Cross-Cultural Communication Issues in Business Textbooks: What the Texts Should, But Often Don't, Do.

Based on examination of a number of international business (IB) textbooks, all of which were found deficient in their treatment of the cross-cultural aspects of IB, 12 principles that should be reflected in the content and construction of IB texts are presented, with explanation and illustrations: (1) understand that culture is the basis of everything from the physical level up; (2) teach basic foundational information about culture, and let the details build on the foundation; (3) be informed by theories of experts in cross-cultural business communication; (4) raise cross-cultural issues when discussing other aspects of business or case studies; (5) teach sociological, philosophical, and anthropological categories, not isolated facts about cultural differences; (6) include appropriate examples; (7) answer the question, "How does culture influence business practices?"; (8) explain the reasons for a given cultural behavior or business practice; (9) provide the business implications of a given behavior or approach; (10) explain the phases of culture shock; (11) cultivate cross-cultural awareness through appropriate language use; and (12) provide a truly global perspective, rather than simply explain other cultures to Americans. A brief reading on values and attitudes is included. Contains nine references. (MSE)