Anwesha Ray
Daulat Ram College, University of Delhi
Entrepreneurship comes with a lot of uncertainty. Culture plays a vital role in entrepreneurial ideas. This means that family, friends, environment are some major factors that impact entrepreneurial behavior. Also, moral and financial support and confidence play an important role in inculcating new ideas in business. Entrepreneurship and ideas are highly influenced by the type of economy, such as a capitalist economy or socialist, social networking, financial support, and local and regional culture.
There is a great importance of cultural values and norms that determine entrepreneurship in the country or region. Cultural values are important to make sense about entrepreneurship which influences the behavior of people in the society. Culture being the transformation of learned behavior from generation to generation through language and imitation, provides opportunities in network development as well. Traditional families play an essential role in business and society due to their strong ties and relationships to enhance business and maintain their position and power in society. Culture includes ideas that shape human behavior, the pattern of values that influence the business ideas that one is going to take up.
Entrepreneurial activity has been drastically increased in the last few decades because of its importance for development in many countries that have emerging trends in their socio-economic development. Entrepreneurship is the source of self-employment as well as economic development. It also increases the employment rate in the economy and hence the importance of entrepreneurial activity is globally recognized.
It is a very common mistake that culture does not influence business. The influence of culture in entrepreneurship is extensive. It impacts how employees are best managed based on their values and ethics. It also somewhat influences the functional areas like marketing, sales, and distribution.
In India, several small-scale industries are influenced by local culture. India is a Hindu religious place, and there is a great demand for Agarbatti or incense stick market. The traditional demand for candles comes from the different festivals celebrated in India. There are also demands for handwoven clothes in the Indian market. All these are inspired by the vast culture and ethics of the people of the country. Indians love spices with sweet and sour flavor, giving rise to the demand for different types of pickles. It is so popular, that one can easily find at least one variety of pickles in every household. Indian pickle has a great acceptance in the international market as well. In the same way, there is another local business of Papad, that has a huge acceptance in the Indian market. It is a traditional food and is accompanied by different Indian cuisines. Nowadays, environmentalists encourage us to use biodegradable products and that gave rise to Jute products and it can easily be seen in Indian villages that people are into these kinds of small-scale businesses. Similarly, the business of traditional items of clothing and other items flourish.
Contemporary society is a society of ideas, ethics, and culture. As an entrepreneur, it is his or her duty to identify the target consumers’ way of thinking, feeling, beliefs, ethics and culture, and so on, to succeed with the business plan. The entrepreneur must identify the local needs and wants and then put forward ideas for the business. In concrete, local cultures have relevant features as it involves the root of the people’s behavior. It forms a pattern or rhythm in decision-making by the entrepreneurs and they also pose warning signs about their likes and dislikes, wants, and necessities. If we are taking the example of food, different people of different ethnic groups and cultures have different taste buds. One cannot possibly sell animal products to a vegetarian.
Although globalization is restructuring business modules and also ways of living, local culture perhaps plays an important role. Studying and knowing local traditions, roots, culture, and ethics and how these cultures adapt to the global world is an essential factor in finding the sense and pattern of life in contemporary society. The cultural differences between the global and local are very much relevant in that they face challenges for their conservation and identification. The value of local culture is relevant with its particular expressions to understand the world, for example- with the help of history of tradition, language, and ethics.
Expansion and development of social and cultural renewal have manifested in the rapid development in the industries and also in the growth of secondary and higher education. The people have quite well adapted to the changing nature of the technology and social innovations without replacing and conflicting with the local traditions. The term ‘hybridization’, developed by Garcia Canclini means reordering the local culture in a way such that it incorporates the aspects of global developments and adapts it for its survival and conservation in the society. In such a manner, the local culture evolves, adapts, and reorganizes. Entrepreneurs also try to adapt their products into multiple markets with different needs as per different social norms and values. Adaptability comes in differentiated product prices, different distribution channels, options, communication, etc. Had the cultural differences been not so important, big companies would not have spent large amounts of money in an investment in developing commercial strategies. Because it is quite evident that human beings appreciate local values and are different and unique.
