Note:  The following are teaching notes that I made available for students in BSAD560, Intercultural Business Relations, a graduate course offered as an elective in the MBA program at Andrews University.  If you find this material useful, you may use it for non-commercial purposes such as teaching, intercultural training seminars, etc.  In such cases, provide an appropriate academic citation to Dr Charles Tidwell, Dean Emeritus, Andrews University.

In addition, these notes have been translated as listed below.  If you desire to translate these notes into another language and use them in a blog or other publically available web site and wish to have this noted here, please let me know.  My e-mail is tidwell@andrews.edu

Language	Translator	Web-link
Bosnian	Anima Dugalic	http://the-sciences.com/2017/03/27/10-jezgre-americke-vrijednosti/
Georgian	Ana Mirilashvili	http://lpacode.com/10-core-american-values/
Slovak	Barbora Lebedova	https://www.bildelarexpert.se/blogg/2018/05/14/10-core-americke-hodnoty/

individualism
• belief that each person is unique, special and a “basic unit of nature”
• emphasis on individual initiative
• stress need for independence
• premium on individual expression
• value privacy

equality
• open society that ideally treats everyone equally
• little hierarchy
• informal
• directness in relations with others

materialism
• a “right” to be well off and physically comfortable
• judge people by their possessions
  

science and technology
• values scientific approaches
• primary source of good
• major factor in change

progress and change
• belief in changing self and country
• “Manifest Destiny”
• optimism -- nothing is impossible 

work and leisure
• strong work ethic
• work is the basis of recognition, power.
• idleness seen as a threat to society
• leisure is a reward for hard work 
  

competition
• aggressive and competitive nature encouraged
• Be First (#1) mentality 
  

mobility
• a people on the move
• vertical (social / economic) as well as physical mobility 
  

volunteerism
• belief in helping others (related to equality concept)
• philanthropy admired
• a personal choice not a communal expectation
• involves associations / denominations rather than kin-groups 
  

action and achievement oriented
• emphasis on getting things done
• priority on planning and setting goals
• tendency to be brief and business like,
• practical
• measure results
• focus on function and pragmatism