What do international companies have to understand in order to operate in other countries (cultures/regs)?

Question

How do other cultures and regulations affect business?

Answer 1

Any multination company - regardless of how moral a standpoint they assume in their country of origin- will only do the MINIMUM required by any country in which they operate.

For instance American oil companies will comply with tight environmental and safety restrictions when working in, say, the North sea, Canada or California, but it is a very different story when they are operating in Africa or South America. They don't think twice about paying bribes, either.

Answer 2

They have to understand certain regulations of course, they must know the employment market and the exchange rates, whether or not they always understand the culture is not really a require ment, I am sure that there must be factories in Muslim countries which process or put into cans things like pork. I imagine that the financial aspect of the business is the foremost thought for these companies.