Australia and New Zealand Doing Business with Indonesia

Case Study: Australia and New Zealand doing business with Indonesia

1. In this chapter we were able to study cultural dimensions and we are able to see how different cultures through out different parts of the world distinguish from each other and make them unique. In this case we are able to see a few of the differences between the cultures in New Zealand and Australia compared to the cultures found through out Asia. Obviously a majority of the countries in the world along with different parts and regions are not going to be culturally the same, this is what makes the world very unique. And as we see in this case there are many cultural differences that distinguish they way New Zealand and Australia conduct business compared to different Asian cultures. As the case mentions in Indonesia, as in the rest of Asia, there is more need to develop a long-term relationship to produce a profit than there is in Australia or New Zealand. Unlike Asian countries, in New Zealand and Australia the companies there would be more concerned about making profits now and as fast as possible rather than building long term relationships. In Indonesia managers care more about the people as in like a father figure than how they perform. It's important to establish good relationships with the employees in order to keep them happy and motivated. Indonesian managers care a lot about mutual respect and believe that it may be the most effective way to achieve productivity and effectiveness. Indonesian managers also believe westerners should make an effort to adjust to the culture, taboos, and language of their Indonesian colleagues.

2. Indonesia is very unique when compared to many of the other clusters of islands worldwide in terms of its extent and diversity. It has a great imbalance in the population distribution within the archipelago. About 60% of the Indonesian population lives in the island of Java. National ties are strong but there are still very obvious socioeconomic disparities in all regions of the country. Climatic conditions vary from island to island.

3. Characteristics in the workplace in Indonesia seem to be very different compared to different parts of the world. They rely on developing long-term relationships to improve the future performance of the company. Relationships rely on shared expectations on how first contact should be made, appointments should be set and kept, deals should be closed and etc. Unlike Indonesia other parts of the world and different cultures don't rely on certain guidelines on how to perform business negotiations. Indonesian managers place more value on harmony, understanding, and mutual respect between employees and themselves. Indonesian managers respect their employees and care about them sometimes as if they were in their own family. And they also believe that westerners should make more of an effort to adjust to the culture, language and workplace