Omega Pharma is a Belgian company, located in Nazareth. It offers a wide range of high-quality prescription medicines, health products and cosmetics. With its 280 employees, Omega Pharma’s ultimate goal is to make people's lives easier and better. The company was founded in 1987 by Marc Coucke and Yvan Vindevogel and made the news recently due to its acquisition in 2014 by the American company Perrigo. In the last eight years Omega Pharma managed to double its turnover and made the transition from SME to a global player. In 2006, the company made its first turnover of over one billion euros. It is clear that Omega Pharma is a very successful company.
Because of Omega Pharma’s proven success, we thought this company was optimal to make an analysis…show more content… These differences affect the way business is taking place. First of all the definition of culture: “culture is a system of values and norms that are shared among a group of people and that when taken together constitute a design for living.” (Hofstede) or in short “the software of the mind” (Hofstede). The group of people who share a common set of values and norms, we refer to as society. Culture, including values and norms, evolves over time in response to a number of factors, including religion, political and economic philosophies, education, language and social structure …
First we will take a look at the social structure, which refers to the society’s basic social organization. There are not extremely big differences on this aspect. Both Belgium and New Zealand have a high level of entrepreneurship and a dynamic economy with a competitive environment. Also the social stratification is similar in Belgium and New…show more content… Because of New Zealand’s British background, the largest religion is the Anglican Church, followed by the Catholic faith. However, as in many European countries, the number of believers in the country is decreasing. Comparing the ethical system from Belgium and New Zealand we find them to be similar. The things you have to keep in mind when doing business in New Zealand are: punctuality, fashionably late is not done and maintain a reserved, formal demeanor, especially when first meeting someone.
The next determinant of culture is language. There are three official languages of New Zealand, namely English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language. English is, however, the most used, since English is the most used language for international business. Language therefore would not immediately be a barrier. However, knowledge of the other two official languages could be beneficial.
For a company it is very important to understand a society’s culture and how it affects the values in the workplace. The management processes and practices need to be adapted to culturally-determined work-related values. There are five dimensions: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus feminist, and long term