Abstract

Nowadays not only the economical, but also the social and cultural factors play a considerable role. Culture constitutes the fundamental source of the sustainable economic development, a considerable capital in itself, created by the community, which is transformable into valuable economic goods and services, thus possessing the ability to change into a competitive advantage. International research involving the participation of the Department of Management of the University of Pannonia, Hungary have shown that there is a significant connection between certain cultural features and competitive position both at organisational and national level. These results provide a basis for the discussion of how to manage diversity at individual as well as community level. Research projects in cooperation with the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany studied which elements and to what extent Hungarian-German joint ventures draw from Hungarian and German culture and analysed the relationship between cultural aspects and leadership style based on the Hofstede-model. Another research project carried out by the university surveyed the connection between national culture and competitiveness. In the course of the research, on the basis of the collective analysis of Trompenaars’ database with regard to national culture and that of the competitiveness data of the 2005 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook it has been proved, that there is a close connection between the competitiveness of a country and its cultural characteristics. The analyses have defined cultural peculiarities, which exercise positive influence on competitiveness.