Defining Culture

How do we define culture? Culture encompasses the values, beliefs, norms, attitudes and resultant behavior of people from different countries in different social circles during a particular time period. People’s values, beliefs and norms (norms being societally accepted methods) are introduced at an early age and are generally highly influenced by the people with whom they grew up and the environment in which they were raised.
There are also subcultures within a culture. For example, when people emigrate, there remains a desire to maintain stability in the sense of retaining their culture and traditions. Consequently this creates subcultures or identifiable units based on a particular culture’s values, beliefs and traditions. Groups which consistently identify themselves according to shared national, racial, religious or cultural origins are called ethnic groups. Ethnic groups preserve aspects of culture such as language, art, music and food. Areas of ethnic subcultures in the United States include Chinatown in Los Angeles and Little Italy in New York. The importance of ethnic subcultures to international business is that companies in Italy and Asia will target these subcultures in the U.S. knowing there remains interest in indigenous products. Ethnicity is based on cultural and geographical aspects of one’s background. It can imply common ancestry. Ethnic identity can be classified by geographic region (Italy, England, Egypt), by language (Italian, English, Arabic) and by religious belief (Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam), and by other factors. Suffice it to say that many cultures differentiate themselves through ethnic identity, thus its importance to international business.