Doing business in foreign countries requires knowledge of local customs, language and business practices. Literacy rates and other social conditions may also affect decisions about business location.
The UNESCO Institute provides statistical data and country profiles that focus on four themes: culture and communications, education, literacy, and science and technology.
Professor Geert Hofstede conducted one of the most comprehensive studies of how values in the workplace are influenced by culture. Six dimensions are used to measure the values that distinguished countries from each other.
Brief video clips in which executives from different countries discuss (in their native language) cultural issues related to their experience in working with North Americans. Executives speak Chinese, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.