Research Paper on:
The Culture of Bulgaria

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
level of international coverage and cultural issues are more transparent, Bulgaria is not one of these countries, Although the country is a member of the EU and has an open  economy, it is not a country that has a high level of international coverage in the media, and is fairly small, with a population of 7,204,6871 (CIA, 2009) as such  when looking at business and the country in generals there is a need to consider the Bulgarian culture to give any study context.  According to Trice and Bayer cultures are collective, emotionally charged, historically based, inherently symbolic, and dynamic (Trice and Beyer, 1993). Therefore, understanding the culture will create an understanding the values  and attitudes of those in that environment, as well as the diversity of the views, and general social structures and norms. Bulgaria is located in Eastern Europe, as such there  are cultural influences from the neighboring countries as well as its history, but to look at history when considering the current culture can be misleading as cultures change and evolve.  A good framework that can be used when looking at culture is that of Hofstede, whos original framework had four cultural dimensions;  power distance, individualism /collectivism, masculinity/femininity and uncertainty avoidance. Power distance is defined by Hofstede as the "extent to which the less powerful  members of institutions and organizations within a country expect and accept that power is distributed unequally" (Hofstede, 2003). This is not a concept that is limited to the workplace, but  can be seen n many other areas, such as in schools or social hierarchies. Research has been undertaken by Elenkov (2003) into Bulgarian culture where it has been found that