1. Society refers to a group of people whose values and norms differ from each other.
2. Values provide the context within which a society’s norms are established and justified.
3. Rituals and symbols are the most visible manifestations of a culture and constitute the
outward expression of deeper values.
4. There is a strict one-to-one correspondence between a society and a nation-state.
5. In general, Western societies tend to emphasize the primacy of the individual.
6. The emphasis on individualism results in a low degree of managerial mobility between
companies.
7. The emphasis on individualism may make it difficult to build teams within an organization
to perform collective tasks.
8. The emphasis on individualism has led to the widespread diffusion of self-managing work
teams within Japanese organizations.
9.
(p. 99)
The primacy of the value of group identification encourages managers and workers to
move from company to company.
10. Strong identification with the group tends to create pressures for mutual self-help and
collective action.
11. Individuals become a member of the social category to which their parents belong.
12. The least rigid system of social stratification is a caste system.
13. A caste system is a closed system of stratification in which social position is determined
by the family into which a person is born.
14. In a class system, individuals born into a class at the bottom of the social hierarchy can
work their way up.
15. Although upward social mobility was possible in Britain, it could not normally be achieved
in one generation.
16. Class membership in the United States is determined to a much greater degree by
individual background and schooling, as opposed to economic achievements.
17. In American society, the high degree of social mobility and the extreme emphasis on
individualism have resulted in the emergence of class consciousness.
18. It is easier for companies based in countries with a high degree of class consciousness to
establish a competitive advantage in the global economy.
19. Confucianism and Confucian ethics influence behavior and shape culture in parts of Asia,
hence it is correct to characterize Confucianism as a religion.
20. Buddhism has the highest number of adherents in the world today.
21. According to Max Weber, Protestant ethics discouraged the development of capitalism.
22. Max Weber argued that the Catholic promise of salvation in the next world, rather than
this world fostered “a spirit of capitalism.”
23. Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam is a monotheistic religion.
24. Islam is not just a religion; it is also the source of law, a guide to statecraft, and an arbiter
of social behavior.
25. Under the Islamic banking method of mudarabah, when an Islamic bank lends money to a
business, rather than charging that business interest on the loan, it takes a share in the profits
that are derived from the investment.
26. The murabaha contract is the most widely used among the world’s Islamic banks,
primarily because it is the easiest to implement.
27. Max Weber argued that the ascetic principles embedded in Hinduism encourage the kind
of entrepreneurial activity in pursuit of wealth creation that we find in Protestantism.
28. The concept of mobility between castes within an individual’s lifetime makes no sense to
traditional Hindus.
29. Buddhism was founded in China.
30.
(p. 110)
Buddhism supports the caste system.
31. Confucianism is not concerned with the supernatural and has little to say about the
concept of a supreme being or an afterlife.
32. Language is one of the defining characteristics of a culture.
33. The use of a grading system in schools teaches children the value of personal
achievement and competition.
34. According to Geert Hofstede, high power distance cultures were found in societies that
tried to play down inequalities of power and wealth as much as possible.
35. People who cannot take food or safety for granted tend to have authoritarian tendencies,
and believe that men make better political leaders than women.
36. According to the World Values Survey, as countries get richer, a shift occurs away from
“traditional values” linked to religion, family, and country, and toward “secular rational” values.
37. _____ means an understanding of how cultural differences across and within nations can
affect the way business is practiced.
38. When Shop Smart opened its first super market in China it was unable to generate any
sales. After conducting a research, it was understood that the local sales personnel found it
difficult to communicate with the American store managers. In addition, Chinese consumers
found it difficult to shop in the American way. Shop Smart’s failure in China can be attributed to
the lack of: