers, moreover during a negotiation.

Finnish are generally considered more focus on individual achievement and independence instead of

thinking as part of a real team with “superior” and more generalistic (Individualistic Dimension) even if is

not clearly mentioned in the text.

We shall start from this point in order to describe another Cultural dimension, theorized by Trompenaars

which is: Neutrality vs affectivity which represent the extent to which people are free to express their

emotions in public.

As we have already mentioned Finnish people, look reserved, serious and obstinate.

We may even hypothesize that, at least during the negotiation they refrain from showing emotions.

Malaysian managers dislike the Finnish way of dealing, regretting the US negotiation style, in fact Zainal

Hashim "Negotiators for the United States tend to be very open and often state their positions early and

definitely. They are highly verbal and usually prepare well-planned presentations. They also often engage in

small talk and 'joke around' with us at the end of the negotiation. In contrast, Sakari negotiators tend to be

very serious, reserved, and 'cold.' They are also relatively less verbal and do not convey much through their

facial expressions. As a result, it was difficult for us to determine whether they were really interested in the

deal or not."

Even if is not explicitly said we can assume that Malaysian managers prefer a more “affective” way of

dealing where emotional expressions are acceptable and sometimes even encouraged like happened while

negotiating with counterparts from companies based in North America or the United Kingdom.

Notable is even the speech by the Vice-chairman of Nora where is evident his will of instilling and

promoting Islamic values among the Malay employees. He explained, "Islam is a way of life and there is no

such thing as Islamic management. The Islamic values, which must be reflected in the daily life of Muslims,

would influence their behaviours as employers and employees. Our Malay managers, however, were often

influenced by their western counterparts, who tend to stress knowledge and mental capability and often

forget the effectiveness of the softer side of management, which emphasizes relationships, sincerity, and

consistency. I believe that one must always be sincere to be able to develop good working

relationships.""(Source: R. Azimah Ainuddin, Case Study—Nora-Sakari: A Proposed JV in Malaysia.

This speech is an evidence of another specific dimension by Trompenaars: Diffuse oriented Society.

Members see the individual elements o of their life as interrelated and thus there is no clear distinction

between personal life and work and the hierarchy of authority at work can reflect into social areas outside

of work hours. He talked about sincerity in order to develop good relationships and he focused even on the

religious point of view that for him is fundamental even if is not strictly related to work.

Finland instead represent a more Specific Oriented Society in which people generally tend to Separate their

personal and working life and have a completely different relation of authority in each social group.

Ossi Kuusisto, Sakari’s vice president explicitly said: "We do not engage easily in small talk with strangers”,

it means that they do not want to play around words and they want to get immediately to the point (low

Context) without “wasting” time in relationship, not absolutely necessary for the negotiation .

The Context is the Extent to which the context of a message is as important as the message itself, like the

Finnish managers that adopted very Direct and frank communication (Cultural dimension by Hall).

Probably instead the Nora’s team is more High context which means that Much of the meaning in

communication is conveyed indirectly through the context surrounding a message.

They seem more loquacious but they are not so direct in declaring what is their final aim that is to get their

technology in order to develop its own digital switching exchanges and related high tech products instead

Finnish are more transparent and direct.

A Finnish peculiarity is their particular connection with nature. They really aspire to feel in Harmony with

Nature like is even explicitly said in the Article: “we have a strong love for nature and we have a tendency

to be silent as we observe our surroundings.”

This represent another dimension by Trompenaars, the Relationship with environment: the extent to which

people believe they control the environment or it controls them. It emerged that Finnish people are Outer

Directed, but we do not have clear evidences about an opposite dimension for Malaysia .

Malaysia is a country with high power distance: Beliefs about the appropriate distribution of power in

society. We have some little evidents about it for example is mentioned that even if Zainal Hashim was not

present at the 6th Negotiation he followed it closely and was briefed regularly by his negotiators that,

without their boss they were in difficult in dealing with different issues like equity ownership, technology

transfer, royalty payment, etcetera.

We can’t say the same thing for Finnish negotiators who seems more autonomous and used to make deals

even without the presence of their boss, denoting a much lower power distance connotation.

We can even notice that Nora’s Proponent is the vice-Chairman of the firm who represent a much higher

hierarchical level (inside the company) than the Proponent of Sakari who is simply a Vice President.

2. Based on the Nora e Sakari case, provide an evaluation of the following

Negotiation elements:

Which are the interests of Nora?

Which are the interests of Sakari?

Which are the alternatives to a negotiated agreement that Nora has?

(more than one.)

Which are the alternatives to a negotiated agreement that Sakari has?

(more than one.)

Firstly, let us try to analyse the Nora’s case.

Their principal interest is to buy and learn new capabilities and knowhow in technology from the Finnish

Company with the future aim of developing its own digital switching exchanges and related high tech

products.

They want to get source of information from a firm that work in a more complex and competitive

environment. From this expansion process, they expect to improve their position in their market.

After have obtained this knowledge, they may grow faster and expand internationally with an advantage

over competitors.

SAKARI

They want the possibility to enter in a new Market; Asia would perfect cause of its very high Expected

growth of mobile telecommunication (1990-94) and even for the very low percentage of Mobiles/people

(from 1 to 11).

They hope that Malaysian workers would be efficient in manufacturing, maintaining and ensuring quality,

products and prompt delivery.

They don’t want that Nora would be able to “steal their” technological competences and know-how.

Both the firms have bargaining power, because they have alternatives.

Nora has the possibility to deal with other firms interested in this joint venture like the ones that

participated to the bid (Siemens, Samsung, AT&T) maybe with a potential partner that will fit more with

their conditions and moreover with their organizational, cultural and structural characteristics(they don’t

abandoned the possibility of a renegotiation with Sakari).

Another Possible alternative would be to “steal” knowledges, professional, competencies and high tech

materials from some Western competitor in order to develop their own best technology, which indeed is

their real final aim

Sakari alternatives are related to the research of another partner or maybe to acquire a strategic small firm,

geographically well placed, that fit better in terms of culture, capabilities and resources and then that can

lead them to apply their idea