8 February 2019
ESCP – Campus République
Operations at the Cultural Interface: The implications of Cultural Matters in Operations Strategy
Jury
Advisors:
- Prof. Valérie MOATTI,
ESCP - Prof. Maral MURATBEKOVA-TOURON
ESCP
Referees:
- Prof. Blandine AGERON,
Université Grenoble Alpes - Prof. Ulrike MAYRHOFER,
Université Nice Sophia Antipolis
Suffragants:
- Prof. Pierre-Xavier MESCHI
Aix-Marseille Université - Prof. José A. D. MACHUCA
Universidad de Sevilla
Abstract
Within this perspective, the first article builds on four of Hofstede’s national culture dimensions (i.e. power distance, individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation vs. short-term) and on the High Performance Manufacturing (HPM) project’s global database to assess the impact of the aspects of the Brazilian, Chinese, German, and South Korean cultures in the shaping of its companies’ operations strategy. Relying on a confirmatory approach, results suggest that national cultures carry significant influences in firms’ operations strategy processes. The second article further analyses the influence of the Brazilian jeitinho, a cultural trait argued to be indigenous to Brazilian people and influent in the most diverse aspects of the functioning and organization of the Brazilian society, in business relationships. Within an exploratory qualitative approach, the assessment of semi-structured interviews conducted among Brazilian professionals suggest that supply chain relationships are indeed influenced by this cultural aspect, which may come to count with positive or negative connotations. Such understanding is believed to be of value to companies currently operating in Brazil or to those that intend to do so as part of their internationalization strategies. Finally, the third article is centered around the peculiarities and distinctions that French filmmakers bring to their creations to extrapolate lessons that can be learned from an international buyer-supplier relationship perspective. In this direction, a discussion is built over the difficulties of cultural adaptation, as well as over the value of cultural preservation and originality. Within this main debate, propositions to a more successful adaptation to national cultures are offered, which shall be of particular usefulness to companies seeking to expand their operations in international and culturally diverse contexts.
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