France Vs Us Business Culture Case Study
France vs. US business culture
Some clear differences between U.S. and French work cultures are emphasized below:
1. Power Distance
Although it involves a lot of input, French decision-making often occurs at the highest levels of an organization. French corporations typically have a more hierarchical power structure than their U.S. counterparts, which -- while bureaucratic -- tend to have a culture of execution throughout the ranks.
A one-way governance system can create a gap between ranks that may reflect class disparities. While this is also a challenge in the U.S., it appears to be even more of one in France.
2. Individualism
In France, employees' upward mobility appears to be highly correlated with the university they attended. And …show more content…
This reflects the American ethos of opportunity and meritocracy, or “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.”
3. Masculinity
In the U.S., the business case for sustainable development leads with impact on profitability and competitive advantage, while in France, the initial discussion is often societal impact.
In America, sustainability is about people, planet and profit. In France, the emphasis is on corporate responsibility, not profit. Profit is implied, but they wouldn’t necessarily say so quite as explicitly. Americans have less hesitation talking directly about profitability as a component of sustainability.
4. Uncertainty avoidance
There is a fundamental difference between U.S. and French decision-making: Americans tend to focus on execution, whereas the French are more likely to emphasize the deliberative process.
While Americans can be frustrated by the amount of research required to inform an ultimate decision, the French frequently see the U.S. method as hurried and …show more content…
But Disney has aggressively dismissed that criticism as unfair and outdated.
“We made some mistakes early on, but we learned from them,” a senior Disney executive once said to me. “How can you judge us without seeing for yourself?”
There was a lot of familiar Disney iconography that wasn’t particularly adapted for Europe, from Frontierland to Main Street U.S.A.
As Joe sipped a beer in Fantasyland — alcohol was initially banned, in keeping with Disney’s practice elsewhere, but the French recoiled and Disney relented— I began to wonder about the company’s newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland. I associated it with a cultural misfire: A few months after it opened in 2005, a miscalculation during the Chinese New Year led to an overcrowding debacle. But maybe that was an isolated incident. Hmm. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/travel/what-i-discovered-by-visiting-every-disney-park.html The French were initially put off by high ticket prices and a ban on alcohol sales, which has since been
Some clear differences between U.S. and French work cultures are emphasized below:
1. Power Distance
Although it involves a lot of input, French decision-making often occurs at the highest levels of an organization. French corporations typically have a more hierarchical power structure than their U.S. counterparts, which -- while bureaucratic -- tend to have a culture of execution throughout the ranks.
A one-way governance system can create a gap between ranks that may reflect class disparities. While this is also a challenge in the U.S., it appears to be even more of one in France.
2. Individualism
In France, employees' upward mobility appears to be highly correlated with the university they attended. And …show more content…
This reflects the American ethos of opportunity and meritocracy, or “pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps.”
3. Masculinity
In the U.S., the business case for sustainable development leads with impact on profitability and competitive advantage, while in France, the initial discussion is often societal impact.
In America, sustainability is about people, planet and profit. In France, the emphasis is on corporate responsibility, not profit. Profit is implied, but they wouldn’t necessarily say so quite as explicitly. Americans have less hesitation talking directly about profitability as a component of sustainability.
4. Uncertainty avoidance
There is a fundamental difference between U.S. and French decision-making: Americans tend to focus on execution, whereas the French are more likely to emphasize the deliberative process.
While Americans can be frustrated by the amount of research required to inform an ultimate decision, the French frequently see the U.S. method as hurried and …show more content…
But Disney has aggressively dismissed that criticism as unfair and outdated.
“We made some mistakes early on, but we learned from them,” a senior Disney executive once said to me. “How can you judge us without seeing for yourself?”
There was a lot of familiar Disney iconography that wasn’t particularly adapted for Europe, from Frontierland to Main Street U.S.A.
As Joe sipped a beer in Fantasyland — alcohol was initially banned, in keeping with Disney’s practice elsewhere, but the French recoiled and Disney relented— I began to wonder about the company’s newest park, Hong Kong Disneyland. I associated it with a cultural misfire: A few months after it opened in 2005, a miscalculation during the Chinese New Year led to an overcrowding debacle. But maybe that was an isolated incident. Hmm. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/travel/what-i-discovered-by-visiting-every-disney-park.html The French were initially put off by high ticket prices and a ban on alcohol sales, which has since been