Internationalization of Business in Emerging Countries and National Culture
This chapter provides a framework for understanding the business challenges facing Brazilian companies. Based on the symbolic school of interpretive anthropology, two lines of ethnographic research were conducted on a Brazilian banking institution to identify, connect, and analyze the characteristic traits of Brazilian culture and their impact on organizational culture and administrative practices. The characteristic traits of the national culture are present in the ideals of an organization located in a country, and these traits influence management models and practices. This view rejects the hypothesis of universal management principles. In other words, management should be coherent with the country’s cultural expression, and international businesses should pay attention to the institutional and cultural realities of the countries in which they are located. The identity of an organization is linked to the local cultural context, and this aspect is important in business performance, the management of companies, and the internationalization of organizations in a globalized world.