Globalization has continued to reduce the world into a single community whereby people from different countries and who identify themselves with different cultures have come together hence resulting in the formation of bicultural societies (Christiansen 2012, pp.41-76). A bicultural society is one in which there co-exist people belonging to two formerly distinct cultures, and this is most common in those countries or regions which have a history of ethnic or national conflict in the past and where none of the two cultural sides has wholly gained victory over the other. Presence of bicultural societies within a specific region or country has a significant influence and impact on the overall performance of the various organizations that are operating in such an area. This dissertation paper is going to provide a literature review of the potential influence of a bicultural society on the performance of the local companies present particularly in South Tyrol.
Literature Review of Influence of Bicultural Society on the Performance of Local Companies
The cutting off of the unwilling South Tyrolese population from the rest of the German-speaking world and the Treaty of Saint-German which saw the transfer of the territory from Austria to Italy in 1919 mark the origin of current bicultural society in the South Tyrol province. The use of oppressive and brutal denationalization measures to eradicate German culture and language and the use of large-scale resettlement programmes by the fascist administration as a way of supplementing the existing Italian population all further contributed to the emergence of the bicultural society in South Tyrol province (Abel, Vettori and Forer 2010, pp.271-303). The two rival ethnolinguistic groupings that are present in South Tyrol province and who have irreconcilable interest comprise a rapidly growing Italian minority and the resentful German population. Presence of these two ethnolinguistic groupings have substantially influenced the overall performance of the local companies in South Tyrol province, and this is the same case for all those organizations that operate in bicultural societies across the world.
For instance, cultural miscommunications significantly affect the efficient delivery of vital messages and information across different departments within a company. Cultural differences within the settings in which a company operates have proven to have a significant impact on the ability of an organization to successfully negotiate business deals with its rivals. That contributes to the continued reduction on the amount of profits made since most of the businesses belonging to the same industry in South Tyrol province, and other parts of the world tend to depend on each other for survival (Abel, Vettori and Forer 2010, pp.271-303). Some of the companies tend to produce products that act as raw materials in other firms within the same environment hence the presence of cultural miscommunications between the involved parties always end up affecting the average profit made and the production process respectively.
Secondly, the presence of a bicultural society in regions or countries in which companies run their daily operations significantly influence the kind of pace that such firms end up using in their efforts to meet their set short-term and long-term goals. For example, the presence of a bicultural society in South Tyrol province and other countries or regions worldwide tend to affect the capability of the local companies to develop and maintain business relationships, enter the existing local markets, efficiently conduct advertising and marketing campaigns, intercompany relations and successful negotiation of business deals (De Angelis 2012, pp.407-422).
Thirdly, biculturalism substantially influences the decision-making capabilities of the managers and other personnel within a company. Most of the companies in South Tyrol province and other parts of the world tend to utilize the existing human resource within their locations hence resulting in the presence of staff who identify themselves with different cultures. Such employees regularly tend to have varying opinions regarding the same issues which end up poising challenges during the decision-making process since these workers are hard to come into agreement on the matters at hand (Briley, Morris and Simonson 2015, pp.41-76). Recent surveys reveal that most of the firms that operate in regions or countries that have bicultural societies tend to have a slow decision-making process which affects their general performance especially when there is the need to make urgent decisions regarding manufacturing, distribution or marketing issues. This situation has seen a significant number of organizations operating in such areas make huge losses and even some having to close down.
Fourthly, it is quite challenging to manage employees who have cultural differences since they have different business practices, ways of communicating to the concerned individuals and tend to exercise different styles of management on the duties that are assigned to the (Fitzsimmons and Stamper 2014, pp.80-94). Furthermore, biculturalism has proven to be a significant challenge when it comes to the management of projects within the company since cultural differences tend to have substantial impact on how the project team members view both time and deadlines, communicate with one another regarding matters that relate to the project, highlight the potential problems that are likely to emanate from such projects and how they make decisions regarding how to solve such potential problems.
Fifthly, the volume of sales made by a company is greatly influenced by presence of bicultural society as it is the case in South Tyrol province, London, New York, Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Amsterdam and other parts of the world. The existing two ethnolinguistic groupings in South Tyrol have continued to influence the volume of sales made by the local companies since each has a distinct taste and preference towards the products and services provided by these businesses in the local market. The kind of feeling and inclination towards a particular product or service by one ethnic group is different from that of the other with cultural beliefs and norms having a significant impact on the consumer behavior (Abel, Vettori and Forer 2010, pp.271-303). Some of the products and services that are provided by the companies at the local markets are acceptable to a specific cultural group while they are not to another. These consumer behaviors have proven to have remarkable influence on the volume of sales made by the organizations especially when such behaviors are against the products or services offered by such companies.
Sixthly, the presence of tight biculturalism tends to affect the creativity of the workers and their ability to be innovative in the workplace particularly in those local companies that operate in bicultural societies. That becomes more severe when the cultural tightness of one social grouping is different from that of the counterpart hence making it hard for the local companies to harmonize the interests of both parties who are the potential customers of their products and services and also a vital source of cheap labor (Chua, Roth and Lemoine 2015, pp.189-227). Existence of cultural tightness as it is the case in South Tyrol and other regions and countries that are characterized by biculturalism where there is low tolerance for deviant behaviors and people have strong social norms has resulted into presence of workers within the local firms who are significantly reluctant to come up with creative or innovative ways of dealing with the present problems within these organizations especially when such methods have the possibility of infringing their strong cultural norms. That is the case despite the fact that such creative and innovative ways are having the capability of improving the production, distribution and marketing practices of such local companies.
Moreover, the variation in social values of community members in bicultural societies has a significant influence on the overall performance of the local farmers that are operating within such regions or countries. For instance, if one of the social values that are supported by a majority of the community members in the bicultural society is hard work ethic, then there is a possibility of a rapid increase in sales. That is because the highest percentage of the population through their continued embracement of the hard work end up having enough money that they can spend on both goods and services offered by the local companies (Harrington and Liu 2012, pp.37-55). There is also the likelihood of an increase in production, distribution, and marketing since the local companies will have adequate access to productive workers who will be willing to use their high levels of skills, knowledge, and expertise while undertaking their assigned responsibilities hence helping the companies achieve their set goals and objectives. This is the opposite if the local firms are operating in bicultural societies whose members do not have high regard for hard work ethics.
Lastly, variation in cultural attitudes towards risk in most of the bicultural societies such as it is the case in South Tyrol province has influenced the ability of the local companies to explore more innovative techniques that can help in improving the departmental and overall performance of the company (De Angelis 2012, pp.407-422). Cultural differences of the two rival social groupings in South Tyrol and other parts of the world has contributed to dormancy in the operational practices of the local companies since some workers tend to have a low tolerance to risk taking hence reducing the ability of such organizations to adapt to the ever-changing business practices and technological advancements.
Conclusion
Conclusively, it is evident that existence of bicultural societies in a country or region has a significant influence on the overall performance of the local companies. Presence of these two ethnolinguistic groupings in a country or region as it is the case in South Tyrol province ends up affecting both the internal and external performance of the available firms especially in issues concerning production, human resource management, distribution, and marketing practices (Abel, Vettori and Forer 2010, pp.271-303).
References
Abel, A., Vettori, C. and Forer, D., 2010. Learning the Neighbour’s Language: The Many Challenges in Achieving a Real Multilingual Society. The Case of Second Language Acquisition in the Minority–Majority Context of South Tyrol. European Yearbook of Minority Issues, 9, pp.271-303.
Briley, D.A., Morris, M.W. and Simonson, I., 2015. Cultural Chameleons: Biculturals, Conformity Motives, and Decision Making. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 15(4), pp.351-362.
Christiansen, B. ed., 2012. Cultural Variations and Business Performance: Contemporary Globalism: Contemporary Globalism. IGI Global, 9(4), pp.41-76.
Chua, R.Y., Roth, Y. and Lemoine, J.F., 2015. The Impact of Culture on Creativity: How Cultural Tightness and Cultural Distance Affect Global Innovation Crowdsourcing Work. Administrative Science Quarterly, 60(2), pp.189-227.
De Angelis, G., 2012. The Effect of Population Distribution on L1 and L2 Acquisition: Evidence from the Multilingual Region of South Tyrol. International Journal of Multilingualism, 9(4), pp.407-422.
Fitzsimmons, S.R. and Stamper, C.L., 2014. How Societal Culture Influences Friction in the Employee–Organization Relationship. Human Resource Management Review,
24(1), pp.80-94.
Harrington, L. and Liu, J.H., 2012. Self-Enhancement and Attitudes Toward High Achievers: A Bicultural View of the Independent and Interdependent Self. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(1), pp.37-55.
