This week you will explain culture and cross-cultural risks as well as explain culture's effect on international business. Provide at least one example from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia where cultural...

Effect of international business on Saudi Culture
Table of Content
1. Introduction
2. Change and Women
3. Change and entertainment
4. Change and dress code
5. Change and education
6. Change and the Arabic language
7. Conclusion
8. References
Effect of international business on Saudi Culture
Introduction
The world today has become a small place. Interactions between people have brought about change in cultures world-wide. Saudi Arabia is no exception and even though the Saudi society is believed to be conservative, prominent changes in its culture have occurred due to indulgence and prevalence of international business interactions.
The Saudi culture can be noted to be a high context culture in that most of the information conveyed by Saudis is based on context. The Saudis are particular about things like values, background and behaviour. Legal paperwork is not given extreme importance and the focus is greatly on personal negotiation. This can be differentiated from low context countries like USA and Germany where paperwork, documentation and words carry all information and authenticity.
The religion of Islam carries much weight in the Saudi Culture whereby greetings, meetings, relations and even dress code is governed by the religion (Ezzi, Teal & Izzo, 2014). In spite of this strict adherence to religion, many changes have come about in Saudi due to international business. These changes can be noted in the Saudi culture especially with the recent wave of change sweeping the country. Whether it is dress, entertainment or language, Saudi customs have seen prominent changes in the last few years.
Change and Women
With the massive change implemented by the country to encourage investment and entry of foreigners into the country, it seems Saudi has opened its door to cultural change under the influence of international businesses.
One of the biggest changes that came over in the last years is the permission for women to drive. Women were denied the right to drive in Saudi Arabia, making them dependent on family males or personal drivers. However, starting last year, they have been given the freedom to drive their own vehicles. More and more women are going behind the wheel now. This has been mainly due to the pressure from the international community and as a supporting act for women from abroad to enter the country.
International business has also opened the door for employment for women. More women are now employed than ever before in Saudi Arabia as the opportunities and vacancies are increasing, especially after the Saudization of the recent years. More and more Saudi women are taking jobs, many of...