Critical intercultural incidents in companies. An analysis based on Hofstede and Hall

Seminar paper from the year 2021 in the subject Business economics - Corporate communication, grade: 1,5, University of Ulm, language: English, abstract: This paper presents an analysis of a critical incident of a medium-sized German company. The intercultural Critical Incident took place about three years ago and was presented in an interview with an executive of the company in February 2021. The analysis of the incident is mainly based on the cultural dimensions established by the Dutch cultural scientist Geert Hofstede. The purpose of this paper is therefore to analyze the critical cross-cultural business case in order to be able to provide a concluding recommendation for action as part of a conclusion. In the course of globalization and networking of world markets, intercultural management has become an essential aspect in the management of nationally and internationally active companies. Within a company's own workforce or in cross-national cooperation between parent companies and subsidiaries, there is an increasing amount of collaboration. Therefore, companies have to deal more and more with the specifics of different cultures. The consideration of cultural and intercultural aspects is becoming an important success factor in entrepreneurial activities. This also applies to the company Uhlmann, which continues to expand its relations in the former emerging market India. India has undergone rapid economic development and is considered one of the largest and most promising growth markets of the present. For this reason, Uhlmann has opened a branch office in the country three years ago to gain a foothold in this country and maximize sales over there. Entering a country does not always happen without problems, as will be described in this paper on the basis of a critical incident that occurred to Uhlmann in India. Uhlmann, which will be presented in more detail later, is a manufacturer of machines for packaging pharmaceuticals in foil or aluminium packs, so-called blisters and medicine bottles.