Cross Cultural Implications of Corporate Social Responsibility

Dear friends,

Today I read the Winter 2010 edition of International Law News, published by the Section of International Law and Practice of the American Bar Association. The topic for this edition is "Corporate Social Responsibility: 'What's International Law Got to Do with It?'" As the same Section of the ABA published my work on cross cultural concerns in its book, The ABA Guide to International Business Negotiations, Third Edition, May 2009, I am beginning today a series of blog entries discussing the cross cultural aspects of corporate social responsibility. I will continually relate the cross cultural concerns blog entries to the Winter 2010 edition lead article on Corporate Social Responsibility, offering new perspectives on CSR.

Each culture in our world is unique and deserves to be understood, respected and valued for how it functions. As we begin to look at cultures foreign to our own and our own as well, we should first of all look carefully at what makes up a "culture". In brief, every culture is experienced through the "practices" that the members of the culture follow. "Practices" include the symbols, which are the common words, behaviors, pictures or objects that members of the culture find very meaningful for them. Another part of "practices" are the culture's heroes. The cultural heroes can be living or dead, created through literature or the arts or real. The important aspect of cultural heroes is that they act as behavior models for the members of the culture. Rituals make up the final part of cultural "practices". These are chosen behaviors that the members of a culture find "socially essential" as Hofstede and Hofstede describe them in their work, Cultures and Organizations, Software of the Mind. All of the forms of "practices" rely on the culture's core which are its values.

As I begin to write about corporate social responsibility, please hold in mind these "practices" and their core, cultural values. If the core values of one culture, along with that culture's practices, differ strongly from those of an international coporation, whose culture often reflects reliably that of its parent nation, there is a strong potential for cross cultural conflict on the work sites located in the foreign culture.

In my next blog entry I will begin to discuss the Best Practices for Managing Cross Cultural Concerns in Global Contracting that can minimize the risk that a multinational corporation is exposed to when operating outside of its home culture.

Warm regards,

Jane

Jane E. Smith, Esq.
LiSimba Consulting Services, Inc.
Building Relationships for International Business Success
www.lisimba.com
jsmith@lisimba.com