gE Blog Series: Culture Week Part 1 - What is Culture?

Time for another blog series! I'm pleased to announce we'll be having a culture week here on our blog. This week we'll be discussing many exciting topics covering culture ranging from social media on the internet, to common mistakes in business settings, to the future of global culture.

Culture is both subtle and obvious at the same time, it is very hard to describe. The characteristics of culture vary greatly worldwide. It shapes our perceptions of the world and also determines how others view us. Culture is an integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning. Or you can define it as the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization or group. So why is this important in business? Having high cultural intelligence can be helpful in avoiding costly mistakes regarding culture, which can damage relationships and ultimately weaken a companies market position in that particular country.

We hope that this series will be informative and give you important information for growing your business in a foreign country or even if you're just visiting in another country. If our series perks your interest in culture, feel free to explore our other culture resources we have on globalEDGE. If you're looking for information focusing on country-specific business customs and etiquette, I reconmmend checking out Executive Planet. If you're looking more to fine-tuning your intercultural skills check out the Center for Intercultural Learning site. All these resources and more can be found in our International Cultural Resources section in our Resource Desk. You may also want to check out our culture module. Whatever it is you may be looking for, globalEDGE is here to help!