Market Cultural Report On Singapore And USA

The Culture of Singapore

Question:

You are required to prepare a Market Cultural report on a country of your choosing.

A market culture is considered as the corporate culture that enhances the competition not only between the organizations but also between employees.  The effect of culture on marketing effectiveness is dependent upon the behaviour within an organization (Nakata, 2009). This report will focus on the market cultural report on Singapore. An analysis will be done on various factors regarding culture of Singapore, focusing on their some specific culture by using Hofstede’s culture dimension. Hofstede’s cultural dimension is a theory of cross-cultural communication which is developed by Greet Hofstede. It will be helpful to define the effects of a culture of society and the value of its members. Secondary data will be helpful for evaluating the culture of Singapore as well as America.

There are various reasons to choose the Singapore. It is an Island city-state off southern Malaysia, is a worldwide global centre. The main reason to choose this country is that it has multicultural population. However, the population of the Singapore is 5.607 million in 2016. It has been analyzed that immigration is an essential component of Singapore’s short demographic history and aided shaped the acceptance of substantial immigration in current times. The culture of Singapore is combination of Asian and European cultures (Hui, Wan & Ho, 2007). The openness of Singapore to global trade and investment and its effective regulatory environment motivate vibrate cultural activity. It is a democratic state which is governed by only one party, the People Action’s Party (PAP), since 1965. It is considered as the most prosperous nation in all over the world. However, the economy of Singapore is dominating towards it services but it is the major manufacturer of electronic and chemicals. It has been evaluated that the business of Singapore is greatly influenced due to low-skilled labor and lower labor cost which put negative impact on the business in the form of delaying business operations (Chia, 2011).

The United States of America is featured as the home of the brave and the land of the free. A culture of the country is transmitted in a various ways starting with recruitment and migration. The culture of America is evolved with various ethnic, regional and political influences. It is conventionally considered as a Western Culture. It is based on the British Culture which is impacted by Europe and the indigenous people.  It has been analyzed that due to having magnitudes in American culture, there are several integrated but exclusive subcultures exist within USA (F?rat, 2013).

Reasons to Choose Singapore

There are major three unique cultural components of Unites States of America. These are mentioned below:

(a) The apparent artifacts

(b) The adopted values

(c) The ratified values that facilitated it develop and progress from an abounding diversity of origins and influence.

The apparent artifacts

It encompasses social spectacles, linguistic, symbols and ceremonies that characterized the life which involves tales, lingo and legends. There are two well-known examples of the apparent aircraft that dominant the culture of America are the sign of Bald Eagle and another is distinguished with red, white and blue of the national flag of country.

Figure 1: the national flag of USA

Source: (Lair, 2012).

The adopted values

The next section linked with American culture is the diversity of the people that adopt the varieties of values which involve the strategies, aim and philosophies. People from different culture express their conducts and principles distinctive as per their specific type of social, ethnic and age group. It is the country which is well known to attract many people to accomplish their goal. There are so many immigrants in this country that arrives to live the better quality life (Šimberová, 2007). Their customs and adopted values are considered as the contributing factors to the huge variety of sub cultural impact in America.

The ratified values

It is the last level of apparent that influence the culture of US by the dominant ratified values. For instance, one early explaining characteristics of the America as a nation was its ratified values of slavery. There are so many Americans who are aware about the inequalities that remain in the nation. It has been analyzed that their separated principles were proofed in the recent United State Presidential Election (Lair, 2012).

Business culture is considered as the system of norms and values that are shared among a group of people in the term of constitute a design for living. America offers the wider consumer market to consumer market on earth with a population of 325 million. The businessman of the America are task oriented, they get a goal in the mind and working until attaining it. The business culture of America is different from other country because it follows strict policy during working hours towards achieving the goal and adopts the behaviour of leniency in leisure (Halac, Biloslavo & Bulut, 2013). As per the US law, women get equal opportunity as men and get special benefitted from their company.  America is such a melting pot of cultures and religions that is why it is hard to know the rules of that how one conduct oneself in public (Samaha, Beck & Palmatier, 2014). It has been analyzed that the federal income tax in the country is increasing of up to 40% of total taxable income.

The Culture of USA

The business culture of USA is entirely differing from Singapore. There are various elements which is the base of difference between the business culture of Singapore and the business culture of USA. These elements are described below:

Economic overview

The U.S. has the largest consumer market in all over the world. In addition, US have the free trade agreements with number of countries that enhance the access to hundreds of millions of supplementary consumers.  On the other hand the activities in the manufacturing and the services sector are accountable to support the economy of Singapore.

Business environment

As per the World Bank doing business report, the US has slipped to the 8^th position from 4^th position in 2017. On the hand the position of Singapore is 2^nd in all over the world due to its pro-business environment. Each state of America has its own laws and legislation and the legal system of Singapore is based on the English Common Law.

Workforce

Women are found as major part of the labor force in both jurisdictions. It has been analyzed that the labor force of women in the U.S. is 47% and 46% in Singapore approximately.

Business language

English is the language which is used in both jurisdictions. Spanish is the second most common language in the U.S. On the other hand, English is most common language in Singapore which is used in legislation and business in Singapore.

Income and corporate tax

Federal income tax in U.S. is amplifying up to 40% of taxable income while the progressive rate of tax for personal income is 22%. Federal corporate tax in U.S. differs from 15% to 35% if taxable income goes beyond $335,000. On the other hand the rate of corporate tax in Singapore is 17%.

Figure 2: Country Ranking

Source: Guide Me. (2017).

The unique culture defines a variety of culture, ethics, religions, languages and trends. The impact of unique culture on international business is effective because when a number of group from different country or religion gather for fulfilling the same purpose, it brings the different ideas for the growth of the particular business (Tüfekci, Papatya & Papatya, 2014). Organizational hierarchy towards management roles can also diverge extensively between cultures.

Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory comprises a framework revolving around cross-cultural communication, which was introduced by Geert Hofstede. It is helpful to explain the relationship between the values of the members and behaviour. It is helpful to know the factors in order to operate effectively in the America. There are six cultural dimension of Hofstede framework such as power distance index, Individualism Versus Collectivism, Uncertainty Avoidance Index, indulgence Versus Restraint, Masculinity Versus Femininity and Pragmatic Versus Normative. It has been analyzed that the culture is learned by an individual while the nature of human is inherited. It has been found that the person within all cultures have different perception, values, beliefs, values and preferences.

Unique Cultural Components of USA

Power distance index explains the degree of inequality that exists between people with and without power. It is categorized in low PDI and high PDI. It has been found that the power distance score of America is 63.83 which place them on the average rate with the world. The business in America would be benefitted because it has the good power to operate the business (Saleem & Larimo, 2017). IDV refers to the strength of the ties that people have to others within their community. It has been analyzed that the IDV score of America is low. In the context of effective business, the business need to consider the respect for privacy and maintain the harmony in among workers to overrides other moral issues. Masculinity Versus Femininity defines the allocation of rules and responsibility among men and women (Al-Mohammad, Akroush & Lutfi Odetallah, 2014). The score of US on Masculinity is 62 which are high, and this can be looked in the behavioral pattern of American.

Uncertainty Avoidance Index introduce that how people can cope with anxiety in better manner. The score UAI of US is low that is 46, on the basis of uncertainty avoidance dimension. It has been analyzed that business need to consider acceptance of new ideas and innovative concepts to attain the objectives within time frame (Soares, Farhangmehr  & Shoham, 2007). As per Hofstede, the score of PVN of US is 26 which reflect that they believe in fact and analyze the situation in an effective manner before experiment. The business need to focus on long term goal and should plan in an efficient manner. Indulgence is the dimension of Hofstede that defines the extent to which people try to prevent their desires. The score of this dimension of America is 68. After evaluating the various elements of Hofstede’s cultural dimension, business needs to consider towards managing the cultural difference as part of human resource management (Bakir, Blodgett, Vitell & Rose, 2015). It can be done by recruiting, target setting, training and appraisal. Thus, it has been cleared that Singapore can get success if it understands the culture of America in efficient manner.

Conclusion

In the limelight of above discussion, it has been concluded that the cultural difference is advantageous for the country because it brings the different ideas and views from different country. The combination of unique culture in America helps them to understand their place in the global market. On the other hand the culture of Singapore is effective and the difference between culture of America and Singapore has been mentioned in this report. The theory of Hofstede’s cultural dimension has been facilitated to know the factors for which business is required to consider operating effectively in the country of America.

References

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Samaha, S. A., Beck, J. T., & Palmatier, R. W. (2014). The role of culture in international relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(5), 78-98.

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