Understanding Cultural Differences

Revision with unchanged content. This work aims to gain insights and validations of predominant conflicts that are likely to occur in German-American business operations due to culturally determined behaviour. By focusing on predominant cultural characteristics of both the American and the German culture, this work intends to provide a thorough understanding of the culturally determined behaviour. Insights into the evolution of specific cultural aspects as well as their historical components will help to respect and understand the rational behind German and American actions. Moreover, by decoding American and German practices into logical patterns this thesis intends to reduce bias and stimulate an understanding and predictability of each other's culturally determined behaviour. The insights of this work are intended to equip the reader with a certain degree of cultural sensitivity, and to support the development of a multicultural - especially a transatlantic - mindset. If the vital factor culture is understood and taken into consideration into the formulation and implementation of business strategies, confusion and conflicts can be avoided or at least be minimized.

Auteur

Nils Grave, German by birth, has a Diploma in International Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Bremen, Germany and a Bachelor in Business Administration from the East Tennessee State University in the USA. He is currently working in the International Finance Department of the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson in Germany.