Simon Ulrik Kragh

Central and peripheral consumption contexts: the uneven globalization of consumer behaviour

The possibility of marketing standardized products depends on the ability of the products to penetrate the cultural systems of the intended markets. A segmentation of markets into peripheral (culturally open) and central (culturally closed) consumption contexts makes it possible to identify structures which are receptive to foreign, unfamiliar products and structures which resist globalization. This segmentation principle may be a valuable help for the firms strategic decisions about the product portfolios composition of locally adapted and globally standardized products. The theoretical argument builds on data collected on the consumption context of furnishings in Britain, supplemented with Denmark, and the consumption contexts of food in the three Arab cities, Riyadh, Jedda and Dubai.

The anthropology of nepotism Social distance and reciprocity in organizations in developing countries

Nepotism is widespread in organizations in developing countries but has so far received scant attention in cross-cultural management research. The paper seeks to contribute to the underdeveloped research topic suggesting an anthropological explanation of nepotism. It is argued that nepotism reflects the presence of tribal and peasant social morals in organizations where they replace norms and principles typical of industrial society. Examples from African and Latin American organizations show how nepotism works, and drawing on quantitative data it is suggested that nepotism is relatively common in countries at the earlier stages of industrial development. Four managerial approaches to nepotism are outlined: managers can accept nepotistic ambiguity; they can attempt to strengthen the modern organization; they can use the tribal and peasant norms underlying nepotism as the basic principle of the organization; or they can codify the pre-industrial norms and make them part of the formal organization.

Modernization and Management Business School Teaching across Countries

The choice between mechanistic and organic organizational forms of control should depend not only on the degree of technological and economic complexity, as argued by contingency theory, but equally on whether the cultural conditions necessary to make the organic model work are present. Teaching and learning are complex work processes, and the way control is exercised at business schools is illustrative of principles applicable to other organizations. Data about 26 countries suggest that teaching styles in post-industrial societies are more likely to follow the organic model, involving greater ‘empowerment’ of students and less formal authority. In the business school context, this ‘empowerment’ is shown to rest on students’ cultural values of solidarity and social commitment. The argument is then pursued to the sociocultural and political environment of the business schools. Running the ‘student empowerment index’ generated by own data against international value surveys suggests a close relationship between teaching styles and various indicators of cultural and political modernity.

Product syntax and cross‐cultural marketing strategies

The marketing implications are examined of a recent research project which shows how respondents from England “read” furnishing interiors from Denmark, and vice versa, in ways which are fundamentally different from those intended by the owners. The differences arise not least because the two cultures hold very different ideas of appropriate product syntax; of how the furnishing items could and should be combined. The marketer’s strategic choice between a standardized and an adapted approach to a new market involves an assessment of the impact of the cultural variable. Using a model developed in previous work to assist in this strategic choice, the data on the two contrasting furnishing cultures is examined to illustrate some of the processes at work in the impact of the cultural variable, and to suggest some possible approaches to utilising the insights in the construction of culturally adapted promotional material.

Preindustrial patterns in Chinese organizational culture

Chinese organizational culture is usually described as being influenced by Confucian social norms and unique to the country. The paper argues in contrast to this view that there are important cultural similarities between values and norms in organizations in China and other developing countries. It is suggested that China, like other developing countries, is in a process of industrialization but retains preindustrial social norms which shape social relations and organizational structures. The paper shows first that the morals of social distance and reciprocity which anthropologists have found to be constitutive of a large number of preindustrial communities also govern relationships within and between organizations in present-day China. The paper then turns to organizations in Africa and Latin America and it is shown that the same social morals structure behaviours in these two developing regions, suggesting that the cultural characteristics of Chinese organizations are not simply unique to this country but a set of preindustrial norms that industrializing countries have in common as a legacy of the past.

Business School Teaching and Democratic Culture: An International and Comparative Analysis:

Egalitarian and participation-oriented teaching emphasizes critical discussion and informal relationships between students and professors. The authors argue that the use of egalitarian and some aspects of participation-oriented teaching at business schools differs systematically across countries according to the strength of democratic culture. Countries with high levels of well-being, strong emancipatory and civic values as well as a stable political democracy also tend to have egalitarian and, to some extent, participation-oriented teaching at their business schools. The article draws on survey data collected at Copenhagen Business School and macro-sociological data from a number of publicly available databases.

Tribe and village in African organizations and business

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that organizational behaviour and business relations in African countries reflect preindustrial social norms typical of kinship based, rural communities such as in-group/out-group differentiation, reliance on kinship and the use of gift-exchange to create and strengthen social bonds. Design/methodology/approach – Two books on African management are interpreted using anthropological and sociological theory as the analytical perspective. Findings – The analysis of the two works suggests that the preindustrial patterns described in the anthropological literature play a central role in African management and business. Practical implications – The paper concludes that manager should recognize the negative effects that may follow from a rejection of these socio-cultural patterns of behaviour. Originality/value – It introduces Marshall Sahlins’ theory of social distance and reciprocity showing how this theory explains behaviours in and between African organizations.