Modeling innovation in international business with respect to the cultural distance using interval type-2 fuzzy sets

Cultural distance is one of the important variables in international business which differentiates the domestic and local business from international business. However, calculating the cultural distance is a critical issue for determining its effects on various aspects of international business and in particular on innovation. Moreover, it is difficult to precisely measure the quality of innovation in international business. In this paper, we will demonstrate a novel method for calculating interval type-2 fuzzy set of the quality of innovation in international business collaborations for each country. The sets are defined with respect to each individual Hofstede cultural dimension and also with respect to the cultural distances of the countries that are calculated using the known methods in management studies which are based on aggregating Hofstede cultural dimensions.