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Recent years have witnessed globalisation of business with astonishing speed. The US multinational corporations, in particular, have ventured rapidly to enter markets all over the world. This kind of trend poses great challenges for managers as they have to interact with different cultures. The management styles that prove effective in the western world may not produce the desired results in other cultures. This paper highlights the differences between the American and Arabian cultures and examines how the American management philosophy and styles are adapted to suit the cultural context of the United Arab Emirates
1. Introduction
A formidable body of research has been built up in recent years focusing on the dynamics of globalization of business ( McLuhan and Powers 1983; Ritzer 1993; Ger, Belk and Lascu 1993; Sklair 1993, among others).Interestingly, the natural benchmark for thinking about globalization of business is to consider how Corporate America has shaped the world in which markets for goods, services, and factors of production are getting integrated. There is compelling evidence to suggest that US multinational corporations ( MNCs ) operating in areas such as transportation, mass media, tourism, publishing, sports, consumer durables and non-durables, and information technology, among others, have been contributing immensely to make the world a "global village" (McLuhan and Powers, 1989). With Ronald McDonald leading the way by proliferating restaurants with astonishing speed in various parts of the world, US MNCs are now breaking down all sorts of barriers far and wide.
In view of the proliferation of Corporate America in various parts of the world, Ronald McDonald, Mickey Mouse, Colonel Sanders, Big Bird, and the Michelin Man, among others, have come to be popularly perceived as world ambassadors of Corporate America (Kottak, 1981). In fact, stylised American shopping malls, retail outlets, hotels, educational institutions, banks, Internet cafes, and cultural organisations have come to exist all over the world (Home, 1992) . A greater number of Americans are now managing overseas operations . These expatriates obviously bring with them the American cultural styles to manage the foreign operations. However, these styles need to be used with flexibility and adaptation. Otherwise, they may not prove effective in different cultural contexts ( Harrison, 1994). While the interaction of US management styles with different cultural...