SOUTH ASIA (26th lesson)

1. What did I learn?

South Asia is compound by the following countries: Afghanistan, pakistan, india, nepal, bhutan, and bangladesh.

Afghanistan is such a country that has become the main character in conflict for years. The Islam is the main rleigion which controles not just great parte of the culture but also the economic, legal and political field. The afghan culture is very rigid and it not wholly accepted by Westerns. The women´s role is defined, they are very submitted and can just do things about household, they do not have any representation in economic or political activities. On the other hand, about social behavior, Afghan are very exigent about it, for instance:
eye contact should not be for too long, and also between men, women must learn the proper behavior, if you are a men too, it is important to do not dishonor a local woman, women must always dress properly to avoid unwanted attention. It is also strongly advisable to wear a headscarf in public. And situations such asbeing men and women at the same room is not good seen by afghans, and more important men and women should never touch one another under any circumstances, they do ot drink alcohol, so it surely would be a wrong gift; without doubt, Afghanistan is one of the least flexible culture in the world.

At other side; the business one, items such the business cards are very significant, they represent importance and prestige, and when it is received, it must be taken respectfully and read. Social life is important for afghans so it is good to spend enough time at the first meetings knowing the other party´s personal life. The communication with them is very indirect, it is not suitable to make accusations or speak down to anyone and very important, they usually negotiate with a win-lose mentality, so it would be correct at first to leave behind a bit the win -win mentality.

Moving to toher country, there is Bangladesh. Culturally, this country has got a hierarchical society, so it is important to mind the age and position of people. Their beliefs fall into the shamanism. Moreover, they have got a strong tradition of music, dance, and literature, that is the reason why the festivals carried out over there are very important.

Socially, in this country greetings are made between members of the same sex and the hand shake is common between man. In contrast to Afghanistan, women appear in business contexts, and gifts are given with two hands. Business talking, people form bangladesh are impersonal; touch is common but bearing in mind that not with women. The business cards are exchanged after the initial introduction. Controlling amotions is important as well as silence is commonly used as a communication tool. And in order to do not feel bad, bangaldeshis have got a serious face which for them, it demonstrate maturity.

Now India. In this country exists a tradition of the caste system, which brings with itself, a hierarchical culture, regarding all types or relationships. Culturally, the eldest are important in this country, that is why the greet them fisrt, Moreover, men can shake hands only with other men. Very similar to latin cultures, Indians are not punctual, nevertheless they admire punctuallity. It is very important to kake off your shoes before entering the house, that demostrates respect. Habits as vegetarism and not drinking alcohol are very remarkable so it is important bearing in mind that. In the business field, for Indians is essential the trust ands knowlegde about the other person, that is the reason why is suitable to get a third party to introduce you. As many closed countries, the meeting are commonly flexible. Due to is hierarchical culture, decisions are reached by the person with the most authority, and it is slow.

Another country from the South Asia region is Pakistan. This country share the same religion as the afghans, the Islam. For them, the extended family is the basis of the social structure and that includes the nuclear family, immediate relatives, distant relatives, tribe members, friends, and neighbors, we could perceived the importance of the concept of family in the society. In business, they are very similar to indians, but they are highly skilled negotiators and they after win-win results.

Other countries in the region are: Bhutan and Sri lanka which have several similarities woth the countries mentioned previously.

To sum up, those countries are very attractive economies, especially india which is consider the competition of the China´s economic growth. In addition, it is worth saying that those asian countries has not great similarities with the latinamerican countries.

2. Question: Regarding the following link, it is said that fairness in part comes from the religion, but is it correct to think that a punishment like that is fear? What does fairness mean? or what is the real meaning of religion? (this case is from Iran, but its religion is the Islam same as some countries from the south asia region)

http://www.ajopringue.com/2005/11/01/la-alianza-de-civilizaciones-con-la-infancia/

3. Answer: I am pretty interested in the Islam religion, since there are some jugments which i am not agree with, for instance in the previous link we can see how a 8 years old boy is being punished for steling a small bread regarding that the boy was starving, i do consider that a particular culture o religion deserve respect but it is important as well bear in ming, until what point the human being is capable to stand such a strong and not flexibe religion. Moreover, i do consider that fairness involved the right treatment to people and even more to children and the eldest, and there are actions that are really crimes, and stealing a simply bread because there is hunger should not be punished or not in this cruel way. I think this video makes us think a lot about the social way used to conduct a society.

4. Source: Catalina Cardenas and Catalina Bonilla´s presentation and personal opinion.

Human Resource Management in China (lesson March 12th)

1. What did I learn?

The human reosurce management in China is strongly tied to the chinese culture. China is considered as a "millenarian" culture, actually it is the oldest civilization i nthe world, that is why, traditions pass over the time. Moreover, chinese culture stands on the meritocracy issue: Something "deserve" to someone.

One cultural leader was Mao zedong who with his cultural revolutions stated several aspects in the chinese culture, for instance is the "Iron rice bowl".

Business talking, in china there are three kinds of companies:

a. SOE´s - state owned enterprises, which are those companies controlled by the government.

b. TN´s-Transnational Enterprises, which are those foreing companies stablish in China,

c. FIE´s- Foreing investment enterprises, which start with a global strategy and its employees have converged with a lot of the company´s practices, and

d. Non- SOE´s- Non state owned enterprises, which are those private chinese companies,; in which training is very important as well as working relationships and skills improvement.

In addition, due to the fact ig globalization trendy; the main aspects to keep in mind in order to do business with Chinese people are: Punctuality, trust, hierarchical structure, long-term relationship, win-win negotiation, and collectivism.

For chinese businessmen, it is important to keep eye contact to the interlocutor,refer to people in a very polite way (title and last names), in the contrary, it is not recommendable to assume that a "no" is a sign of agreement, actually asian people take long to close a deal. To show off a lot of emotion, chinese must feel very uncomfortable. It is relevant to understand first the chinese business culture before getting there.

To sum up, the human resource managem,ent techniques change along the economy and nowadays, the chinese model has inlfuenced a lot of models around the world.

2. Why the transnational companies desire to be listed in China?

3. Answer: The experts indicate that an important reason is their desire to highlight the integration with local companies and to accelerate the rhythm of locating of the businesses by means of its entrance in the markets of local actions.
One of the reasons of why the transnational companies seek to participate in the stock market of China is that they consider that the future development of the new Chinese market is very promising. Another aspect is that the transnational companies also expect to encourage to the personnel of local management by means of international media used commonly as options of list and actions and to highlight the cohesion of the members of the staff.

• SOURCE: http://spanish.people.com.cn/
• Human Resources Management presentation.

Conference: Canada´s foreing policy

This conference was run up as a workshop, giving answers to those questions about the foreing policy in Canada.

One topic to discuss was the challenges that Canada faces since 9/11. it is clear that Canada has such a strong relationship with United States. Due to the fact that United States was the precursor of the Irak´s war, Canada has got to positions about it. The first one was the alliance in the Afghanistan conflict which was mostly militar but in the irak case, Canada played and continues with its peacekeeper role. There are no canadian army in irak´s territory. Canada just train police officers and give assistance in social development.

The new policy that has been adopted by the canadian government is one opposited to the conflict, nowadays United Sates cannot rely on Canada as a military ally, so the american disagreement about that is evident. The policy is focus more on social development rather military operation.

As tates the primer minister: The Canada´s future points out to be a peacekeeper nation and to reduce its presence in war over the time but in a military sense. That is why United Kingdom took advantage of that and has become closer to United States.

Moreover, in order to reduce the tension among United States and Canada, The canadian government has sent an embassador to Washington to develop other kind of relationship with U.S. For Canada, is it important to "make U.S happy" in security and economic prosperity, that is why is important to maintain the relationships with the biggest economy in the world.

Other topic discussed was the Canada´s National Identity. "We are not Americans" Canadian states. Cnadians do not deny the improtance of united states for their economy, we are talking about 1 billion dollars per day in trade with U.S, both countries have developed a interdependence in market, they are each other as a "economic engine". In addition, there are several aspects that determine the continued change that Canada is experiencing about culture. One of them is the demographic issue, due to the slow population growth in Canada, immigratrion has become more and more evident. Although this fact might affect the stability of canadian culture, it is said that young qualified people are needed in many areas in order to develop economically, sociably and so on. Multiculturalism has taken place in Canada, people from around the world have found Canada as a good place to grow, to live and work. At this point, one appreciation came up during the workshop session: It is important to recognize that Canada is one of the countries who implements more barriers to get into the territory, using difficult procedures as the Canadian Visa.

It is important to differentiate immigrants from refugees, most of the refugees are qualified people, and the immigrants not always accomplish with the qualification´s standarts of Canada. But at the same time, once qualified people get into Canada, another phenomen occurs: The brain Drain. Most of the people go to united states to get better salaries. So, one domestic policy ios to develop programs in order to keep qualified people in Canada. Those programs consist on the creation of regulatory bodies in several areas but especially in medical and law areas.

Environmentally talking, Canada is strong added to the kyoto´s protocol, and has been developing environmental programs by investing in the use of renewal resources. Moreover, Canada is inthe struggle against the babyseals extermination, Canada prevents the illegal commerce born from this issue such as fur and meat trade.

Finally, as Colombians we were interested in knowing the Canada´s interest in latinamerican economies. Canada is more engaged to Asian and European economies, but also Cnada has signed several treaties with latinamerican countries such as Chile, peru, Brazil and "in process" with Colombia.

The Asian Model ( March 5th Lesson)

1. What did I learn?

In this lesson, I could get information about doing business in Tokio, I do have such interest in the asian culture. I do think that it has a lot to offer and a lot to know about them. For instance, data such as:

• Tokio is one of them ost formal business place in the world.
• They practice a non-contact relationship
• The hierarchy is very important in business
• The presence of alcohol is markeable in the meeting (of course, without getting drunk)
• The language apart from the native which is more spoken is english.
• Tokio is also a shopping mecca where all people can find several high designers and brands.
• Geography, Tokio is an aglomeration of small villages
• What is pretty stranges, comparing ot other countries is the fact that in Tokio is quite difficult to find out ATM machines.

All this data, is very helpful in order to understand the managerial system in asian countries and to be successful in negotiotions held by westerns and easterns.

In addition, the japanese system is compared with the colombian one:

It was found out that, That japanese are more formal than colombians, in speaking, in dressing and behaving. The business card are very important for japanese, and the way to manage the reading and keeping is even more. Colombians are warmer, on the contrary japanese do not have physical contact. The team work is very important, japanese are long term people and love working in teams, but colombians tend to be individuallistics and short term people.

In this lesson, the Kaizen model was taugh, which states the constant motivation to an organization´s members. It has been analized that, people motivated are more productive than those are not, and the human reosurce is a determinant in a organization´s success.

About the class dynamics, it is well known that each single person should have a strong commitment for going and attending a particular lesson, i do think that this aspect is very subjetif, so active participation trough activities that involve the student, he or she would be motivated to participate in. Team work is essential to run business as well as lessons, it demandas such a high involvement of the person.

2. Question: What is the strategic point of implementing a Kaizen model?

3. Answer: The big objective of using the Kaizen Model is to optimize quality, costs and delivery. Quality, it has not just to do with products or services´quality, but also to the porcesses´quality in which it is related those products or services. Cost is related to the total cost, which includes design, production, sale and supply of products or services. Delivery means del delivering on time the volume demanded. Thus, when the three conditions (quality, cost and delivery)are accomplished, the customers are fully-satisfated.

"En una era del conocimiento como lo es ésta Tercer Ola pasarán a ocupar los primeros lugares aquellos individuos, organizaciones, y sociedades que hagan del conocimiento y perfeccionamiento sistemático su objetivo prioritario. " Mauricio Lefcovich. Consultor en Administración de Operaciones y Estrategia de Negocios. Especialista en Kaizen y Seis Sigma

SOURCES:

• http://www.kaizen.com/
• Maria Alejandra González´s presentation.

EAST ASIA (March 3rd Lesson)

I must say that i am very interested in the topic developed in this presentation. Moreover, the work done by Catalina and Juan David was excellent.

1. What did i learn?

The differences and similarities between the Korean and Japanese management style. Due to the fact that Korean was colonized by Japan, the japanese influence still remains in the korean culture. Moreover, concepts such as Convergence and Divergence are useful in order to determine those differents and similarilities in these asian countries.

On one hand, there are two models that better describe the management system in a country: Convergence and the comparative cultural approach. The first one, stands that as the economies develop, the management system will converge in a system which is found out in developed countries. By its side, the comparative cultural approach, states that a wider group of rules based on culture, in a society is determinant for e stablishing differentation among them.

On the other hand, the National Management Style (which is the point to go to an analysis of a particular management system), takes into account two variables: the national culture and level of development.

It is shown that Koreans are less active that japaneses, but at the same time, talking about internationalizations, koreans perform as japaneses do. In addition, koreans tens to consider the employyees less important that japaneses, but for both is is very important to share the information and organizational values among the human resource. It is important to bear in mind that, Koreans as well as japaneses share an asian management stlyle which day by day tend to converge.

2. Question: which variables facilitate the comprehension the management system in asia regardind Korea and Japan as examples?

3. Answer:

• Strategic Goals
• Environmental Analysis
• Technology Development
• Supplier Relationship
• Closeness with customers
• Marketing
• Human resource management
• International Orientation

Sources: Lee, Jangho, Thomas W. Roehl, & Soonkyoo Choe. 2000. What Makes Management Style Similar and Distinct Across Borders? Growth, Experience and Culture in Korean and Japanese Firms. Journal of International Business Studies.

• Juan David López and Catalina Muñoz´s presentation.

Paraiso Travel- film

The film tells the story of a young couple, who undertake a crossing trough the "hole" (Mexico), they have to face different adversities in a completely unknown world. "Paraiso Travel" really tells a Colombian history of love that has nothing to do with violence, war, neither drug trafficking. They arrive without nothing to an unknown country and suffers a big cultural collision. The starring actors, Reina and marlon, driven by their will to reach their dreamland, what they got was the hostility of a country which rejects the presence of illegal latinamewrican immigrants.

This is a typical case of illegal immigrants, who have to overcome several obstacles in order to survive in such a big and developed country. When immigration is illegal things get worse, since work opportunities are much more difficult to find and if it is possible the salary does not worth it.