International commerce

International commerce

The transformations in the world’s economy, whose start dates back to the middle of the twentieth century, have forced enterprises to expand their activities and management by adding the international dimension. This development has been followed by a greater openness of national economies and trade liberalization, which has led to the emergence of foreign and international companies on a number of internal markets. A vast majority of enterprises operates in the international environment, where the cultural factor is of tremendous importance, exerting a major influence on the success of transactions and maintenance of good relations between counterparties or employees of different cultural background employed in one enterprise.

Cultural differences can become a particular barrier in the business communication. Therefore it is crucial for business managers, lower rank employees, as well as representatives of smaller companies who engage with foreign countries to become familiar with different cultures in order to eliminate this barrier. In the literature, it is often highlighted that those people are not sufficiently prepared to work on culturally diverse markets and to communicate with people of other cultures.

The identification and understanding of cultural differences is one of the most significant skills of the world’s economy in our times, indispensable for gaining competitive advantage on the global market.

Culture influences numerous aspects of the international business communication, not only such as business relations, negotiations, international management, but also marketing communication strategies, decisions concerned with the brand or consumer behaviors.

The aim of this paper is to characterize and classify cultures, thus allowing the representatives of particular countries to be assigned to their relevant types of

cultures, and to present features characteristic for some nations in certain business areas which can be of use particularly during negotiations.

The paper is comprised of three parts. The first part outlines the concept of international business, the second one the concept of culture and diverse types of cultures. The third part shows the international issues relating to business operations in selected countries.

The notion of international business is defined as a business activity that extends beyond other countries or which is conducted across national borders. Taking into consideration the cultural aspect, international business encompasses transactions concluded and realized across national and cultural borders in order to meet the needs of individual consumers and organizations.

International business entities encompass international enterprises (in particular, transnational corporations (TNCs)) and domestic enterprises engaging in international relations. We should draw attention to the fact that behind those entities are people working in those enterprises, and it is precisely them who are the most important factor, having to make the effort to understand the cultural differences so as to become capable of communicating skillfully with other cultures. International business is also depicted as an area where several disciplines are combined: international management, international logistics, international marketing, international trade and finances. These disciplines partly overlap and partly complement one another.

The area of international business is thus very wide and so the managers must have a very extensive knowledge on all of the disciplines mentioned. Moreover, the issue of cultural differences is present in each of those areas. Nowadays, enterprises seeking to be successful and win competitive advantage on the global market also, if indeed not most crucially, have to take into account this aspect.

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