Brazil Cultural Environment Analysis

Being that Hall’s framework is determined by considering the communication style of a country, Brazil is a high-context culture. Brazil is known for “[placing] emphasis on how a message is said rather than on the words used alone” (Victor 1). Therefore, this correlates with the key characteristic of the use of non-verbal communication. They focus on face-to-face interaction when conducting business to develop personal relationships. Brazil is known to be an emotional and religious society, which is how they choose to govern their relationships by rather than by reason. For example, when conversations take place in a Brazil business environment, their idea of personal space is more allowable than us in the United States, meaning people can stand very close to each other. Sometimes within a Brazilian interaction, it is “significant to understand nonverbal communication traits. For example, gestures, postures, facial expression, etc. Hence, Brazil tends to be more expressive with their hands, meaning they accept the idea of physical contacts, such as hugs and kiss. Whereas in the United States most likely it is just limited to a handshake. Reading between the lines of gestures and some conversation needs to be accomplished to continue a conversation.This idea of context follows the characteristic of developing a more internalized understanding of what is communicated.

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Regarding Trompenaar’s framework, Brazil is considered to be a particularistic society. Relationships are seen to be of the highest importance. According to AACSB, “cordiality [is] recognized as a distinguishing feature of Brazilian culture”. Brazil places the family at the center of their social system and depends heavily on the creation of relationships. Brazilian business behavior conducted by the interpretation of an individual rather than on rules and regulations. It is also considered to be a communitarian society because everything Brazil does is a group effort. As mentioned before, Brazil holds family as an important part of society, in that in relation to communitarian is that “from birth onwards [people] are integrated into strong, cohesive groups” (Manktelow 1). As mentioned when discussing the context of high context characteristics, Brazil tends to be an emotional country, therefore, making them an effective society. Brazil values friendship and intimacy in every newly established relationship. They tend to talk about personal life, age, politics, and etc. Because of the heavy emotional transactions in Brazil, interactions in a personal setting could exude into a business setting meaning that Brazil is a diffuse culture. In Brazil, superiority runs vertical hierarchy, “where managers at the top make most of the decisions” taking account of every situation, work-related or not.Brazil also adapts to a more ascription culture because since they focus on relationships at the utmost importance they tend to seek out how an individual behaves. They consider the relationship a reward versus an actual physical or “title” reward for business conducted.

Brazil is known to have an externalist environment because they tend o make schedules and set deadlines, but they will cancel if they feel if somethings need to be adjusted because of nature. As stated before, Brazil is religious and some of their religious beliefs follow nature changes. The actual weather itself affect business done because Brazil undergoes may tropical rains and hot days that can be unbearable.

With an understanding of the cultural environment of Brazil, there are many great opportunities one can face when dealing with them. One being, the great opportunity of having a great rapport with any business dealing. Because Brazil is a relationship-based culture, it is highly likely that many agreements can be long term thus creating a substantial amount of profitability. Brazil offers a lot of flexibility in a business interaction because of the many business opportunities they have, but it can be a negative if not taken seriously because many opportunities aren’t as simple in the United States as it is in Brazil.

Although Brazil reaps great benefits, there are some cultural challenges an American inventor may face when doing business in Brazil is sharing personal information. Meaning that in the United States it is not likely for someone to share personal information in a business setting, whereas, in Brazil, it is highly accepted in the fact that they use that as ammunition into creating long term business relationships. There is also a common feeling of annoyance that one may portray when dealing with Brazilian business dealings because they are most often late to meetings. Brazil tends to be very informal and are fashion strict which means that Brazilians take pride in the appearance and believes that other people should too.

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However, with the right adjustments, American investors can conductwell in Brazilian society. One thing to take into consideration is to dress o impress. In the business world of Brazil, they see individuals appearance and make judgments about a person’s characteristics. In the US, it is almost similar, but the country itself tends to be more relaxed on appearance and focuses on the work itself. Another this is to plan meetings and schedules ahead of time because of Brazil’s informality when being late to a meeting. While the US values time and tends to go forth with a meeting, Brazil They tend to cancel meetings as well. By scheduling 2-3 weeks early makes a huge difference in making sure things go according to schedule.

Bibliography

“Brazil – Business TravelBrazil – Business Travel.” Korea – Distribution and Sales Channels, 3 Aug. 2018, www.export.gov/article?id=Brazil-Business-Travel.

GoBrazil. “Hofstede Dimensions: What We Can Learn about Brazilian Culture (Part 1).” GoBrazil, 4 Dec. 2014, go-brazil.org/2014/06/03/hofstede-dimensions-what-we-can-learn-about-brazilian-culture-part-1/.

Reitermann, Sonia. “Cultural Considerations When Doing Business in Brazil.” TMF Group, TMF Group, 7 Nov. 2018, www.tmf-group.com/en/news-insights/articles/2018/may/cultural-considerations-when-doing-business-in-brazil/.

“Time for Brazil.” Diversity Journal, 29 Mar. 2011, www.diversityjournal.com/1952-time-for-brazil/.

Victor, David A. “BRAZIL, DOING BUSINESS IN.” Reference for Business, www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Assem-Braz/Brazil-Doing-Business-in.html.