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For those of us located within the United States, we often take or granted the normal day to day business operations. Though the United States has a mix of several district cultures, most companies operate in the same manner. In fact, Americans often make the mistake of assuming that standard business models are the norm in other countries as well. For the corporate executive charged with creating an overseas operation, lack of local culture understanding and its influence on business methods will most likely result in greater start-up difficulties if not complete failure. This paper hopes to develop a better awareness of various cultures and their influence on business methods and models. It will focus on the challenges in dealing with people from two different countries, Morocco and Pakistan, and offer some insight as to developing solutions to cultural differences.
Literature Review Several sources of information were used in drafting this report. Due to the internet I was able to obtain current articles on both countries. Also, I even went so far as to log onto chat rooms specifically created for and attended by Pakistanis and Moroccans. There I asked questions regarding the motivations, beliefs, and values of the people from both countries. The repose was postive in that Moroccans and Pakistanis were more tham happy to answer my questions.
Both parties seemed to be very nationalistic and proud of their countries. It is interesting to note that most of the people I was creating with were ex patriots, most of whom are located on the United States. Though I found the chat rooms an interesting place to speak with Pakistanis and Moroccans, the information I gathered was limited. I attribute this to chat room formats that only allow a person to respond with short sentences.
I later found a Pakistani chat room that allowed real time voice data transmission (web) which functioned like a two way radio. There people were able to express their thought and opinions regarding their home countries in more detail. The next couple of sections will detail the main differences between the cultures of Morocco and Pakistan. As I was conducting my reasearch on the two nations I quickly came to the conclusion that Morocco and Pakistan are more similar to each other than they are different. Though they have many commonalities, this does not mean that the challenges are any less for the international manager. The next couple of paragraphs will provide information on the similarities of both nations and the potential challenges the international manager may face in each nation.
The most obvious similarity is that both nations are dominated my the Muslim faith. Pakistan's population is 97 % Muslim and Morocco is 98 % Muslim. This poses specific issues and challenges for the international manager. Muslins view the world differently. For example, during an annual pilgrimage to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in 1990, a tunnel collapsed.
Over 1, 400 pilgrims were crushed to death in the panic. Saudi officials insisted that "the will of God" rather than sabotage or incompetence was responsible (Mead p. 24). What conclusions can the international manager draw from such a response? If a company is lacking in sales and bankruptcy is on the horizon will the Muslim worker throw his / her hands in the air claiming that "it is the will of God"?
Will the Muslin worker believe that the company in question was destine to fail anyway? Another potential problem for the international manager is that Muslims must pray to Mecca five times per day. If one is managing a factory where workers needs to be on the factory line as much as possible the ritual of prayer may become a significant problem as production will suffer. A factory manager form Japan or China assigned to manage a factory in a Muslim nation such as Pakistan or Morocco would have the most potential for misunderstanding due to cultural differences. Japanese factory workers are know for sacrifice many hours on the line for the health of the factory unit, group, and eventually the company.
How would the Japanese intranet a Muslin walking away from the factory line to pray? Another striking similarity is that both Pakistan and Morocco are made up of several different ethnic groups. For example, Morocco One of the most important differences between Morocco and Pakistan is the health of the people. The life expectancy of males in Morocco is 66 and for females is 70 years. Compare that to the life expectancy of males in Pakistan which is 58 and 59 for women. Thought this is not necessary a cultural feature of either country, it is easy to extrapolate that life must be more difficult, stressful and most likely dangerous in Pakistan.
In fact, I found many articles regarding conflict in Pakistan with her neighbor India. I belive it says something about the culture. Though Morocco and Pakistan share almost exactly the same religious makeup, both display 97 % Muslim and the remain percent divided among Jew and Christians, they do not share the same opened towards uncertainty. Morocco tends to be more open with regards to visitors, foreign investors, and western business methods. This may be due to its past history of foreign occupation. Morocco's strategic location has shaped its history.
Beginning with the Phoenicians, many foreigners have come to this area, some to trade or settle, others as invaders sweeping the land and dominating it. Romans, Vandals, Visigoths, and Byzantine Greeks successively ruled the area (United States Department of State). By 1904 Morocco was also influenced by France and Spain due to the The Treaty of Fez which granted both countries control over certain zones of land now held by Morocco. By contrast, Pakistan has mainly been occupied by Arab nations with little influence from other dominant culture.
What then can the international manger expect when conducting operations in either country. Generally speaking, I think that Morocco can be counted on to embrace new technology and ideas better than Pakistan. Pakistan is more likely to guard traditions and her history in lue of advancing as a nation via technology. We can also make some general assumptions about the common labor force in each country.
To avoid an uncertain future Pakistanis place a larger value on job security, benefits, and insurance. However, it is interesting to note that both nations display high employ
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