Managing Corporate Values in Diverse National Cultures

Book excerpt: How should a Western company manage cross-culturally corporate values in its foreign subsidiaries? Do these values make sense everywhere and can they assumed to be universal or, on the contrary, are they culturally Western specific? Philippe d’Iribarne provides answers to these timely and urgent questions, based on research carried out in the subsidiaries of a leading global company, Lafarge, in the contrasting cultural environments of China, the United States, France and Jordan. It appears that, in a large part of the world, people's expectations are similar; they expect from a good employer clear and decisive leadership, and fair and compassionate treatment, helping them to live a good life. But treating these expectations as the ‘same’ could be misleading. Western companies with a humanistic orientation are well positioned to fulfil them, provided they are willing, in each and every geography, to take into account the local vision of the right way to achieve a good life. By following the example presented in this book, companies who care can deliver economic efficiency as well as progressive people management in the countries in which they operate.