The Changing Geography of International Business Essay

The Changing Geography of International Business - Essay Example The political, technological and economic changes lead towards cultural diversities in the 21st century all around the world. The main objective of the paper is to consider the most significant characteristics of four regions namely Latin America, China, Russia and Africa that have shaped the business environment and that outsiders need to be aware of when initiating a new enterprise or while establishing operation there. The two significant characteristics that have been chosen for the study are culture and language, and politics. Culture and Language of Latin America The word ‘Latin America’ is used to explain the collection of 21 countries in the continent of South America. The language that is spoken is Latin. It has been observed that Latin America enjoys components of historical experience, culture and language. Latin America is an ethnically diverse region and is also deemed as a mounting political and economic force. The main languages that are spoken in this con tinent are Spanish, Portuguese and French (Teegan & Doh, 2002). Conventionally, the Hispanic family is a cohesive group and the most vital social unit. They generally believe in extended family. It has been observed that in Latin cultures, the familial group is quite crucial. In a few of the Latin American countries, peasants might leave their workplaces during holidays so that they can meet their relatives in other parts of the country. They also tend to attend the funeral, weddings of their friends, or distant relatives. A manager may be faced with greater difficulties related to non-attendance impacting the workplace to a major extent (Martinez-Calimano, 2006). According to a study conducted by Geert Hofstede for Latin American countries, it was noted that there is high power distance in Latin America. In Latin America, the people in higher level of authority expect to gain respect from others and are familiar to make decisions without taking into consideration the viewpoints of their subordinates. Latin America has low individualism rate. In Latin America gender roles become quite different in comparison to the United States, men hold the greater authority. There is high uncertainty avoidance in Latin America (Geert Hofstede, 2012). Politics of Latin America Latin America enjoys neither total-socialism nor free-market neoliberalism. The region has been ranked as the third most unbalanced region in the world in the context of post-war period. Political unsteadiness has been one of the most persistent issues in Latin America. It has been noted that from the year 1971-2000, three nations belonging to Latin America were consistently democratic within the thirty year phase, while the other countries have changed from democracy to autocracy and vice versa at least once during the time period. It can be analysed that such political instability tends to obstruct the economic development via its impact upon the accrual of both physical and human capital (Blanco & G rier, 2000). Culture and Language of China China has a prolonged history of cultural competence. China is considered as globe’s oldest civilisation among the culture that subsists today. The Chinese have been capable of preserving the old values still today. It is identified that when the Chinese entrepreneurs are operating their