3.1 Definitions and Elements of Cultures

3.1.1 Definitions of Cultures

The decision making process of strategies is determined by cultural values defined by both national culture and organizational culture of the decision makers. Therefore, strategies are closely related to culture. However, there are a variety of definitions of culture and organizational culture. The definitions and elements of culture discussed in this section are commonly agreed on among scholars.

Culture is a decisive factor which influences organizational behaviors and management practice. Culture and organizational culture have a variety of definitions. Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn, American anthropologists, published a list of 160 different definitions of culture in 1952 （Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1991）. Though scholars share no consensus on the definition of culture, some are commonly accepted among most scholars as follows.

Culture is defined as a significant determinant for organizational behaviors and managerial practice. However, culture has been normally conceptualized as a complex set of norms, values, assumptions, attitudes, and beliefs that are characteristics of a particular group. Culture is the group's strategy for survival and it constitutes the successful attempt to adapt to the external environment （Triandis, 1993）.

A standard definition of culture includes a system of values, symbols and shared meanings of a group including the embodiment of these values, symbols and meanings into material objects and ritualized practices （Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1991）.Culture is the pattern of shared beliefs and values that give members of an institution meaning, and provide them with the rules for behavior in their organization （Davis, 1984）.

Reviewing these definitions together with those by key scholars such as Schein （1985） and Martin （2002） the following are essentials which are mutually agreed upon among scholars. First, culture involves at least three components: what people think, what they do, and the material products they produce. Thus, mental processes, beliefs, knowledge, and values are parts of culture. Second, culture is behavioral. Culture is shared, learned human behavior, a way of life and it is an abstraction from behavior. Third, culture is normative. Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living, a mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior. Fourth, culture is mental. Culture is a complex of ideas or learned habits that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals. Fifth, culture is structural. Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviors.

In sum, culture is a way of thinking, feeling and believing. Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together. It is a set of standardized orientations to problems. It is a set of techniques for adjusting both to the external environment and to other men. We therefore define culture as a mental mindset of a group to perform such functions as to guide the way people think, behave, feel and believe, adapt to external environment and integrate internal behaviors within an organization.

3.1.2 Elements of Culture

The essential elements of culture include superficial sign, behavioral model, and social rules of interaction and core of people's mindset. They are embodied in symbols, heroes and rituals, which have been subsumed under practices. Their invisible culture values lie precisely and only in the way these practices are interpreted by the insiders.

Symbols: Superficial Sign

Symbols are words, gestures, pictures or objects that carry a particular meaning which is only recognized by those who share the culture. The words in a language or jargons belong to this category, as do dress, hairstyles, flags, and status symbols. New symbols are easily developed and old ones disappear. Symbols from one cultural group are regularly copied by others. Symbols are the most superficial layer of cultures.

Heroes: Behavioral Model

Heroes are persons, alive or dead, real or imaginary, who possess characteristics which are highly prized in a culture, and who thus serve as models for behaviors.

Rituals: Social Rules of Interaction

Rituals are collective activities, technically superfluous in reaching desired ends and socially essential. Ways of greeting and paying respect to others, social and religious ceremonies are examples. Business and political meetings organized for seemingly rational reasons often serve mainly ritual purposes, like allowing the leaders to assert themselves.

Values: Core of People's Mindset

The core of culture is formed by values. Values are broad tendencies to prefer certain states of affairs over others. Values are feelings with directions. They deal with: evil vs. good; dirty vs. clean; ugly vs. beautiful; unnatural vs. natural; abnormal vs. normal; paradoxical vs. logical; irrational vs. rational （Hofstede & Garratt,1994）.