“Thumbs-up is a rude gesture in Australia”: The Presentation of Culture in International Business Textbooks

Almost by definition international business requires knowledge of cultural differences. We would expect textbooks in the field to acknowledge this, and indeed, they do emphasize the importance of culture. But the chapters on cultural differences and the role of culture in the sixteen widely used textbooks surveyed here contain some errors of fact and interpretation. This article discusses the difference between accepting cultural diversity as an integral part of the human environment and looking at it as a barrier for the implementation of a Western (US) business culture.