Please Share Your Thoughts on the Philippines
Mar 1, 08 Posted in Asia, Philippines
If you would like to find out more about how to negotiate effectively in the Philippines, take a look at the corresponding Country Section from the book Negotiating International Business by Lothar Katz.
If you have any experience to share (or questions you would like answered) relating to
2 Responses to “Please Share Your Thoughts on the Philippines”
By Andy Wang on Jun 3, 08
Hi Prof. Graham,
I am a student in your Global Business 1 class. I do have to comment that after interviewing my Filipino coworker, I find that not all Filipinos will agree that their culture is group-oriented or collectivistic.
This is because my coworker explained that even in groups, there is an essential instinct for individuals within groups to want to be “number #1″. I think this is an inherent human trait that we all possess. More or less, deep down inside, people are competitive, such as between siblings and between children and their cousins.
Furthermore, what is quite interesting is that my coworker said also that you will see that in major cities in the US, there aren’t so-called “Little Manila” towns. This is because even when Filipino neighborhoods exist, there is a tendency for these neighborhoods to have some sort of competition with each other. Filipinos are not as unified as Koreans or Chinese, ethnic groups where Koreatowns and Chinatowns exist throughout the US respectively. Therefore, this is another point that can help to understand why Filipinos are not as group-oriented as the sources may lead us to believe.
Thanks for your time!
By Lothar on Jun 7, 08
Great inputs, thanks. I have updated the country information by clarifying the paragraph about Filipino group orientation.