ABSTRACT

This paper aims to problematize cross-cultural management (CCM) discourse that naturalizes and depoliticizes similarities as a power-neutral or even power-neutralizing mechanism for creating a positive sense of familiarity, closeness, trust, and intimacy between partners. Employing a postcolonial perspective, the paper deals with the ambiguity and partiality embedded in similarity through Homi Bhabha’s theoretical concept of mimicry – when similarities conceal and therefore tacitly reproduce and reinforce cultural differences, thus enhancing power asymmetries. Through the systematic content analysis of 151 accounts of similarity in Israel-Korean business alliances – asking who is similar to whom (direction), to what extent (degree), and under what circumstances (context) – this paper reveals similarities construction as a sophisticated othering. Rather than being an effective tool for distance management, similarities-as-mimicry, imposed or desired, determine the hierarchical relations between the compared parties through symbolic projection of being or becoming similar from a superior model to its imitation.

摘要

本文旨在将跨文化管理 (CCM) 话语问题化，该话语将相似性自然化和去政治化，作为一种权力中立甚至权力中立的机制，以在合作伙伴之间营造积极的熟悉感、亲密感、信任感和亲密感。本文采用后殖民视角，通过 Homi Bhabha 的模仿理论概念处理嵌入在相似性中的模糊性和偏颇性——当相似性隐藏并因此默认复制和加强文化差异，从而增强权力不对称时。通过对以色列-韩国商业联盟中 151 个相似性描述的系统内容分析——询问谁与谁相似（方向）、相似程度（程度）以及在什么情况下（上下文）——本文揭示了相似性构建作为一个复杂的其他。