ne) d: the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic (studying the effect of computers on print culture) (changing the culture of materialism will take time - Peggy O'Mara)6: the act or process of cultivating living material (as bacteria or viruses) in prepared nutrient media; also
a product of such cultivation (Merriam-Webster, 2008, p. 1).
The most relevant of these definitions is that which applies to consideration of the norms, values, and mores that influence individual peoples, cultures, and social systems. In discussing the influence of culture, Barger (2007) suggests that the topic has grown in significance in recent decades because of the rush toward globalization which is creating a truly international marketplace and requiring businesses operating in this marketplace to undertake new strategic alliances with partners who come from dramatically different cultural environments. Cooperative business ventures, whether international joint ventures (IJVs), partnerships, mergers, or acquisitions are an increasingly significant mode for entering new markets and capitalizing on synergistic competencies that companies may share to good effect (Taps, 2000).
However, multinational enterprises (MNEs) entering new markets through IJVs must invariably cope with the environmental impacts of culture in the form of dynamism, complexity, and even hostility. Such variables impact on both partner selection criteria and the ultimate outcome or performance of an IJV. Indeed, Taps (2000) makes the case that strategic alliances of this type often fail because of a type of cultural dissonance which makes it all but impossible for a foreign MNE to effectively operate within a developing country or a new market that is substantially different from that of the MNE.
These are the issues that will be discussed in this report. First, an over...