Indonesia is the fourth largest country in the world it is home to more than 195 million people. The population is made up of Malay, Polynesian, and 100 distinct ethnic groups. Indonesia is situated between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, between the continents of Asia and Australia. Its total land area is 1,905,443 square kilometers with over 80,000 kilometers of coastline. The official language is Bahasa Indonesia with numerous regional languages and dialects. English is widely understood particularly in Jakarta, Bali and other major cities. Islamic and Muslim is the main religion in Indonesia with some Hinduism, Buddhism and Christian areas [Abo03]. .
The executive team Fair Dinkum Foods has commissioned this report to outline the major cultural differences and business customs when doing business in Indonesia. Topics that will be discussed will include; religion, business communication, meeting format's and gift giving, manners and business etiquette and lastly business cards. As said before, this report will discuss the cultural differences and how it may affect the costs of doing business in each country and the consequent effect on business practices. Recommendations have been provided to ensure that confusion and hostile does not occur.
2. CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT.
According to [MBA08] "The environment shapes the values, behaviors, attitudes and aspirations of people. The study of social hierarchy, social norms and customs, regional/ religion based groups and their behavior helps us to understand the cultural environment of a place. This helps a marketer to position the products appropriately".
To understand the customers of a particular region, studying their social and cultural environment is very important.