A Pilot Study of the critical cultural features of the Swedish Businessman in the eyes of a Dane

Abstract

Swedish and Danish business people have according to research and corporate facts difficulties working together due to cultural differences. This pilot study seeks to outline the most critical cultural differences between Danes and Swedes. zThe study performs a literature analysis to identify the cultural features of the Danish and Swedish businessman and discusses research by Hampden-Turner & Trompenaars (1993), Hofstede (1997), Hofstede (2001), Hall (2005), Lewis (2008), and Weiss (2009). The literature analysis identifies the Danish businessman as an individualist with short-term orientation, who is goal-oriented and has a qualitative relationship to time. The Swedish businessman is identified as individualist with focus on egalitarianism, consensus, and long-term orientation. These features make him appear collectivistic in the eyes if the Danes. Also, the Swede is process-oriented with a qualitative relationship to time. The study supports the discussion with an interview analysis. The interview analysis based on two semi-structured interviews with two Danish businessmen having done business with Swedes once or several times. The discussion reveals that individualistic vs. collectivistic features are the main critical cultural features, like suggested by Hall (2005). Secondly, the process- vs. goal orientation and the qualitative vs. quantitative relationship to time are critical cultural features in the Danish – Swedish context. Other cultural differences are Danish expressiveness vs. Swedish non-expressiveness, choice of negotiation style, etiquette, appearance and protocol, and Swedish risk-avoidance vs. Danish risk-taking, the relationship to work place, and Swedish social activities at work, Swedish sanctions against individualism, and the Swedish lecturing of the “Swedish way”.