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Portuguese Cultural Standards from the Spanish Perspective

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PORTUGUESE CULTURAL STANDARDS FROM THE SPANISH PERSPECTIVE Daniel Cintado Dos Santos Ponces Bandeira Dissertation submitted as partial requirement for the conferral of Master in International Management Supervisor: Prof. António Robalo, Director of the Master in International Management Program at ISCTE Business School, Lisbon, Portugal. October 2017 Dos Santos Ponces Bandeira - Exemplo de Lombada – Daniel Daniel Cintado PORTUGUESE CULTURAL STANDARDS FROM THE SPANISH PERSPECTIVE PORTUGUESE CULTURAL STANDARDS FROM THE SPANISH PERSPECTIVE Daniel Cintado Dos Santos Ponces Bandeira Dissertation submitted as partial requirement for the conferral of Master in International Management Supervisor: Prof. António Robalo, Director of the Master in International Management Program at ISCTE Business School, Lisbon, Portugal. October 2017 ABSTRACT The main objective of this master’s dissertation is to find out the Portuguese cultural standards from the Spanish perspective. The best methodology used to this research is by using the cultural standards method approach, which is an innovative qualitative research especially used to study only two countries which are very close geographically. The cultural standards method consists of three main phases: narrative interviews, analysis and identifying the cultural standards. By doing the narrative interviews, a number of participants is needed for the sample. The data was collected during the interviews with Spaniards who have an experience of living and working in Portugal. This thesis is divided into two parts. The first one is a more theoretical background about the concept of culture and the importance of culture in cross-cultural business. There is a comparison between both countries regarding the historical background and the results from Geert Hofstede with the cultural dimensions scores between Portugal and Spain. The second part of the thesis is the practical one where the results of the current research are shown by describing the sample of the participants, identifying the cultural standards obtained and comparing them with Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Furthermore, real based experiences’ case studies are presented as well as a proposal of a Portuguese business protocol for Spaniards which preceeds the conclusion of the thesis. The results of the current dissertation can be used to help and prepare any Spaniard – who moves to Portugal in order to live, study or work – and encounters the Portuguese context. Keywords: culture, cultural standards, international business, Portugal – Spain JEL classification: F23 - Multinational Firms, International Business; M16 - International Business Administration SUMÁRIO O principal objetivo desta dissertação de mestrado é encontrar os standards culturais Portugueses desde a perspetiva dos indivíduos Espanhóis. A melhor metodologia usada para esta investigação é a abordagem do método dos standards culturais, que é uma novidade na pesquisa qualitativa usada especialmente para estudar só dois países que estão geograficamente perto. O método dos standards culturais está formado por três fases: entrevistas, análises e identificação dos standards culturais. Foi necessário um numero de participantes para criar a amostra para as entrevistas. Os dados foram recolhidos durante as entrevistas com indivíduos Espanhóis com experiência de vida e trabalho em Portugal. Esta tese está dividida em duas partes. A primeira parte é um enquadramento teórico sobre o conceito de cultura e a importância da cultura transversal nos negócios. Há uma comparação entre ambos países em relação ao enquadramento histórico e dos resultados de Geert Hofstede com os valores das dimensões culturais entre Portugal e Espanha. A segunda parte da tese é mais prática onde é mostrado os resultados da atual investigação descrevendo a amostra dos participantes, identificando os standards culturais obtidos e comparando-os com as dimensões culturais de Hofstede. Além disso, foram feitos estudos de caso baseados em experiências reais e um protocolo de negócios Portugueses para Espanhóis seguidos da conclusão. Os resultados da presente dissertação podem ser utilizados para ajudar e preparar qualquer indivíduo Espanhol – que venha para Portugal para viver, estudar ou trabalhar – e que se depara com o cotexto Português. Keywords: cultura, standards culturais, negócios internacionais, Portugal – Espanha Classificação JEL: F23 - Empresas Multinacionais, Negócios Internacionais; M16 - Administração de Negócios Internacionais Acknowledgements Writing a dissertation is not an easy task. Looking for a good topic to write and choosing a good supervisor to help you was not an easy job at all! Writing this dissertation has had a big impact on me. It has been a period of intense learning, not only in the cultural scientific area, but also on a personal level. I would especially like to thank Prof. António Robalo who accepted to be my supervisor and helped me in everything I needed by giving me the right guidelines so that I could get this dissertation successfully done. During my whole master, I met a lot of new and interesting people who turned out to be my colleagues and I also had some amazing good teachers who taught me greatly how the international business world is doing as well as all the phases to have in mind to an important internationalization of any company abroad. I am grateful to all of those whom I had the pleasure to interview: the time they spent to meet me and the way they shared with me their life experience in Portugal. I would also like to thank my parents for teaching me since I was young to never give up; my siblings for the patience; and my friends, who are always “there” by my side, sharing happily the good things of life other than just talking about work. A special thank goes to my Sevillian grandmother who, even living in Portugal, has showed me, since I was born, the Spanish language and the Spanish culture. Portuguese Cultural Standards from the Spanish Perspective Table of Contents Table of Figures ............................................................................................................ III 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 4 2.1 Culture ..................................................................................................................... 4 2.2 Cultural Standards ................................................................................................. 10 2.2.1 Cultural Shocks ............................................................................................... 12 2.3 Cross Cultural Management .................................................................................. 13 2.3.1 Cultural Dimensions Approach ...................................................................... 15 2.3.2 Cultural Standards Approach .......................................................................... 20 2.4 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions ........................................................................... 21 2.4.1 Criticism ......................................................................................................... 24 3. Cultural Standards Method ..................................................................................... 25 4. Cross-cultural Comparison ...................................................................................... 30 4.1 Historic Context .................................................................................................... 30 4.1.1 Portugal ........................................................................................................... 31 4.1.2 Spain ............................................................................................................... 32 4.2 Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Comparison ....................................................... 34 5. Results of the Research ............................................................................................. 37 5.1 Cultural Standards Method .................................................................................... 37 5.1.1 Participants’ Demographic Data ..................................................................... 37 5.1.2 Interviews’ Process ......................................................................................... 42 5.2 Portuguese Cultural Standards .............................................................................. 43 5.2.1 Interpersonal Relationship .............................................................................. 44 5.2.2 Hierarchy Orientation ..................................................................................... 46 I Portuguese Cultural Standards from the Spanish Perspective 5.2.3 Family Orientation and Closed Groups .......................................................... 50 5.2.4 Relaxed Society .............................................................................................. 53 5.3 Feedback ................................................................................................................ 57 5.4 Comparison between Cultural Standards and Cultural Dimensions ..................... 59 6. Case Studies ........................................................................................................... 61 7. Portuguese Business Protocol for Spaniards
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