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Cross-Cultural Business - Power Distance & Individualism/Collectivism

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I am planning to do business in a culture opposite to my own on the cultural dimensions of "power distance". Being an American, I would have a lower power distance and would value individualism.

Titles, status, and formality are important in societies with high power distance and people with high status are given much leeway in their behavior. I would imagine that "standing on formality" is huge. Standing when a person enters a room, formal names--no first names. The biggest problem I see is that gift-giving in business is an acceptable practice.

What other challenges should I expect? How can I prepare?

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Solution Summary

Challenges faced by a person moving from a culture of low power distance to high are explained with examples in 276 words.

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I imagine that having a higher power distance would also include things such as spatial interaction and physical contact. For example, you might expect not just to stand up when someone enters the room, but also to maintain a distance equal to their status, as far as it relates to your own position and those around you. In other words, you can expect to stand next to someone of an equal role in ...

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