Definitely, the business practices in Islamic and Christian countries differ drastically. The divergences appear in every spectrum of the business deeds, i.e. from business settings, dress codes, business etiquettes, focus on business verse personal values, hospitality, time management. Though both religions are monotheistic, their values, traditions, religious practices, beliefs, and social and cultural sanctions differs a lot. Indeed, whatever the difference be, both religions are against bribery, fraud, and cheating, discriminations, corruption and are strongly concerned about the rights of employees, customers, and stakeholders. Since Islamic countries are theocrat and to take an example of US, it is ruled by the “common law”, the differences manifest.
The point to be noted is, except religion, other moderating variables also come in action to impact the business environment. Hasty generation could not be made alone on the basis of religion, therefore following testaments are just general inference made.
Life prioritization.
Islamic countries are group oriented whereas the Christians are individualistic. Running the Hofstede cultural test, Unites States scored 91, the UAE 25, Pakistan 14 and Nepal 30 in individualism (“Country Comparision”, n.d.). We can also induce, more the country is economically less equipped it favors groups as it fosters security. Pakistan ranks lower in individualism in comparison to the UAE. The businessperson in the individualist countries is more objective, result oriented, direct whereas Islamist focuses on the longterm relationships and often carries subtle meanings in their actions and business deeds. As per (Cukur, Guzman, & Carlo, 2004), collectives are more conservatives in values and more religious than the individualistic countries, moreover they are lower on the openness to change.
Gender consciousness:
Islam focuses on core caring and protection of feminism in their own way which could be reprehensible for Christians. The code of dress also differs, the Islamic traditions have long body hiding apparels which in fact is good enough to get protected from the direct sunlight in the extreme heat. Though it is often seen, feminism is suppressed, the educated Islamic countries are coming up with more profound liberalization and also are being equally sensitive to their theocratic culture.
Financial dealings:
Whereas the financial deals in context of Christians are entitled to have interest in their investment, in contrast, the Islamic business or banks are not allowed to charge interest in their investment (Lagace, 2002) but another way around the return on investments are made as a profit sharing.
Contracts and business deals:
You have a good business track record, high cognitive skills, and enough resources, than its more than enough to have a business deal in capitalist Christian country but in Islam, they believe themselves to be the agent of the Allah, so protecting Allah’s property might not have any contractual and business dealing with other if another party are self-centered, over-aggressive and focuses more on self than for group.
Hence the cultural differences between a Muslim country and the Christians will cause business practices to differ dramatically since the “Message of Islam” and “The Gospel of Jesus” priorities and practices are different. But except these religious and cultural independents variables, other mediating variables like level of education, openness to FDI, level of economic development, the vision of the country, the level of poverty, the existence of sectarian strife, the chance of civil war should also be taken into consideration while having the business approach.
Bibliography
Country Comparision. (n.d.). Country Comparision. Retrieved from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/nepal,pakistan,the-united-arab-emirates,the-usa/: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/nepal,pakistan,the-united-arab-emirates,the-usa/
Cukur, C. S., Guzman, M. R., & Carlo, G. (2004). Religiosity, Values, and Horizontal and Vertical Individualism-Collectivism: A Study of Turkey, the United States, and the Philippines. The Journal of Social Psychology,144(6), 613-634.
Lagace, M. (2002, February 04). How To Do Business in Islamic Countries. Retrieved from www.hbswk.hbs.edu: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/how-to-do-business-in-islamic-countries
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