A primary characteristic distinguishing humans from other animals is our
development of culture, which many think of as a place—the South American
culture of Brazil, the Western European culture of France, the Middle East cul-ture of Saudi Arabia, and the Far East culture of China. Culture may certainly include geography as well as material objects and artifacts (Herskovits, 1955) but Clifford Geertz (1973) perceives culture more importantly to be the means by which people “communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life. Culture is the fabric of meaning in terms of which human beings interpret their experience and guide their action” . Keesing (1974) suggests that our cultures provide us with “internal models ofreality”  and implicit theories of the “games being played” in our societies, whereas Olsen (1978) points out that “as people communicate the meanings of their actions to each other and work out shared interpretations of activities and definitions of situations, they develop a common culture that is shared by the participants...providing them with interpretations of social life, role expectations, common definitions of situations, and social norms”. We are not born with the genetic imprint of a particular culture, but rather learn about our culture through interactions with parents, extended family members, friends, teachers, and others who are part of the culture.Moreover, television and other electronic media convey many of the day-to-day norms and expectations of our culture (Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli,(1980). The mutually shared beliefs, values, and norms that characterize culture give each of us guidelines about what things mean, what is important, and what should be done. Philip Harris and Robert Moran (1991) observe that “culture gives people a sense of who they are, of belonging, of how they should behave, and what they should be doing” . Consequently, “culture is not one thing, but many” (Hall, 1959). Culture is the luggage we carry with us in our daily lives and when we travel abroad. It is a set of objective and subjective elements that shape perception and define our worldview.
  Besides culture, there are other related terms that require definition if we
are to properly put in perspective the relationship between culture and international business. These terms are often used interchangeably with cultureor referred to in conjunction with culture—nation, ethnicity, race, subculture,counterculture, enculturation, acculturation, and popular culture.