Trouble at Computex
Corporation
Case study


Six sales representative of Computex Corporation
in Sweden write a letter to the European Vice
president.
They reported that there are serious problems
among their sales group and their General
Manager, Mr. Miller. If the problems remain
unsolved, the majority group of salespeople have
threatened to leave the company.
Cultural Dimension: Sweden vs. USA
Dimensions of Culture: Sweden vs. USA
Sweden
USA
-
High femininity (2)
-
Masculinity (74)
-
Lower Individualism (45)
-
Individualism (77)
-
-
Hostede
(100)
(82)
Lower Power Distance
-
(30)
(12)
-
Moderate Achievement
(79)
Higher Power Distance
-
High Achievement (97)
Main problems:
(American manager vs. Swedes employees)
Individualism/ Communitarianism Swede (45)
- Tendency to be Communitarianism (regard as part of a
group).
- Group reference
- Shared responsibility
- Fitting in desirable
Individualist US (77)
- Individual achievement
-Personal responsibility, remuneration based on
individual rewards and individual punishments
- Standing out as individual desirable
Femininity vs. Masculinity:

Tendency of masculinity of American Manager:
• Leadership style more authoritarian, motivational assumptions
tends to have emphasis on performance and growth, excelling
to be best, work central to life, job recognition important,
Decision making tends to be decisive.

Tendency of femininity of Swedish Manager:
• Leadership styles tend to more participative, emphasis on
quality of life, work not central to life, decision making to be
intuitive, group based
Conclusion:
•Miller displays a lack of cultural sensitivity
and savvy
•There are strong differences in values
regarding power distance, individualism, and
masculine management style
•A clash of "cultural maps" between the U.S.
and Sweden.
As the vice president of the company
What could you have done differently in
order to avoid problems among manager
and their employees?
1. Have Miller prepare a cultural profile of
his host country
2. Provide Miller with cross-cultural
training
3. Provide Miller’s employees with crosscultural training,
4. Provide Swedish managers cross
cultural training given the
internationalization of their company