The Business Culture Complexity Index™ 2019-2022

The higher up the league table, the easier the business culture; the lower, potentially the more difficult.

According to our Index from 2019-2022, Denmark had the least complex business culture, while Nigeria had the most complex business culture.

The index was formulated using economic, cultural and social data from 14 sources.

You can read more about the data sources here and you can also learn about the different country’s business cultures here.

The Business Culture Complexity Index™ League Table (2019-2022)

About the Results

Why is Denmark the least complex business culture?

Denmark comes out on top for lots of reasons:

• The data shows that the Danes are very trusting of others, with one of the highest trust scores.
• As a society they are one of the happiest, pointing to a well-functioning country that looks after its citizens, provides jobs, welfare, etc. This is also reflected in Denmark’s scores in areas such as the Human Development Index.
• The lack of religiosity perhaps points to a more open culture when it comes to dealing with outsiders and a less collective and protective approach to business and commercial relationships.
• Scores for Ease of Doing Business, Economic Freedom, Press Freedom and Corruption are excellent, again pointing to a more transparent commercial environment providing minimal barriers to entry.
• Culturally speaking, the data points to an egalitarian culture, where hierarchies are relatively flat, perhaps reflected in its to relatively relaxed business culture.
• Denmark’s leaning towards individual responsibility explains the greater emphasis placed on values such as rule of law, fairness and equality which in themselves are also expressed in the way business is done.

In conclusion, we can surmise that Danish business culture is very open, trusting and transparent where the rule of law governs how things get done.

Here's a blog with a more detailed overview of the data.

Why is Nigeria the most complex business culture?

Nigeria comes out bottom for the following reasons:

• Nigeria scores as one of the lowest countries in terms of trust, pointing to a sceptic culture where there may be many barriers to entry, whether personal or professional.
• Happiness-wise, Nigeria has one of the most dissatisfied populations as well-documented challenges in bringing the country up to par with international standards continue to stymie progress. This is reflected in the poor internet usage in the country.
• Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business, Economic Freedom and Corruption scores were all on the lower end of the scale highlighting the multi-layered complexity of doing business in the country.
• Nigeria scores amongst the most religious countries which reflects the central place religion takes within identity politics in the country. As a result, there are more barriers to entry as groups try to protect their own.
• Culturally-speaking Nigeria was the most “Embedded country” meaning that people put the group’s needs way above their own, matching in with the point above.
• Similarly Nigeria was also one of the least Egalitarian countries, which potentially points to a business culture in which hierarchies, protocol and procedures are very important, all of which are very tough to navigate as an outsider.

In conclusion, Nigeria’s fractured society at a cultural level, its emphasis on protecting the group and its lack of a robust business environment make it potentially the most complex business culture of all.

Business Culture Complexity Heat Map (2019-2022)

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Source: Business Culture Complexity Index ™ (2019-2022) by Commisceo Global Consulting Ltd. Published online at https://www.commisceo-global.com/resources/bcci

Discover Global Business Culture

Click to find out more about the culture of a country. If there is no link it means we are still working on that page.

Argentina - Australia - Austria
Bangladesh - Belgium - Brazil
Canada - Chile – China - Colombia - Czech Republic
Denmark
Egypt
Finland - France
Germany
Hong Kong
India - Indonesia - Iran - Iraq - Ireland - Israel - Italy
Japan
Malaysia - Mexico
Netherlands - Nigeria - Norway
Pakistan - Peru - Philippines - Poland
Romania - Russia
Saudi Arabia - Singapore - South Africa - South Korea
Spain - Sweden - Switzerland
Taiwan - Thailand - Turkey
United Arab Emirates - United Kingdom - United States
Vietnam

The Data

You can download the raw data from all 14 sources in an Excel file here.

Any questions?

Please contact us if you have any questions.