The management of culture diversity: lessons from Brazilian companies

Despite the extremely diversified cultural context in which Brazilian enterprises operate, the issue of cultural diversity is new in their agenda. The emergence of this theme is much more related to the need of creating competitive advantages by developing diversified competences, usually following policies which are established by the headquarters of local subsidiaries, than attending to legal procedures, as happens in the USA and Canada. Departing from a conceptual elaboration about cultural diversity and its management, this paper presents the results achieved in a research among leading Brazilian firms. The points that emerge as conclusions can be generalized for other countries.