Doing Business in South Africa
Introduction
The South African culture compromise of: black Afrikaans , white Afrikaans, mixed-race Afrikaans, Asian-Indian, White Chinese-Taiwanese (Koopman & van Muijen 1994). The black Afrikaans are the majority race in South Africa. The Zulu nation makes up the majority in the black Afrikaans, The white Afrikaans are the minority race and have the majority of the power. The white Afrikaans are predominately from the English origin. The mixed-race Afrikaans are closer to the white Afrikaans but they are discriminated against just like the black Afrikaans.The Asian culture is predominantly of the Indian origin. The Asian culture keep the heritage of their home land. The Chinese culture is mainly
When a US executive is negotiating with Asian Afrikaans there rankings are different. According to Hofstede’s ranking the US is 38th and Asian Afrikaans is 10th (Hofstede 1996). Asian Afrikaans has a high level of inequality of power and wealth. US executives should give Asian African executives clear and explicit directions. Asian African executives will not want to get to know the executive in an informal manner. Asian African executives stress meeting deadlines. Asian African executives are more authoritarian in their management style. Asian African executives will show respect and deference to the US executive.
Individualism
According to Cook & Finlayson (2005), individualism is the degree to which individuals are integrated into groups. In individualist countries the bonds between individuals are loose. In collectivist countries people are integrated into strong and united groups. Countries with high individualism rankings are personal goals and achievements are encouraged (Cook & Finlayson 2005). Countries with low individualism rankings are encouraged to work for the good of the group not for the individual (Cook & Finlayson 2005).
When US executives negotiate with South African executives the individualism rankings were high for all the cultures. US executives should not be too invasive because this may be interpreted negatively by the South African executives. It is common for South African