Marketing: Hofstede:- Comparison Of Cultures In The US And South Africa Critical Thinkings Example

The cultural values of South Africa shall be compared with those of the US on seven issues; power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism, and indulgence.
On power distance, South Africans accept hierarchical order. On the same scale, the US scores 40 meaning that Americans prefer to less hierarchical order as compared to South Africans and they employees trust in benevolent bosses more in the US than in South Africa.
On individualism, South Africa scores 65 and the US scores 91 meaning that the US is a highly individualistic society. In the US, people are expected to take care of themselves and deliver on their part since promotion is based on merit. In South Africa, there is some degree of communism.
On masculinity, the country ranks 63 meaning that it is a masculine society. The US scores 62. As such, in the two countries, people in management make decisions with emphasis and competition is based on competition, equity, and performance.
South Africans prefer to avoid uncertainty going by its score of 49 while that of the US is 46. Many people in both countries prefer to be practical instead of adhering to principles.
South Africans also prefer to adhere to normatism rather than pragmatism. They score 34 while the US scores 26. This means that the Americans prefer to analyze information before believing it to be true of false. American businesses also gauge the performance of businesses based on the short term rather than the long term while those in the South Africa prefer to use longer periods.
On indulgence, the US scores 68 while South Africa scores 63. The two counties differ slightly in matters concerning the challenges affect humanity. Americans and South Africans to a slightly lesser extent believe that if one works hard s/he should also play hard. The societies are largely welcoming, indulgent, unrestrained, and liberal which suits them for business.

References

What about South Africa? http://geert-hofstede.com/south-africa.html