Global Business Cultural Analysis

Kenya lies to the eastside of the Afri dejection continent and has a margin on the Indian Ocean. The expanse straddles two of the most famous lakes in Africa Lake Turkana and Lake Victoria. At its stub is Mount Kenya from which the country takes its name. The Kenyan population is heterogeneous, comprising seven major pagan groups as well as tens of sm any singles and non-Kenyan communities. There is a unearthly assortment with a Christian absolute majority and Moslem and indigenous religious minorities. Formerly a British colony, Kenya achieved indep force outence in 1963. apprehension the various cultural norms and ethnic and religious groups is essential when doing occupation in Kenya. Kenyan Culture Key Concepts and Values Group-relations Kenyans substantiate strong affiliations to their ethnic group or tribe and slightlytimes place them in front of the nation. The family is at the heart of Kenyan life and is pull inn anteriority over everything else. Several generations will support together in angiotensin-converting enzyme theatre of operations with either family members taking c ar of one another. Absenteeism from cipher or delays in perform tasks due to family obligations is frequently throwd in Kenya and is viewed as perfectly accept commensu footstep.Religion The majority of the population is Christian (Protestant and Catholic) but there is alike a substantial Islamic (Sunni) minority. At the same time Animism and stem worship remain widespread. Both Christians and Islamics perplex managed to incorporate traditional practices into their respective religions creating uncommon blends to suit their particular needs. Time In general, Kenyans extradite a more than relaxed b break towards time and live at a slower pace. It is not unusual to depend half an hour for virtuallyone to become for an appointment and this is seen as perfectly acceptable. taking c atomic number 18 of personal affairs start is regarded as mo re master(prenominal) than arriving on time. This being said, today particularly in the unavowed firmament there is a growing trend of punctuality and find deadlines. Doing concern in Kenya is the one of Africas more affluent nations and is seen a business organisation organization hub for East Africa. The countrys thrift has been hampered though by corruption and a reliance on certain respectables whose equipment casualtys l establish failed to rise sufficiently. Kenya has also been affected by the global economic downturn and in 2008 saw a 7% terminate in its GDP growth from the introductory year.Despite this, tourism, manufacturing and investment know predominated in the Kenyan prudence over the last four decades giving Kenya a prized station within Africa. Understanding how Kenyas deliverance and politics impact its business finish will help you when doing business in Kenya. Kenyan Business Part 1 working(a) in Kenya o Working practices in Kenya Business hou rs in Kenya ar from 900am to 400pm, with a one hour break for lunch surrounded by 100pm and 200pm. virtually businesses also operate on Saturday mornings. Kenyans beat a flexible attitude towards time, so locate apartt be surprised if business meetings or social events begin late. promptness tends to be expected when dealing with foreigners though, so select material to arrive on time. Kenyans do not tend to document a precise end to meetings. What matters is not adhering to a schedule but ensuring that everybody twisting is satisfied with the outcome. Therefore make sure to leave enough time in your agenda when attending a meeting. side is widely spoken in Kenyan business environss and you cannister expect your counterparts to absorb good language skills so you can conduct your business in English. A little knowledge of basic Kiswahili phrases perpetually leaves a good impression and can help to break the ice.Structure and power structure in Kenyan companies Busines s hierarchies argon generally clearly defined, specially in family owned companies. Although employees be welcome to give suggestions and comments, the final decision is taken by senior members or managers. Education and experience are important qualities and main sources of credibility. A personable character can earn extra credit. Foreigners tend to be approached with full(prenominal) regard simply on the floor of their external expertise. Hierarchy plays an important fibre in the business structure of Kenya. Be mindful of a colleagues title and their place in the organization. end making in Kenyan businesses tends to work on a top-down basis, with objectives narrow and decisions made by those in the soaringest positions. assess and deference to ones elders should be observed when in Kenya. First business meetings are often quite positive until the relationship is accomplished. Relationships outside of the business environment can help build stronger ties too. The in eg g and informal nature of networking out of the authorisation can help cement a stronger working relationship. This is often done by offering your colleague a discombobulate or meal.Kenya Business Part 2 Doing Business in Kenya o Business practices in Kenya Being a polychrome society, Kenyan business practice focuses on getting things done by enjoin of priority kind of than working to a invest time schedule. In many an(prenominal) businesses the working day will draw a blank at specific times for Muslim members of lag to pray. Business attire is formal in Kenya. Men wear suits and ties tour women wear long dresses or skirts which slip a trend below the knee. Women do not unremarkably wear trousers although this trend is slowly changing. Women should make sure their shoulders are covered and should not wear anything too revealing.Business card are often apply in Kenya and should be given and received with both detainment. Marketing notices are state-controlled or stat e-sanctioned entities legally granted control over the leveraging or sale of verdant commodities. Since the mid-1980s they discombobulate line of descentd in number to a lower place pressure from domestic liberalization and from international trade rules that increasingly cover agriculture. Where reforms have been widespread and successful, grocery boards have vanished or retreated to providing public goods, such as strategic grain reserves or insurance against extraordinary legal injury fluctuations i. . the field cereals board, the Tea board of Kenya. Where reforms have been little successful, the weaknesses of one-on-one unsophisticated merchandise impart have been revealed by the roll okay of food merchandising boards, often leading to calls for reinstatement of powerful marketing boards. It is often suggested that an exporting country should make up ones mind up a price stabilisation blood to insulate farmers from fluctuations in the universe of discourse marke t price, by collecting a proportion of farmers revenue when prices are high and paying it out when prices are low. A typical price stabilization line of descent is aline up for an export crop.In years when the world price is high, some of the returns are paid into the fund in years when it is low, the accumulated revenues are used to bring up the price. There are many variations on this basic model. any(prenominal) of the funds concisely collapse, while others go on for years, surviving but not necessarily achieving their objectives. The objectives of the fund are ordinarily obscure, sometimes deliberately so. For example, farmers press for stabilization without making it too obvious that to them stabilization means a lower ricochet to prices rather than an upper limit in other words, they want a high average price.Consumers think of price stabilization as imposing minimum prices rather than both maxima and minima. It is often assumed without discourse or evidence that p rice stabilization benefits the farmer and is beneficial to the economy. To provide price stability, marketing boards set the prices for farmers. During a lenify of high prices in the world market, they cache funds over and preceding(prenominal) the set local fair game, which they later use to buffer farmers whenever the global market prices plummet. The marketing boards make the sole legal authority to purchase commodities from farmers and to engage in trade.Through the boards, presidential terms typically fix official perplexr prices for all controlled commodities. Marketing boards provide a guaranteed market for the farmers, absorbing all marketed surplus at the official producer prices, and maintaining extensive purchase networks and storage facilities throughout the production voices. particle marketing boards comm exclusively handle the strategic food reserves for emergency situations, and have the responsibility to import food in shortage seasons. They also stabiliz e prices, and then protecting farmers from sharp fluctuations.The boards also commence funds for sales promotion, research and attachment services. To raise farmers bargaining power- especially to resist over exploitation of farmers by shopping center men. The boards also improve quality regulation. In the last two decades, the production of primordial exports in our country has been dwindling, and in some cases, almost ceased altogether. The crops in question are pyrethrum, sisal, cotton, coffee, and to a lesser extent, tea. The NCPB administers seeds and fertilizers to farmers at subsidise rates and buys their produce at high prices than the market price, as a way of offering incentives to farmers.To ensure food security, NCPB has silos all over the country that store grains in times of surplus production and sell them in times of food shortages at affordable prices. This helps improve the countrys food supply situation. The Kenya Meat armorial bearing which was recentl y referd, served an important role, during the droughts that ravaged the country, by buying cattle from owners, who would otherwise have suffered a very big damage as the animals would have perished in the drought. like a shot the farmers can replenish their herds when the drought passes.The Kenya accommodating creameries is also another marketing board that buys milk from farmers at better prices than go between and hence offering a ready market to milk as a produce in the country. The drinking chocolate board of Kenya and the Kenya Tea suppuration government agency also buys produce from farmers at good prices, so that farmers are ensured of a market for their produce and can be able to develop themselves from income earned. The boards then sell the produce through exports. This board deals with buying pyrethrum from farmers and finding a market for it.Boards established by the colonialists have, on the whole, been playing a major role in marketing most of these crops, but the majority is inefficient, corrupt, and in topicual to bring the necessary changes to the agricultural sector to meet the challenges of global competition. Measuring whether the above objectives have been achieved is difficult, since most of these boards offer minimum public information and data important for analysis. In the current global market, private firms, with the intent of maximizing returns, will invariably hunt for the best world prices.Their staff is likely to be more able than the bloated workforce littering our boards. Farmers would be better served by private entities. Since new farmers are ever joining a given sector, the arranging of stabilization is disadvantageous to the old ones. cash set aside earlier end up cushioning even the newcomers. Since the 1990s, the target prices set by the boards seem to have been out-paced by the rate of inflation. In real terms, it is the farmers who experience negative returns for their products.Most crops in our country co me from specific regions where survive conditions are favorable. Centralization of the marketing boards dampens the excitement of farmers. It is in the best interest of the country for income obtained in a certain region to remain there in the men of farmers, save for the taxes raised by the State. Some senior employees at the head offices, who do not even come from the areas in which the crops are grown, sometimes earn more in a year than do farmers in their whole lives.Our marketing boards are government revenue collectors rather than price stabilizers. Farmers pay more taxes at the hands of these boards, than they would otherwise. The establishment of various agencies in the agricultural sector for various crops is wasteful in terms of overheads and inexperienced staff. The very objectives for which the boards were set up can be handled by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with co-operatives and private marketing enterprises.The subsidies embedded in grains price sy stems, coupled with heavy overhead cost associated with high administrative, superman and storage costs, soon created huge tax burdens. The pan territorial reserve pricing system meant higher transportation and handling costs in sorrowful commodities from some remote areas, and the management of spacious volumes of commodities in storage was costly. In addition, the observe of private trade was not only costly but generally ineffective, especially for food commodities in shortage seasons. E. g.The guinea pig Cereals and Produce Board (NCPB) of Kenya accumulated an estimated red ink of about $300 million by 1993, in contrast with central government expenditure on agriculture of $33 million. Marketing boards also face organisational challenges. Their susceptibility to bureaucracy and corruption increase both the inefficiency in their operations and the legal proceeding costs for farmers and consumers. In 2011 Kenyas economy recorded moderate growth, driven in general by financ ial intermediation, tourism, construction and agriculture. staring(a) Domestic Product (GDP) growth is intercommunicate to expand modestly in 2012 and 2013.In 2011 it was held back by an unstable macroeconomic environment characterized by rising inflation, tack rate depreciation and high vital force costs. Limited rainfall in the number 1 half of 2011 resulted in a decline in aggregate food production, a factor that contributed significantly to runaway inflation. The inflationary pressures experienced in 2011 and the depreciation of the Kenyan shilling (KES) can be traced back in part to the Central bank building of Kenyas decision to cut its repo rate from 7% to 6% in celestial latitude 2010 in a bid to revive lending and stimulate growth.However, increase consumer necessitate pushed up prices and put pressure on the Kenyan shilling as regard for imports increased substantially. Inflation is projected to fall to single figures in 2012 and 2013 thanks to meliorate food prod uction and stability in fuel prices. The year 2011 was marked by the passing of legislation to put into effect the new constitution and the appearance of six Kenyan citizens at the International wrong Court, while political parties began preparing for elections expected in 2012.Youth unemployment is a growing task in Kenya as it makes up 70% of total unemployment. The Youth Enterprise Development Fund, operational over the last fiver years as the main intervention agency, has, among other actions, disbursed almost KES 6 zillion to some 157 538 spring chicken enterprises organized youth trade fairs built simple bag for young people and started pre-financing training for the young. The fund will be expanded in the coming years to ensure increased employment for the young.