Italy covers a land area of 301,230 sq km (116,306 sq mi). Comparatively, the area occupied by Italy is slightly larger than the state of Arizona. Italy has high unemployment and a relatively complicated and young market oriented government. To get an idea of how Italy’s culture compares to that of the Unites States, we ran a Hofstede.United StatesItalyIndividualism9478Power Distance4148Uncertainty Avoidance4574Masculinity6268Individualism versus collectivism focuses on the relationship between the individual and his or her fellows. In individualistic societies, the ties between individuals were loose and individual achievement and freedom were highly valued. Power distance focuses on how a society deals with the fact that people are unequal in physical and intellectual capabilities. Low power distance cultures were found in societies that tried to play down such inequalities as much as possible.Uncertainty avoidance measures the extent to which different cultures socialized their members into accepting ambiguous situations and tolerating uncertainty. Members of high uncertainty avoidance cultures placed a premium on job security, career patterns, retirement benefits, and so on. Lower uncertainty avoidance cultures were characterized by a greater readiness to take risks and less emotional resistance to change.Masculinity versus femininity looks at the relationship between family and work roles. In masculine cultures, the job is as important or more important than the family. After comparing Italy with the United States the only possible problem or threat in relation to cultures that Philips should note is uncertainty avoidance. This means that Italy is not quick to adopt new ideas. If Web TV is introduced into Italy, it will take more time for it to become accepted than it did in the United States. SOCIOCULTURALPENETRATIONThe Internet has just started to make an impact in Italy. A recent study by Eurisko (a very relia...
