Cultural Characteristics of Denmark

TERM PAPER: DENMARK

Introduction

Cultural characteristics of Denmark

Hofstede’s dimensions of Denmark        

Power Distance        

Individualism versus Collectivism        

Masculinity versus Femininity        

Uncertainty Avoidance        

Pragmatism        

Indulgence

Implications for management and/or marketing

Conclusions

References        

Introduction

This term paper will start by examining the cultural characteristics of Denmark. There were seven different define culture characteristics that could be observed. The seven were hygge-lifestyle, humor character, distinctive language, bona fide communication, privacy character, sustainable lifestyle and equality. All seven reflect quite well the life in Denmark and give a picture of what being a Dane is like. These characters will be gone through properly in the first section of the paper.

After the cultural characteristics, Denmark will be examined via Hofstede’s dimensions. These dimensions are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, pragmatism and indulgence. In this section the Hofstede’s Centre website is prominent, since all the observed numbers are from the website. The section will also include some theory-based information about the mentioned dimensions before examining the dimension individually for Denmark.

The last part of the paper before conclusions will handle the management of Denmark starting with some stereotypes of Danish managements and then moving on to more detailed information about why the Danish management which has been selected as one of the world leaders. In the end of the tem paper there will be the conclusion from the whole term paper.

Cultural characteristics of Denmark

Denmark is one of the Nordic countries and therefore has a lot of cultural similarities with other Scandinavian countries. From the Scandinavians Denmark is the most European due to its location (Salminen & Poutanen, 1998, s. 33). Like Sweden and Norway, Denmark is also a monarchy and has been longer than 1 000 years (Denmark, 2015 a). Because of a similar history Denmark and Danish culture can be assimilated with other Scandinavian cultures. Denmark has also been ranked as the happiest nation many times (O’Callaghan, 2014).