Answer to Question #152709 in Economics of Enterprise for sevgi

Question

“European consumers have faced a number of food-related issues, including an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease and continuing concerns over mad cow disease. As a result, many are skeptical about GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) and the benefits of eating food products that incorporate genetically-engineered ingredients. As one French citizen noted recently, "We have a very risk-averse society that has been completely traumatized by food scares." Thinking about this situation in terms of Hofstede's cultural values framework, which typology best describes this case? Explain the characteristics of that typology.

Answer 1

As per the given case study the Hofstede's cultural dimension model Framework which is discussed in the case study is is uncertainty avoidance. In this type of dimension, there are two categories of people one is high uncertainty avoidance and the other is low uncertainty avoidance. The concept of uncertainty avoidance is the extent up to which the people of a particular culture feel threatened by certain situations that are uncertain to them. In the given case study the European customers are having continuous concern over the genetically modified organism and hence their opinion with respect to the engineered ingredients in food is quite skeptical. These people will do whatever they can do to avoid the risk associated with genetically modified food and they consider this as very risky to their health and they have quite a good amount of fear with respect to this food. This kind of people have been completely traumatized by the food scare and hence according to the model of Hofstede's cultural dimension they prefer to avoid an eternity in totality. It is also clear from the given case that the people of European countries fall under the category of high uncertainty avoidance.