Towards an emic model of business culture

Purpose: This paper aims to generalize emic studies of culture and thus provide indigenous view nuanced particularly for emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach: The authors review four local business frameworks and deconstruct each into three different constructs. The authors systematically evaluate culture specific studies, particularities of jaan pehchaan (India), guanxi (China), sviazi (Russia) and wasta (Arab countries). Findings: Building on social networking theory, the authors synthesize an emic model for four types of large emerging markets cultures – China, Russia, India and Arab countries – and divide them according to their affective, conative and cognitive elements. Practical implications: By knowing the impact of the constructs and how to leverage it, managers can successfully penetrate and manage these complex markets. Originality/value: Current models of culture, such as the ones proposed by Hofstede and GLOBE, are etic in their orientation, attempting to find variations in common dimensions across different cultures. Emic approaches to studying culture are more bottom-up and are idiosyncratic to the culture.