James Foreman-Peck, in a report written for the Cardiff Business School, suggested that in 2005 British SME’s lost out on £3billion worth of export trading due to a lack of foreign language skills.
A Grant Thornton report in 2004 shows that less than one third of UK executives are capable of negotiating in more than one language.
A 2007 report under ELAN project showed that 11% of the businesses surveyed blamed the loss of a specific contract on lack of language skills – contracts with a value of between 8 and 25.3 million Euros.
All three of these studies suggested that SME’s and larger companies that have an active language policy fare better in international trading than those without.
Less than 16% of UK SME’s report that they have hired a native speaker to help with export to a specific market.
From these numbers we can deduce that British companies are relying on their native English and the fact that many non-English speaking countries do invest heavily in foreign language acquisition. There are very few companies of any size who can claim that business is growing in the current climate, and yet from these figures it appears that we are missing out on a trick! Selling at the moment is hard, and we need to be more aware than ever of anything that will improve sales.
There is a careful analysis to be made: how long will it take to learn the language well enough to be confident enough to take an active part in meetings in that language? How much will those lessons cost against the value of the contract and potential future business? What about the time involved – can the time spent learning the language, and not sitting at the desk looking for new business be justified?
So how long do you need? Well that mostly depends on how you learn, and not “how good” you are at languages! Learning for one or two hours a week may well take you a life time to get a basic conversational level, and the same may well be true for self-study. Each time you start a new lesson, or pick up the books/tapes you will spend almost as long remembering the previous lesson as you do learning new material. An unstructured visit to the target country is almost useless – speaking English is compulsory in most hotels, restaurants, and you would need to make a huge effort to practice the foreign language. The ideal solution is an intensive programme of study where you are immersed in the language for a large part of the day on a one to one basis, followed by an immediate opportunity to use the skills in a work environment. Two weeks of intensive tuition, followed by a week or so resting with a third week of tuition should provide a solid level of most European languages, and provided the language is used with native speakers in a business context, near-fluency is not hard to obtain quite quickly.
Showing posts with label international business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label international business. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Culture is just hot air...
....well, a gas actually
Culture is like a gas, a reactive gas such as O2.
Gases always expand to fit the container they are in, and if oxygen comes into contact with another reactive substance, it will react and become something else.
It is therefore unstable, dynamic, constantly changing and unpredictable.
Culture is in the same way dynamic, constantly changing. Whenever you interact with someone, you create a culture – a way of defining the commonly understood rules of behaviour, etiquette, power distribution and face strategies that will govern that interaction.
Let’s break that down a bit.
When you talk to someone it is very very rare (rare enough to put to oneside for the moment) that you start by intending to offend them. We have an intuitive need to maintain our own face (our public identity, how we are viewed by those around us) and a desire to maintain the face of those we are communicating with. Each of us has slightly different expectations of how we perceive that our face should be maintained, and more importantly our expectations differ greatly depending on the context we are in.
To take a simplistic example, a Captain in the army expects subordinates to stand to attention, salute, and use “sir” (or “ma’am”) when speaking. When the same Captain comes home, she will certainly not expect the same attitude and deference from her children. In most familiar circumstances we instinctively know how to behave at a job interview, in a pub with our friends, in the office, in a client meeting etc etc. In each circumstance I portray a different identity, which is nonetheless still “me”.
The difficulty comes when we are in an unfamiliar environment, or meeting people whom we do not know, and cannot immediately guess their relative power status in relation to ourselves. In our familiar environments, we know how to be polite, to be deferential, to be humourous, to demonstrate authority. When a woman introduces her new partner to her circle of close friends, he is initially unsure of himself: firstly the woman is torn between two identities – that of best friend to her girlfriends, and that of partner. But more importantly the man is as yet unaware of the rules governing the group of friends – do they kiss on greeting each other for example – if the assumption is yes, and it is wrong, embarrassment and confusion will ensue. The group of close friends have a shared resource pool that they will index partially without repeating all the details. For the newcomer, a statement such as, “What an awful meal we had last week” will mean nothing. The “we” will be understood by the in-group, it will be clear what meal they are talking about and the group will continue with the details “taken as read” – for the outsider to the group, they need further explanation, even to the extent of whether it is appropriate to challenge the speaker.
In this kind of relaxed informal context mistakes are relatively easy to mend and rarely have longer lasting consequences. However if we take the same issues into the context of major international business meetings we suddenly have serious consequences riding on the outcome of being able to decide almost instantaneously which strategies are appropriate to what context.
One of the first negotiations to take place concerns power – who takes the lead in the meeting. If we follow a common assumption that whoever sends round the agenda or calls the meeting is the lead, can we be sure that that is always the case? Well, actually, no, we can’t.
A supplier may well request a meeting with an important client to discuss invoicing terms. This immediately upsets the established “culture” of interactions between the representatives of the two companies. One might normally expect the supplier to be deferential to such a big client, and to hand over the lead in a meeting to their representative. But in this instance they need to draw attention to the fact that several large invoices are outstanding, and they want to resolve the issue urgently, so they request the meeting, send round an agenda and nominally chair the meeting. However they don’t want to lose potential future business from this client, so it is clear that the power is renegotiated here, tacitly, and without anyone really noticing, but nevertheless it still happens.
For those who speak Russian, I have another analogy. My Russian teacher, Dr Gotteri (of Sheffield University fame) explained aspect in Russian verbs as like cricket balls and jelly. The perfective aspect – loosely related to the perfect forms of English tenses (have done, will have done, had done etc) - is the cricket ball: it’s stable, firm, no arguing. The imperfective aspect, which again, very loosely conforms to the continuous forms of English verbs (is doing, was doing, will be doing) is jelly – amorphous, unstable, readily mixes with other bits of jelly.
In my analogy this cricket ball is the now outdated view of culture that wants to limit us to defining ourselves by immutable, static groups with exclusive memberships – you can’t have two cricket balls occupying the same space at the same time. However it is becoming clear that we need a model that more resembles jelly – undefined, constantly adapting to its surrounds. The best bit is that it actually makes it easier for us. If we take the cricket ball approach to culture, we need to learn a set of rules and “culture scores” for each national/ethnic group we meet, and hope that the individuals conform to the rules. But the jelly approach means that we merely need to be aware that our assumptions and expectations may (or may not) be different from anyone else’s whatever their background and it is up to us to negotiate the rules of the encounter as we go along – which we do anyway.
Does this mean the end of intercultural training? Not at all, in fact it makes it much more interesting, because we can look at the strategies and ways we negotiate power and face, how we “do” politeness, and we can not only improve communication, but because we know how it is done, we can move to take control and give ourselves the advantage. More importantly, these lessons won’t be restricted to one country, but will have a universal applicability
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Infinite dimensions
As the initiated will know, there is a little controversy around Professor Hofstede and his research into Cultural Dimensions, first published in 1980.
For those who aren’t aware, Hofstede took survey results from IBM and from the identified 4 “dimensions of culture” (he later added a fifth), to distinguish between nationalities. There is a large amount of criticism aimed at his research methodology – not being an expert, I’m not really in a position to comment too much on that, however I can use an analogy and let people draw their own conclusion. There are 2 adults and 2 children in my family. Our average ages are 24.5. Can I therefore claim that the members of my family are around 24.5 years old? If I am unable to survey one member of the family, the average age will be significantly different. Hofstede took the average score across the various dimensions to be representative of a national cultural identity!
Please consider another situation. If an alien were to visit the earth to do some research into each nation, and were to ask humankind to choose a single specimen from each nation, what sort of person would you choose to represent Japan? (*Answer below)
One of the current views of culture that has gained a lot of credibility, especially among “social constructionists” is that we “do culture”. In other words, we create our own identity which is negotiated continually depending on the situational context. There are certainly national elements to this negotiation, but it is implausible to claim that the national is the most important feature in any context (in some it may be, however hard it might be to identify). Social constructionists and current interculturalists believe that an individual has an infinite number of cultural identities, none of which are fixed or stable, and represent all our past experiences, observations and perceptions. For example we behave very differently when we are with our children and/or parents than when we are at business meeting, and we will portray a very different worldview.
Hofstede presents a very practical, easy to use model of culture, and the alternative is infinitely harder to confine and present (especially if you’re an intercultural trainer trying to sell your services to business), however the intercultural model that pre-supposes infinite, negotiated, unstable cultural identities presents us with an approach that is of much wider benefit – instead of learning the dimension score for each “national culture” and devising a specific approach for each, we can start looking at a more universal approach that is not limited to one situation.
It’s an area I have only just come across (better late than never, I suppose) but after a strict diet of measurable and easily identifiable national culture, it is a fantastically interesting approach!
*Answer to the above “typical” Japanese – if you take just the statistical average, you would choose a 46 year old woman, with only high school education, living in a suburb, who has never joined a union, and probably works in retail
For those who aren’t aware, Hofstede took survey results from IBM and from the identified 4 “dimensions of culture” (he later added a fifth), to distinguish between nationalities. There is a large amount of criticism aimed at his research methodology – not being an expert, I’m not really in a position to comment too much on that, however I can use an analogy and let people draw their own conclusion. There are 2 adults and 2 children in my family. Our average ages are 24.5. Can I therefore claim that the members of my family are around 24.5 years old? If I am unable to survey one member of the family, the average age will be significantly different. Hofstede took the average score across the various dimensions to be representative of a national cultural identity!
Please consider another situation. If an alien were to visit the earth to do some research into each nation, and were to ask humankind to choose a single specimen from each nation, what sort of person would you choose to represent Japan? (*Answer below)
One of the current views of culture that has gained a lot of credibility, especially among “social constructionists” is that we “do culture”. In other words, we create our own identity which is negotiated continually depending on the situational context. There are certainly national elements to this negotiation, but it is implausible to claim that the national is the most important feature in any context (in some it may be, however hard it might be to identify). Social constructionists and current interculturalists believe that an individual has an infinite number of cultural identities, none of which are fixed or stable, and represent all our past experiences, observations and perceptions. For example we behave very differently when we are with our children and/or parents than when we are at business meeting, and we will portray a very different worldview.
Hofstede presents a very practical, easy to use model of culture, and the alternative is infinitely harder to confine and present (especially if you’re an intercultural trainer trying to sell your services to business), however the intercultural model that pre-supposes infinite, negotiated, unstable cultural identities presents us with an approach that is of much wider benefit – instead of learning the dimension score for each “national culture” and devising a specific approach for each, we can start looking at a more universal approach that is not limited to one situation.
It’s an area I have only just come across (better late than never, I suppose) but after a strict diet of measurable and easily identifiable national culture, it is a fantastically interesting approach!
*Answer to the above “typical” Japanese – if you take just the statistical average, you would choose a 46 year old woman, with only high school education, living in a suburb, who has never joined a union, and probably works in retail
Monday, 2 June 2008
Do you really understand
Do you really understand? Communicating across cultures
Imagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for......or is there?
Are you really sure that you have the same definition of respect, freedom and integrity as your CEO?
Some examples might help, one I have lifted shamelessly from Mijnd Huijser (Author of “The Cultural Advantage”). An American newspaper published an article denouncing the levels of freedom and democracy in Singapore. It cited laws banning smoking in public places, consumption of chewing gum, the seemingly hereditary post of Prime Minister, the authoritarian manner of policing, and dictatorial government style. The conclusion of the article was that Singapore was not a free country, and the US government should be pressurising Singapore towards democratic reform. This article prompted (unsurprisingly) a large response from Singaporeans – one in particular was highlighted by Mijnd Huijser, which pointed out that if you were to walk two blocks from the Post building after dark you had a very high chance of mugging. Americans may well have the freedom to smoke and chew gum in public, but Singaporeans had the freedom from the fear of mugging (Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world) and a very stable government that is able to present a consistent style.
For the American “freedom” is “freedom to....” – to the Singaporean, “freedom” means “freedom from....” Which interpretation is correct?
What about “respect”? For Western cultures, respect is largely a two-way process, that allows each person to value the others, to listen carefully, be polite, but it allows a certain amount of conflict (i.e. providing I am constructive and polite, I reserve the right to criticise, disagree, and ignore). In Asian cultures “respect” is one way – from the bottom to the top. In other words, your boss gets all your respect, whether you like him or not, whether you are work or not. Fons Trompenaars (one of the founding fathers of intercultural theories) uses a dilemma – would you paint your bosses house if he asked you to? To us Westerners, once you had removed the expletives, the answer would be “no”. However studies show that, for example, in China almost 70% of the workforce would definitely paint their boss’ house!
Again, we can ask, which interpretation is correct?
Integrity is another grey area. I suspect I am not shaking any idealist too much if I claim that everyone lies to some extent in their day-to-day life. However we try to remain true to our concept of integrity – honesty in our negotiations and relationships. Trompenaars uses the dilemma of a car crash which is entirely your fault, but witnessed by your friend. How will you expect your friend to describe the event to the police? In many cultures (covering approx. 80% of the world’s population) they would expect the friend to tell a huge lie to protect your driving licence. In Britain we would probably expect our friend to avoid the truth, by saying for example, they couldn’t really judge the speed, or they hadn’t noticed me drinking etc. In Switzerland 97% of those asked said they would tell the truth (that I was over the speed limit and had been drinking) – in fact there is a joke about the Swiss: Why is the crime rate so low in Switzerland? Because breaking the law is illegal!
Is it fair for the Swiss to judge the remainder (80% of the world’s population) as dishonest liars? Is it fair for a Venezuelan (70% of whom would tell a lie to protect their friend) to judge the Swiss as traitors to their friendship? Again, who is right?
If we return to our imaginary CEO and his equally imaginary memo above, we realise that he (or she) has a huge problem. If his core message cannot be communicated clearly, he is going to have to explain to his shareholders that he has failed in setting a new strategy for the company.
Again a hypothetical situation: a company wants to tap into the success of the Coffee shop franchise and make its chain of small coffee shops more “upmarket”. The CEO sends a memo to the local franchisees around the world– bring in some class to your operations. In New York the coffee shop brings in Styrofoam cups with lids on, and speeds up the service time. In Germany, they bring in recyclable cups. In Italy, the franchisees invest in bone china, expensive furnishings and artwork. In Britain, they put the price up. Unsurprisingly the CEO is horrified out how his employees have completely missed his point!
Intercultural communications skills focus on ensuring that your meaning is the same as the meaning as perceived by those who hear your message. We have to remove our assumptions of comprehension and become more explicit. Testing and retesting comprehension (obviously in a culturally sensitive manner – no one likes being patronised!). Learning how to transfer a message across cultures is one of the most important skills an international manager can have!
(Sources: The Cultural Advantage, Mijnd Huijser; The World’s Business Cultures, Tomalin/Nicks; Riding the Waves of Culture, Fons Trompenaars)
Imagine a situation. You have just received a memo from your CEO (you work for a huge global organisation). In the memo, the newly appointed CEO states his vision for the company, and the core values he will be implementing as part of his new strategy. The core values are: Freedom, Respect, Integrity. Very simple values and easily understandable. In fact there is little doubt what he is looking for......or is there?
Are you really sure that you have the same definition of respect, freedom and integrity as your CEO?
Some examples might help, one I have lifted shamelessly from Mijnd Huijser (Author of “The Cultural Advantage”). An American newspaper published an article denouncing the levels of freedom and democracy in Singapore. It cited laws banning smoking in public places, consumption of chewing gum, the seemingly hereditary post of Prime Minister, the authoritarian manner of policing, and dictatorial government style. The conclusion of the article was that Singapore was not a free country, and the US government should be pressurising Singapore towards democratic reform. This article prompted (unsurprisingly) a large response from Singaporeans – one in particular was highlighted by Mijnd Huijser, which pointed out that if you were to walk two blocks from the Post building after dark you had a very high chance of mugging. Americans may well have the freedom to smoke and chew gum in public, but Singaporeans had the freedom from the fear of mugging (Singapore has one of the lowest crime rates in the world) and a very stable government that is able to present a consistent style.
For the American “freedom” is “freedom to....” – to the Singaporean, “freedom” means “freedom from....” Which interpretation is correct?
What about “respect”? For Western cultures, respect is largely a two-way process, that allows each person to value the others, to listen carefully, be polite, but it allows a certain amount of conflict (i.e. providing I am constructive and polite, I reserve the right to criticise, disagree, and ignore). In Asian cultures “respect” is one way – from the bottom to the top. In other words, your boss gets all your respect, whether you like him or not, whether you are work or not. Fons Trompenaars (one of the founding fathers of intercultural theories) uses a dilemma – would you paint your bosses house if he asked you to? To us Westerners, once you had removed the expletives, the answer would be “no”. However studies show that, for example, in China almost 70% of the workforce would definitely paint their boss’ house!
Again, we can ask, which interpretation is correct?
Integrity is another grey area. I suspect I am not shaking any idealist too much if I claim that everyone lies to some extent in their day-to-day life. However we try to remain true to our concept of integrity – honesty in our negotiations and relationships. Trompenaars uses the dilemma of a car crash which is entirely your fault, but witnessed by your friend. How will you expect your friend to describe the event to the police? In many cultures (covering approx. 80% of the world’s population) they would expect the friend to tell a huge lie to protect your driving licence. In Britain we would probably expect our friend to avoid the truth, by saying for example, they couldn’t really judge the speed, or they hadn’t noticed me drinking etc. In Switzerland 97% of those asked said they would tell the truth (that I was over the speed limit and had been drinking) – in fact there is a joke about the Swiss: Why is the crime rate so low in Switzerland? Because breaking the law is illegal!
Is it fair for the Swiss to judge the remainder (80% of the world’s population) as dishonest liars? Is it fair for a Venezuelan (70% of whom would tell a lie to protect their friend) to judge the Swiss as traitors to their friendship? Again, who is right?
If we return to our imaginary CEO and his equally imaginary memo above, we realise that he (or she) has a huge problem. If his core message cannot be communicated clearly, he is going to have to explain to his shareholders that he has failed in setting a new strategy for the company.
Again a hypothetical situation: a company wants to tap into the success of the Coffee shop franchise and make its chain of small coffee shops more “upmarket”. The CEO sends a memo to the local franchisees around the world– bring in some class to your operations. In New York the coffee shop brings in Styrofoam cups with lids on, and speeds up the service time. In Germany, they bring in recyclable cups. In Italy, the franchisees invest in bone china, expensive furnishings and artwork. In Britain, they put the price up. Unsurprisingly the CEO is horrified out how his employees have completely missed his point!
Intercultural communications skills focus on ensuring that your meaning is the same as the meaning as perceived by those who hear your message. We have to remove our assumptions of comprehension and become more explicit. Testing and retesting comprehension (obviously in a culturally sensitive manner – no one likes being patronised!). Learning how to transfer a message across cultures is one of the most important skills an international manager can have!
(Sources: The Cultural Advantage, Mijnd Huijser; The World’s Business Cultures, Tomalin/Nicks; Riding the Waves of Culture, Fons Trompenaars)
Wednesday, 16 January 2008
Just a quick post with a link to an article on how badly things can go wrong when you don't pay attention to all aspects of the cultural values of a country. Most people don't realise how deep Russians' feelings for the Orthodox church is, until they get it wrong. Well worth a read!
http://kylekeeton.com/2008/01/russia-coca-cola-woke-up.html
http://kylekeeton.com/2008/01/russia-coca-cola-woke-up.html
Tuesday, 8 January 2008
Trends
I suppose it's "traditional" to post a New Year welcome message, so I thought I'd start off by looking at where people are moving to.
Apart from the traditional "oil" expats in Nigeria, Middle East and Central Asia, we've seen Brazil and Argentina become much more popular destinations for business expats. India and China remain frequent subjects for the training I'm involved in, although the number of actual expats seems to be in decline - more and more companies seem to prefer either using local management companies, or relying on a combination of visits and remote management. This is particularly true for companies in Russia, where the soaring cost of expat life, along with perceived security issues makes people reluctant to move their families to Russia.
At Farnham Castle we have been doing a lot more in intercultural personal development in recent months. More and more companies are recognising that cultural misunderstandings are effecting their productivity. The main change is that attendees on our courses have become more outwardly focussed. Historically, the focus has been "getting on with" colleagues, but more and more frequently we are asked to help develop relationships with business partners, clients, suppliers and governments, and more commonly the training is aimed at a global or regional work, rather than with a specific culture. For the future I can see that anyone working internationally is going to be expected to have global skills, and knowledge of a single specific market is likely to be much less valued.
Apart from the traditional "oil" expats in Nigeria, Middle East and Central Asia, we've seen Brazil and Argentina become much more popular destinations for business expats. India and China remain frequent subjects for the training I'm involved in, although the number of actual expats seems to be in decline - more and more companies seem to prefer either using local management companies, or relying on a combination of visits and remote management. This is particularly true for companies in Russia, where the soaring cost of expat life, along with perceived security issues makes people reluctant to move their families to Russia.
At Farnham Castle we have been doing a lot more in intercultural personal development in recent months. More and more companies are recognising that cultural misunderstandings are effecting their productivity. The main change is that attendees on our courses have become more outwardly focussed. Historically, the focus has been "getting on with" colleagues, but more and more frequently we are asked to help develop relationships with business partners, clients, suppliers and governments, and more commonly the training is aimed at a global or regional work, rather than with a specific culture. For the future I can see that anyone working internationally is going to be expected to have global skills, and knowledge of a single specific market is likely to be much less valued.
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
The British at Work...
Reserved and Repressed or Resourceful and Released?
It is a fascinating challenge to introduce newly-arrived employees from abroad to what they might expect to encounter in the workplace during their stay in Britain. Many have a stereotyped view of the British at work, perhaps based on films or John Cleese training videos. Whilst operating in a wide range of work cultures and environments, they will be in a better position to anticipate and understand the behaviour of their fellow workers if they can appreciate some of the major changes that have taken place here in the last five to ten years.
Change is continuous
The only constant likely to be common to all their employers is continuous change, and a drive towards reduced costs and increased profits to satisfy the stock market. Mergers, takeovers, management buy-outs and flotations will have meant new strategies, restructuring, re-engineering, decentralisation and a variety of performance-enhancing methodologies. These will often have led to downsizing, outsourcing, lean and mean management structures and many new books to describe it all! For some this will have meant genuine empowerment and a release of their skills and inhibitions. For others it will have produced fear, stress and new behavioural patterns, creating new words such as 'presenteeism'.
Winners & losers
Winners in this tough change environment will probably welcome the new arrival from overseas, be keen to learn from them and prepared to develop a real relationship. Losers though could feel threatened and jealous, resulting in obstructive behaviour and thinly disguised anger. New arrivals may be surprised to discover how these fundamental changes in the workplace have affected the famous British reserve, with open expressions of enthusiasm, passion and real anger as employees react to new incentives, environments and continuing pressures. It might be less of a shock to them if they can understand some of these major workplace changes, and also reflect on why so many people apparently dropped their emotional masks after the death of Princess Diana.
It is a fascinating challenge to introduce newly-arrived employees from abroad to what they might expect to encounter in the workplace during their stay in Britain. Many have a stereotyped view of the British at work, perhaps based on films or John Cleese training videos. Whilst operating in a wide range of work cultures and environments, they will be in a better position to anticipate and understand the behaviour of their fellow workers if they can appreciate some of the major changes that have taken place here in the last five to ten years.
Change is continuous
The only constant likely to be common to all their employers is continuous change, and a drive towards reduced costs and increased profits to satisfy the stock market. Mergers, takeovers, management buy-outs and flotations will have meant new strategies, restructuring, re-engineering, decentralisation and a variety of performance-enhancing methodologies. These will often have led to downsizing, outsourcing, lean and mean management structures and many new books to describe it all! For some this will have meant genuine empowerment and a release of their skills and inhibitions. For others it will have produced fear, stress and new behavioural patterns, creating new words such as 'presenteeism'.
Winners & losers
Winners in this tough change environment will probably welcome the new arrival from overseas, be keen to learn from them and prepared to develop a real relationship. Losers though could feel threatened and jealous, resulting in obstructive behaviour and thinly disguised anger. New arrivals may be surprised to discover how these fundamental changes in the workplace have affected the famous British reserve, with open expressions of enthusiasm, passion and real anger as employees react to new incentives, environments and continuing pressures. It might be less of a shock to them if they can understand some of these major workplace changes, and also reflect on why so many people apparently dropped their emotional masks after the death of Princess Diana.
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Exporting to the USA
Love it, or hate it, the USA should not be ignored. The economy is larger than the whole of Western Europe. Individual states have economies larger than many countries. California equates to the UK or Italian economy in size. New York State equates to China and Brazil.
Since 1948, the USA has been one of our top five export markets. It is our largest single market for both visible, and invisible exports. The UK and the US is each the largest investor in the other.
The biggest mistakes that new exporters to the USA make are:
Since 1948, the USA has been one of our top five export markets. It is our largest single market for both visible, and invisible exports. The UK and the US is each the largest investor in the other.
The biggest mistakes that new exporters to the USA make are:
- Underestimation of the sheer size of the country.
- Insufficient dedication of adequate management time/resources.
To succeed, concentrate management resources to win.
This requires planning and research. It is best to choose one state where there is a potential concentration of business, and then expand in gentle concentric circles. It takes time to enter the most competitive market in the world. Think in terms of ten years and plan for five.
Suggested methodology:
- The home page of the US Small Business Administration (www.sbaonline.gov) gives access to good pro-forma business plans (see Starting, Expanding, Marketing buttons).
- Use the gaps identified as a basis for your research.
- Define your potential target organisation closely.
- Identify the US Trade Association to which they belong. Obtain the directory.
- In which state are the membership concentrated?
- Is there a trade show(s)/convention that the Association sponsors?
- Amongst the associate members, are there candidates for distributorships, or consultants that could provide in-depth industry research?
- Is there a trade press issue that is a gazetteer of the industry?
Some useful do's and don'ts:
- Use US legal advisers for your GTS, distributorship, other agreements.
- The US is litigious. Their legal system and language is different.
- Obtain adequate product liability coverage.
- Can you sell your product in seven words? Americans have a short attention span.
- Everyone targets the US. Buyers are only interested in cheaper supply, a better technology, but demand commitment to the market.
- Quote only in US dollars, c.i.f. to their doorstep.
- Metric measurements are alien to most Americans.
- In all communications, avoid English colloquialisms. They will not be understood.
To be successful you will need three essentials, the right product, sufficient financial capital and adequate management resources. If you are missing one, my advice is don't attempt the market. If you have them, go for it!
Bob Smeaton is an occasional lecturer at Farnham Castle International Briefing Centre. He is also an Export Promoter, i.e., an external commercial adviser, for the North America desk of Trade Partners UK, the export branch of the Department of Trade and Industry with more than 30 years of direct experience with the USA and Canada including working and living in California, Texas and New York. May 2002.
Friday, 9 November 2007
Home visits
Great article at http://www.batgung.com/expats-trips-home-from-Hong-Kong#comment-5298
Well worth looking at
"‘We care locally.’
That three-word profundity comes from a weblog written by Joe Posnanski, a sports writer whose work I enjoy.
Joe has just returned to the USA from Japan after covering Japanese baseball’s version of the World Series. He made the comment in reference to the deeply uninterested reactions he received when he tried to convey to his associates the wonders he’d witnessed in Japan. He actually was there to see the unprecedented phenomenon of two pitchers combining to throw a perfect game, and it --
Let’s stop right there: thanks for reading this far, but you don’t really care about Joe, or the Japanese World Series, or what I think about either of them, do you? You didn't follow those links. You’re wishing already that I move on to some more interesting and relevant topic.
Well, that’s just the point: for most of us, our range of interests is relatively narrow, and we’re far more interested in the places we live, or at least have visited, than we are in even the most exotic place we’ve never seen.
This can be an unpleasant lesson for expatriates to learn......"
Full article at http://www.batgung.com/expats-trips-home-from-Hong-Kong#comment-5298
Well worth looking at
"‘We care locally.’
That three-word profundity comes from a weblog written by Joe Posnanski, a sports writer whose work I enjoy.
Joe has just returned to the USA from Japan after covering Japanese baseball’s version of the World Series. He made the comment in reference to the deeply uninterested reactions he received when he tried to convey to his associates the wonders he’d witnessed in Japan. He actually was there to see the unprecedented phenomenon of two pitchers combining to throw a perfect game, and it --
Let’s stop right there: thanks for reading this far, but you don’t really care about Joe, or the Japanese World Series, or what I think about either of them, do you? You didn't follow those links. You’re wishing already that I move on to some more interesting and relevant topic.
Well, that’s just the point: for most of us, our range of interests is relatively narrow, and we’re far more interested in the places we live, or at least have visited, than we are in even the most exotic place we’ve never seen.
This can be an unpleasant lesson for expatriates to learn......"
Full article at http://www.batgung.com/expats-trips-home-from-Hong-Kong#comment-5298
Raise your virtual hand if you know the answer...
This is the brave new world of the integrated global e-economy. Widespread access to the web will solve all our business and learning needs. The fact of the matter is that key decision-makers including, of course, the readers of this article, were educated in a traditional manner and their interpersonal and management skills have come from human experience, not from any virtual world.
The message is that we need to remember the human amongst the glare of technology in this increasingly virtual world. We need to find the right balance between the silicon chip and human behaviour.
At the start and end of every communication and transaction - from a handshake or smile to an email or contract - is a person. That person is a unique creation of their culture and environment and far more sophisticated than any machine or software. That person is our client or partner or manager and we need to make at least as much effort to understand that human being as any technology with which we communicate.
Like it or not, we are in an increasingly borderless world and new cultures and new ways of thinking are coming our way. Today you might work for a national company and tomorrow find yourself part of a multinational group. Your clients and colleagues might be next door today and half way round the world tomorrow. To effectively work with these people from different backgrounds we all need to learn about the cultural psyche that drives these people. What are you going to do to survive?
The answer is to learn, and learn well.
The next logical questions therefore concern where and how to learn? Will new electronic learning replace traditional methods? Does the Internet really offer a better solution than plain old-fashioned hands-on experience? Is the internet some kind of new magic solution that means we can forget that human relations are both essential and hard work?
Let's look at a few answers to these questions.
With its vast content of electronic data, the web seems set to replace face-to-face education and training, we are told. Time will tell, but in the meantime the demand for old-fashioned non-virtual education services, offered by specialist training centres and universities the world over, continues to grow rapidly.
Also, it is hard to deny that using technology to learn is exciting compared with the idea of squeaking chalk on a blackboard and the repetitive chanting of simple mathematical formulae or simply doing some hard work in personal learning and development.
The idea of video conferencing with the latest high speed connection and digital imaging seems much more modern than travelling and sitting down with your business partners.
The internet has allowed humans to get access to data and to enter into discussions and interact without the need to actually meet anyone or make friendships and relationships. I would again draw a cautionary note from the past about such attempts to ignore the hard work needed to build and understand human relations.
What history, wisdom and common sense tell us is that we need a blended learning solution and the potentially vast data from the internet must be supplemented with human interaction. Success with applying factual data about a foreign market comes from a deep understanding of local culture and providing for its needs and wants.
Just the data alone will not make any of us successful. Without interpretation and guidance the mere words alone are not enough. We can all download a recipe from the internet but does that make us master chefs? The human input into the interpretation of some written words and an assembly of ingredients is the difference between haute cuisine and a dog's dinner.
When we think back to earlier years we can all remember an individual such as a teacher, relative, colleague or friend who changed our understanding and shaped our lives as a result. Anyone had this experience from a web page or a CD ROM recently? I doubt it.
We are all the product of a blend of experiences and ideas. The person who has an imbalance in the blend is easy to see. Knowing these basic human realities, who can doubt the need for a human in the key input of education?
Can we risk relying on just a virtual education? Do we want a virtual hug or a virtual family or a virtual customer? No, we all want a real one and that comes from real experience and real learning in a real world with real people.
Real people? Maybe even real foreign people? That sounds like real hard work and expensive to learn. After all, other people are so unlike us. I am sure many of us find the habits of those people in the next street different enough from us and goodness only knows about those from another town or even another country.
Maybe we can all try to save money and effort and hide behind our screens and text messages like sulky teenagers with no social and intercultural skills. Well, there is only one thing more expensive than being trained and prepared, and that is being untrained and unprepared.
Most individuals' experience of business is that people want to do the best they can and have the best they can get.
We know that in the foundation of any success in business there are three key things we need to work at and these are 1) relationships, 2) relationships and 3) relationships. I wonder how we will manage these by the internet?
So should we give up on IT as just a gimmick or fashion accessory? By no means.
We need to find a blend of the new and old and take the best of these to succeed in a global marketplace.
If you can understand all the ideas in this article you owe thanks to many human beings. If you can adopt and implement the suggestions in the article then you can understand and teach and lead other human beings.
That's a real skill and nothing on the web comes close.
Master the technology alone and ignore the person and their culture and you will fail.
The message is that we need to remember the human amongst the glare of technology in this increasingly virtual world. We need to find the right balance between the silicon chip and human behaviour.
At the start and end of every communication and transaction - from a handshake or smile to an email or contract - is a person. That person is a unique creation of their culture and environment and far more sophisticated than any machine or software. That person is our client or partner or manager and we need to make at least as much effort to understand that human being as any technology with which we communicate.
Like it or not, we are in an increasingly borderless world and new cultures and new ways of thinking are coming our way. Today you might work for a national company and tomorrow find yourself part of a multinational group. Your clients and colleagues might be next door today and half way round the world tomorrow. To effectively work with these people from different backgrounds we all need to learn about the cultural psyche that drives these people. What are you going to do to survive?
The answer is to learn, and learn well.
The next logical questions therefore concern where and how to learn? Will new electronic learning replace traditional methods? Does the Internet really offer a better solution than plain old-fashioned hands-on experience? Is the internet some kind of new magic solution that means we can forget that human relations are both essential and hard work?
Let's look at a few answers to these questions.
With its vast content of electronic data, the web seems set to replace face-to-face education and training, we are told. Time will tell, but in the meantime the demand for old-fashioned non-virtual education services, offered by specialist training centres and universities the world over, continues to grow rapidly.
Also, it is hard to deny that using technology to learn is exciting compared with the idea of squeaking chalk on a blackboard and the repetitive chanting of simple mathematical formulae or simply doing some hard work in personal learning and development.
The idea of video conferencing with the latest high speed connection and digital imaging seems much more modern than travelling and sitting down with your business partners.
The internet has allowed humans to get access to data and to enter into discussions and interact without the need to actually meet anyone or make friendships and relationships. I would again draw a cautionary note from the past about such attempts to ignore the hard work needed to build and understand human relations.
What history, wisdom and common sense tell us is that we need a blended learning solution and the potentially vast data from the internet must be supplemented with human interaction. Success with applying factual data about a foreign market comes from a deep understanding of local culture and providing for its needs and wants.
Just the data alone will not make any of us successful. Without interpretation and guidance the mere words alone are not enough. We can all download a recipe from the internet but does that make us master chefs? The human input into the interpretation of some written words and an assembly of ingredients is the difference between haute cuisine and a dog's dinner.
When we think back to earlier years we can all remember an individual such as a teacher, relative, colleague or friend who changed our understanding and shaped our lives as a result. Anyone had this experience from a web page or a CD ROM recently? I doubt it.
We are all the product of a blend of experiences and ideas. The person who has an imbalance in the blend is easy to see. Knowing these basic human realities, who can doubt the need for a human in the key input of education?
Can we risk relying on just a virtual education? Do we want a virtual hug or a virtual family or a virtual customer? No, we all want a real one and that comes from real experience and real learning in a real world with real people.
Real people? Maybe even real foreign people? That sounds like real hard work and expensive to learn. After all, other people are so unlike us. I am sure many of us find the habits of those people in the next street different enough from us and goodness only knows about those from another town or even another country.
Maybe we can all try to save money and effort and hide behind our screens and text messages like sulky teenagers with no social and intercultural skills. Well, there is only one thing more expensive than being trained and prepared, and that is being untrained and unprepared.
Most individuals' experience of business is that people want to do the best they can and have the best they can get.
We know that in the foundation of any success in business there are three key things we need to work at and these are 1) relationships, 2) relationships and 3) relationships. I wonder how we will manage these by the internet?
So should we give up on IT as just a gimmick or fashion accessory? By no means.
We need to find a blend of the new and old and take the best of these to succeed in a global marketplace.
If you can understand all the ideas in this article you owe thanks to many human beings. If you can adopt and implement the suggestions in the article then you can understand and teach and lead other human beings.
That's a real skill and nothing on the web comes close.
Master the technology alone and ignore the person and their culture and you will fail.
Tuesday, 6 November 2007
The Role of Culture in Effective Global Management
'One of the most important rules to remember when working within a multi-national organisation is that there is not necessarily one right way of doing things,'says Professor Geert Hofstede
With developing globalisation of business, the ability of employees to work effectively together across borders has become increasingly critical to business success. Cross-cultural understanding by individuals and the organisation as a whole serves to eliminate misunderstandings that could harm the business and maximise the best attributes each nationality has to offer.
Effective international operators are those with the wisdom to seek competitive edge through intercultural training, thus gaining insightful understanding of their global markets and mobilising the motivation triggers of their staff.
"One of the most important rules to remember when working within a multi-national organisation is that there is not necessarily one right way of doing things," says Professor Geert Hofstede.
Characteristics of National Cultures
Professor Hofstede has undertaken in-depth research on the characteristics of national cultures, providing a wealth of information and insight into how people in different societies function and suggestions as to what benefits those differences can bring to a multi-national organisation.
Each nationality has its own characteristics, which combine to contribute to the strength of the organisation. For example, in countries such as Britain and the US with a culture of small power distance between top management and general staff, organisations benefit from an environment of empowerment and acceptance of responsibility. In countries where management maintains a large power distance, staff will follow a much tighter regime of discipline.
Likewise, in countries in which there is a culture of strong avoidance of uncertainty, such as Japan, people will be more inclined towards detail and precision. Britain and the US are countries which demonstrate the opposite characteristics, with their culture of weak uncertainty avoidance providing more freedom to innovate.
An understanding of what drives and motivates people of different cultures within an organisation can contribute to the development of an organisation's own country- specific internal culture. If a British or American company with a culture of individualistic achievement and empowerment imposes the same values on its staff in an office in the Far East where collectivism and unquestioning respect for authority are valued, it will certainly experience difficulties.
In the same way expatriate managers moving to work in a developing office abroad, need to understand and accept the culture and values of the people with whom they are working. Management practices used in the home country will not necessarily be effective in international business both internally and externally.
An attempt to impose home country values and beliefs will often lead to frustration and an inability to achieve target goals. For example, strict timekeeping is likely to be impossible to implement in Latin countries. Direct criticism of staff in front of others in Asian countries will cause the recipient embarrassing loss of face. And the use of indirect language to soften the impact of what is being said will be met with annoyance by Germanic people who prefer to be direct.
On the surface, an overseas office with an expatriate manager may run smoothly until such time as things go wrong and suppressed local staff discontent begins to simmer.
Similarly, for external business dealings, the importance of understanding the local culture cannot be stressed enough. Examples abound of US and Northern European companies that have not fully appreciated the necessity of forming personal relationships in the Middle East and Asia before entering a business relationship. In these countries a strong network of contacts is indispensable and trust can only be established over time.
What's right - what's wrong?
Other problems can arise through a cultural gulf between the perceptions of what is right and what is wrong. What may be seen through the eyes of a Western European business as bribery and corruption, may be seen by counterparts in the Middle East as a genuine giving of gifts which is a normal part of establishing the personal business relationship.
As important is an understanding of the temperament and the values which local people hold highly. In the Far East, for example, great weight is placed on the maintenance of harmony and humility. The opposite extreme is the assertive, energetic individualism favoured in the United States.
These general differences between personalities of people shaped by their culture are very important in terms of recruiting the right person for an overseas appointment.
Professor Hofstede proposes five personality traits which should be used to create a profile of the type of people who would be successful working in a particular culture.
The three basic characteristics which should be the criteria for selection of expatriate personnel regardless of where they are going are emotional stability, openness and agreeableness. The weight given to the two remaining dimensions of conscientiousness and extraversion depends entirely on the position, country and culture for which the person is being selected.
Organisations - their support & training role
While the matching of the correct personalities to the country and culture contributes significantly to business success abroad, the support and training given by the organisation also plays an important role in the effectiveness of an expatriate assignment.
According to Diane van Ruitenbeek, who presented her initial research findings into expatriate expectations, lack of organisational support, language problems and a poor understanding of the local culture were major factors influencing poor performance.
One quarter of the expatriates who took part in Diane van Ruitenbeek's study indicated that they had been let down by their organisation. Their pre-departure expectations of the job, working and living conditions had not been met and they indicated that their job satisfaction, commitment and performance had correspondingly suffered. These people reported that they were more likely to quit the assignment early.
With the significant expense to a company of sending a person abroad and the cost of a failed assignment, simple investments can be made to avoid such situations. The respondents in the survey indicated that a company should not make any promises it cannot meet and provide a realistic picture of the job and living conditions.
High demand for cross-cultural & language training
Cross-cultural and language training prior to departure featured high on the respondents' list of actions a company could take to assist their adjustment on arrival in the new environment and their on-the-job effectiveness.
The confusion that can arise from being unprepared to deal with the attitudes and behaviour of people of another country can be summed up in the words of one respondent to Diane van Ruitenbeek's research:
"There seems to be a completely different logic to doing things here."
This feeling of utter confusion and helplessness experienced by the expatriate illustrates how a simple investment in improving an understanding of the culture through specialist country-specific training could make the difference between a successful, profitable overseas assignment and an ineffective, long term struggle.
With developing globalisation of business, the ability of employees to work effectively together across borders has become increasingly critical to business success. Cross-cultural understanding by individuals and the organisation as a whole serves to eliminate misunderstandings that could harm the business and maximise the best attributes each nationality has to offer.
Effective international operators are those with the wisdom to seek competitive edge through intercultural training, thus gaining insightful understanding of their global markets and mobilising the motivation triggers of their staff.
"One of the most important rules to remember when working within a multi-national organisation is that there is not necessarily one right way of doing things," says Professor Geert Hofstede.
Characteristics of National Cultures
Professor Hofstede has undertaken in-depth research on the characteristics of national cultures, providing a wealth of information and insight into how people in different societies function and suggestions as to what benefits those differences can bring to a multi-national organisation.
Each nationality has its own characteristics, which combine to contribute to the strength of the organisation. For example, in countries such as Britain and the US with a culture of small power distance between top management and general staff, organisations benefit from an environment of empowerment and acceptance of responsibility. In countries where management maintains a large power distance, staff will follow a much tighter regime of discipline.
Likewise, in countries in which there is a culture of strong avoidance of uncertainty, such as Japan, people will be more inclined towards detail and precision. Britain and the US are countries which demonstrate the opposite characteristics, with their culture of weak uncertainty avoidance providing more freedom to innovate.
An understanding of what drives and motivates people of different cultures within an organisation can contribute to the development of an organisation's own country- specific internal culture. If a British or American company with a culture of individualistic achievement and empowerment imposes the same values on its staff in an office in the Far East where collectivism and unquestioning respect for authority are valued, it will certainly experience difficulties.
In the same way expatriate managers moving to work in a developing office abroad, need to understand and accept the culture and values of the people with whom they are working. Management practices used in the home country will not necessarily be effective in international business both internally and externally.
An attempt to impose home country values and beliefs will often lead to frustration and an inability to achieve target goals. For example, strict timekeeping is likely to be impossible to implement in Latin countries. Direct criticism of staff in front of others in Asian countries will cause the recipient embarrassing loss of face. And the use of indirect language to soften the impact of what is being said will be met with annoyance by Germanic people who prefer to be direct.
On the surface, an overseas office with an expatriate manager may run smoothly until such time as things go wrong and suppressed local staff discontent begins to simmer.
Similarly, for external business dealings, the importance of understanding the local culture cannot be stressed enough. Examples abound of US and Northern European companies that have not fully appreciated the necessity of forming personal relationships in the Middle East and Asia before entering a business relationship. In these countries a strong network of contacts is indispensable and trust can only be established over time.
What's right - what's wrong?
Other problems can arise through a cultural gulf between the perceptions of what is right and what is wrong. What may be seen through the eyes of a Western European business as bribery and corruption, may be seen by counterparts in the Middle East as a genuine giving of gifts which is a normal part of establishing the personal business relationship.
As important is an understanding of the temperament and the values which local people hold highly. In the Far East, for example, great weight is placed on the maintenance of harmony and humility. The opposite extreme is the assertive, energetic individualism favoured in the United States.
These general differences between personalities of people shaped by their culture are very important in terms of recruiting the right person for an overseas appointment.
Professor Hofstede proposes five personality traits which should be used to create a profile of the type of people who would be successful working in a particular culture.
The three basic characteristics which should be the criteria for selection of expatriate personnel regardless of where they are going are emotional stability, openness and agreeableness. The weight given to the two remaining dimensions of conscientiousness and extraversion depends entirely on the position, country and culture for which the person is being selected.
Organisations - their support & training role
While the matching of the correct personalities to the country and culture contributes significantly to business success abroad, the support and training given by the organisation also plays an important role in the effectiveness of an expatriate assignment.
According to Diane van Ruitenbeek, who presented her initial research findings into expatriate expectations, lack of organisational support, language problems and a poor understanding of the local culture were major factors influencing poor performance.
One quarter of the expatriates who took part in Diane van Ruitenbeek's study indicated that they had been let down by their organisation. Their pre-departure expectations of the job, working and living conditions had not been met and they indicated that their job satisfaction, commitment and performance had correspondingly suffered. These people reported that they were more likely to quit the assignment early.
With the significant expense to a company of sending a person abroad and the cost of a failed assignment, simple investments can be made to avoid such situations. The respondents in the survey indicated that a company should not make any promises it cannot meet and provide a realistic picture of the job and living conditions.
High demand for cross-cultural & language training
Cross-cultural and language training prior to departure featured high on the respondents' list of actions a company could take to assist their adjustment on arrival in the new environment and their on-the-job effectiveness.
The confusion that can arise from being unprepared to deal with the attitudes and behaviour of people of another country can be summed up in the words of one respondent to Diane van Ruitenbeek's research:
"There seems to be a completely different logic to doing things here."
This feeling of utter confusion and helplessness experienced by the expatriate illustrates how a simple investment in improving an understanding of the culture through specialist country-specific training could make the difference between a successful, profitable overseas assignment and an ineffective, long term struggle.
Tuesday, 23 October 2007
Cultural misunderstanding, or just being rude?
How can you tell if you have just made some huge intercultural faux pas, or if the person you are talking to is just being rude?
When I think about my fellow Brits, I see that some of them I instinctively like, some I’m fairly neutral about, and there are a very few with whom, for no particular reason, I can find no common ground and it is an effort to be civil to them. There are one or two others who are deliberately and obviously rude (and not just to me). If I have to do business with people you find rude, it is important to find out as quickly as possible whether you are making some horrible cultural mistake that is offending them, and that everyone is too embarrassed to tell you about, or whether there is a personal dislike – I suppose the latter is much rare, but is potentially more damaging to a business relationship.
My advice is simple
- Ask: either colleagues you trust or friends;
- Look: how other people react to this person;
- Listen: even if conversations are in a different language, you can probably tell if this person’s answers are more abrupt than conversations between other people, or you can tell by his/her tone and intonation that there is some other issue.
The most common situation is that there is some cultural issue, which is exacerbated by personality blocking full communication. As an example, an anecdote from an anonymous client recently: a large business services company employed a Saudi manager who had a huge reputation, was highly recommended for his client care and had been marked for accelerated promotion. However within his first month at the company he had lost a very important client. A quick phone call to the client established that he had gone into a meeting room, and asked the woman seated at the table to bring him a cup of coffee, and then sent her back to bring some more sugar. You can probably guess that the woman concerned was the decision maker for the project and was very upset at being treated this way. It is a stereotype (but nonetheless true) that a lot of Saudi’s are uncomfortable dealing with women in business, and those from wealthy families may be used to treating women as servants in a business environment. HOWEVER it is standard business practice (and common sense) to establish to whom you are talking, before you make assumptions, even more so when visiting a client’s office. It is a matter of politeness not to assume that anyone who might be in the room is there to provide you with drinks, and especially when not in your home country you should be more circumspect and more polite in dealing with people you don’t know.
It is also true that excessive politeness can cause embarrassment to both parties, but I would suggest that the embarrassment is significantly less damaging than causing even a small amount of offence to a potential or existing client. The above anecdote also shows how even a tiny amount of preparation can help. IF the Saudi had found out in advance the gender of the person he was meeting; IF he had been a little more culturally aware; IF he had been prepared to work in a different culture; then perhaps…
Wednesday, 3 October 2007
Doing Business in Central and South Latin America
Nowadays, international business executives recognise the complexities of the main factors influencing the business entry process in Central and South American countries. The region as a whole bears all the characteristics of geopolitical, economic, social, religious and ethnic legacy resulting from Hispanic-American processes. From the Spanish conquest, the wars of independence, the aftermath of independence, the search for political stability, the acute disparities of wealth, the periodic armed revolts by dissidents, the coup d'Ðtat, military dictatorships, all have been a regular feature in Central and South America. Also the relationships with the United States and Europe, have contributed to shaping the "psyche" and culture of the "national" personality in each country.
Clearly it would difficult to suggest that there is a standard "Latin American Business Cultural Model". Latin American business executives tend to be extrovert, impatient, talkative, and inquisitive. But of course, in Central America, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, they are more extrovert than in Chile, Bolivia or Peru.
When preparing your trip, remember that many countries require a business visa to conduct business transactions. Avoid Christmas and the holiday season as everything slows down. Check the climate conditions particularly in countries such as Peru and Bolivia; altitude, rain, heat, etc. may affect your health. Documents such as letters, promotional literature, and presentation materials should be translated into Spanish. If you receive a reply from a Latin company in English, however, you may begin using English in correspondence.
Prior appointments are always preferred, preferably at least one week in advance, making sure you always check the appointment on the day of the meeting. Punctuality is expected and you must take into account the traffic congestion-especially in most of the Capital cities, such as Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Lima, Caracas etc- this can be difficult, and you must plan ahead to ensure you have plenty of time to get to your destination.
Latin Americans, tend to be people oriented, they argue emotionally, and instead of giving strict orders, they prefer to do things by seeking favours. In contrast with the "individualist" Anglo-Saxon culture, the "collective" is above everything, as a result interpersonal skills such as the ability to "fit in" and maintain cordial relations with the group, are often considered more important than professional competence and experience.
It is in this context that the "Family" has a broader "collective" connotation as it embraces blood relations, distant family, friends, or even work colleagues. In fact do not be surprised to see Latin business executives intermixing their work environment with their "social-family life". In this culture, nepotism is easily accepted as common practice; family members and relatives are preferred when recruiting staff. To that extent the individual member must take full responsibility for his or her decisions and how they affect the group or family structure.
In recent times there have been an interesting dual development in the business culture, on the one hand, the older generation continues doing business by often placing a greater emphasis on "trust" and "loyalty" by getting to know you personally, as for them, completing a human transaction is the best way they can invest their time. On the opposite side, the younger generation, especially those educated in the USA and Europe, are chiefly preoccupied with business concerns.
In family-owned businesses, senior family members usually make the final decision. In most other organizations, however, senior management makes decisions. Moreover, individuals with professional experience, who have a special understanding of the implications of the proposal, will often have input into the decision-making process .
Times, like truth are relative concepts. Latins are not very interested in schedules or punctuality - they pretend to observe them if being asked or insisted. This creates conflict and irritation with Anglo-Saxon cultures Why they don't arrive in time? Why they don't work to deadline? Why they don't follow a plan? In response, Latin people think they get more done their way!
The pace of negotiations is slower in Latin America than in Europe, as is customary, some preliminary conversation is considered necessary before each meeting, since it allows the participants to become personally acquainted. The best policy is to wait for your Latin counterparts to initiate any "small talk" and follow their lead in establishing rapport.
Meeting formalities must be followed; the two senior executives should sit facing each other. In general, Latin business executives prefer to be the ones "in control", you should try to avoid monopolising conversations or putting pressure of any kind on your colleagues. Be sensitive to the fact that Latins tend to stand and sit extremely close to others. The best policy is to respect this practice and accept that it is the cultural norm. Moreover, attempting to move away will be perceived only as a cold rejection.
A manager's status is attributed on grounds of family, age, educational and professional qualifications. They tend to have less specialisation than European or USA managers. Latins follow a top-down decision making process, where employees follow a trusting subservience to their superior as task orientation is dictated from above.
Opinions of experienced middle-mangers and technical staff do not always carry the weight that they would do in the UK, but as meritocracy slowly grows, their influence grows too. Latin managers are paternalistic and emotionally involved. Managers or heads of departments tend to concern themselves with the personal and private problems of their staff.
Business and corporate social life follow "old world" formalities; etiquette, manners and physical presence are measure of breeding and status symbols. It's considered very important to maintain good posture at all times, even in more informal situations. A firm, assured, handshake is the customary greeting on all occasions. During the handshake, state your full name; your Latin counterpart will then reciprocate by doing the same. You will have to speak not only at a closer distance, but also maintain eye contact as an assurance of your genuine interest.
Local business people tend to be very status-conscious and will often be impressed by these displays. First impression is everlasting in the mind of a Latin. In general the Latin executives are highly conservative and traditional in their dress code. Men wear dark, conservative suits for all formal occasions.
For the Latin, pleasure is before business, and they use entertainment as a way of building a personal relationship with his/her potential business partner. Much leisure time is spent socialising with family, friends and colleagues, mostly at weekends. Business dinners, in particular, are usually purely social occasions, and as such you should refrain from discussing work-related matters unless your Latin contact brings up the subject. Ensure that you write a thank-you note following any social gathering where you were a guest. Thank-you letters can be very helpful in solidifying rapport.
Women, legally enjoy all the same rights as men in most of Central and South American countries. Depending on the degree of economic growth, urbanization, industrialization, education, and expanded opportunities in their respective country, women have better or worse positions in society. Practically the representation of women in the private sector's upper and middle management is growing slowly, but remains fairly small. One can rarely mention a name, which can be easily identified with a women business leader.
Latin women tend to be meticulous dressers who closely follow European fashion. Female visitors are advised to bring conservative, stylish business clothes of the highest quality, including a cocktail dress. Often, women greet each other by quickly touching cheek to cheek and kissing the air.
For middle-class woman who want to combine job and family careers support provided by the extended family and the availability of maids is a pre-requisite. Latin businesswomen are going through the same dilemmas as business women in more other countries - in being mother, lover, wife, professional, and entrepreneur!
When doing business in Latin America, your always must make all the necessary preparations to leave a lasting impression about; your company, your products, yourself, your value systems and your attitude to business. In the final instance Latin American business people are asking themselves; Can I trust this person to do business with? Is our relationship sufficiently solid?
If the answer is YES , and trust has been acknowledge by both parties, then the business flows accordingly, and the chances of securing contracts and agreements are much greater.
© Farnham Castle/ Carlos Gonzalez Carrasco
Carlos Gonzalez Carrasco is a Latin America Business Development Consultant and Adviser to International companies entering into the Latin American market. He is a regular Commentator on Latin America Economic, Financial and Political risk issues for Bloomberg TV Financial Markets and Commodity News. He currently works as Latin American business analyst and consultant for Euromonitor Plc. He has an MBA from University of Westminster Business School and a BA in Business Studies from Chile.
expatriate
latin america business
intercultural
cross cultural
Clearly it would difficult to suggest that there is a standard "Latin American Business Cultural Model". Latin American business executives tend to be extrovert, impatient, talkative, and inquisitive. But of course, in Central America, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil and Argentina, they are more extrovert than in Chile, Bolivia or Peru.
When preparing your trip, remember that many countries require a business visa to conduct business transactions. Avoid Christmas and the holiday season as everything slows down. Check the climate conditions particularly in countries such as Peru and Bolivia; altitude, rain, heat, etc. may affect your health. Documents such as letters, promotional literature, and presentation materials should be translated into Spanish. If you receive a reply from a Latin company in English, however, you may begin using English in correspondence.
Prior appointments are always preferred, preferably at least one week in advance, making sure you always check the appointment on the day of the meeting. Punctuality is expected and you must take into account the traffic congestion-especially in most of the Capital cities, such as Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Lima, Caracas etc- this can be difficult, and you must plan ahead to ensure you have plenty of time to get to your destination.
Latin Americans, tend to be people oriented, they argue emotionally, and instead of giving strict orders, they prefer to do things by seeking favours. In contrast with the "individualist" Anglo-Saxon culture, the "collective" is above everything, as a result interpersonal skills such as the ability to "fit in" and maintain cordial relations with the group, are often considered more important than professional competence and experience.
It is in this context that the "Family" has a broader "collective" connotation as it embraces blood relations, distant family, friends, or even work colleagues. In fact do not be surprised to see Latin business executives intermixing their work environment with their "social-family life". In this culture, nepotism is easily accepted as common practice; family members and relatives are preferred when recruiting staff. To that extent the individual member must take full responsibility for his or her decisions and how they affect the group or family structure.
In recent times there have been an interesting dual development in the business culture, on the one hand, the older generation continues doing business by often placing a greater emphasis on "trust" and "loyalty" by getting to know you personally, as for them, completing a human transaction is the best way they can invest their time. On the opposite side, the younger generation, especially those educated in the USA and Europe, are chiefly preoccupied with business concerns.
In family-owned businesses, senior family members usually make the final decision. In most other organizations, however, senior management makes decisions. Moreover, individuals with professional experience, who have a special understanding of the implications of the proposal, will often have input into the decision-making process .
Times, like truth are relative concepts. Latins are not very interested in schedules or punctuality - they pretend to observe them if being asked or insisted. This creates conflict and irritation with Anglo-Saxon cultures Why they don't arrive in time? Why they don't work to deadline? Why they don't follow a plan? In response, Latin people think they get more done their way!
The pace of negotiations is slower in Latin America than in Europe, as is customary, some preliminary conversation is considered necessary before each meeting, since it allows the participants to become personally acquainted. The best policy is to wait for your Latin counterparts to initiate any "small talk" and follow their lead in establishing rapport.
Meeting formalities must be followed; the two senior executives should sit facing each other. In general, Latin business executives prefer to be the ones "in control", you should try to avoid monopolising conversations or putting pressure of any kind on your colleagues. Be sensitive to the fact that Latins tend to stand and sit extremely close to others. The best policy is to respect this practice and accept that it is the cultural norm. Moreover, attempting to move away will be perceived only as a cold rejection.
A manager's status is attributed on grounds of family, age, educational and professional qualifications. They tend to have less specialisation than European or USA managers. Latins follow a top-down decision making process, where employees follow a trusting subservience to their superior as task orientation is dictated from above.
Opinions of experienced middle-mangers and technical staff do not always carry the weight that they would do in the UK, but as meritocracy slowly grows, their influence grows too. Latin managers are paternalistic and emotionally involved. Managers or heads of departments tend to concern themselves with the personal and private problems of their staff.
Business and corporate social life follow "old world" formalities; etiquette, manners and physical presence are measure of breeding and status symbols. It's considered very important to maintain good posture at all times, even in more informal situations. A firm, assured, handshake is the customary greeting on all occasions. During the handshake, state your full name; your Latin counterpart will then reciprocate by doing the same. You will have to speak not only at a closer distance, but also maintain eye contact as an assurance of your genuine interest.
Local business people tend to be very status-conscious and will often be impressed by these displays. First impression is everlasting in the mind of a Latin. In general the Latin executives are highly conservative and traditional in their dress code. Men wear dark, conservative suits for all formal occasions.
For the Latin, pleasure is before business, and they use entertainment as a way of building a personal relationship with his/her potential business partner. Much leisure time is spent socialising with family, friends and colleagues, mostly at weekends. Business dinners, in particular, are usually purely social occasions, and as such you should refrain from discussing work-related matters unless your Latin contact brings up the subject. Ensure that you write a thank-you note following any social gathering where you were a guest. Thank-you letters can be very helpful in solidifying rapport.
Women, legally enjoy all the same rights as men in most of Central and South American countries. Depending on the degree of economic growth, urbanization, industrialization, education, and expanded opportunities in their respective country, women have better or worse positions in society. Practically the representation of women in the private sector's upper and middle management is growing slowly, but remains fairly small. One can rarely mention a name, which can be easily identified with a women business leader.
Latin women tend to be meticulous dressers who closely follow European fashion. Female visitors are advised to bring conservative, stylish business clothes of the highest quality, including a cocktail dress. Often, women greet each other by quickly touching cheek to cheek and kissing the air.
For middle-class woman who want to combine job and family careers support provided by the extended family and the availability of maids is a pre-requisite. Latin businesswomen are going through the same dilemmas as business women in more other countries - in being mother, lover, wife, professional, and entrepreneur!
When doing business in Latin America, your always must make all the necessary preparations to leave a lasting impression about; your company, your products, yourself, your value systems and your attitude to business. In the final instance Latin American business people are asking themselves; Can I trust this person to do business with? Is our relationship sufficiently solid?
If the answer is YES , and trust has been acknowledge by both parties, then the business flows accordingly, and the chances of securing contracts and agreements are much greater.
© Farnham Castle/ Carlos Gonzalez Carrasco
Carlos Gonzalez Carrasco is a Latin America Business Development Consultant and Adviser to International companies entering into the Latin American market. He is a regular Commentator on Latin America Economic, Financial and Political risk issues for Bloomberg TV Financial Markets and Commodity News. He currently works as Latin American business analyst and consultant for Euromonitor Plc. He has an MBA from University of Westminster Business School and a BA in Business Studies from Chile.
expatriatelatin america business interculturalcross cultural
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Presenting to audiences whose first language is not English
Don't leave your audience in the dark!
As business becomes more global, we are speaking to an ever-wider range of nationalities and people. This is true not only in the multi-nationals, but also in the professions and the public sector. It is giving us greater opportunities for wider relationships and more business. Increasingly, the world is using English, and this appears to give native speakers great advantages. However, there are dangers as well...
The tendency is to think that one can go into a presentation without having to prepare for that extra English language element that our Japanese, German or Spanish counterparts have to. In addition, we may forget to prepare for different cultural perceptions; because if we use English, we often expect the cultural context to be ours as well.
Adapt your language to the audience
Careful preparation is required for business encounters with non-native speakers of English, both linguistically and culturally. Take the example of a medium-sized pharmaceutical company in North Italy. They supplied medicines to the Italian market, and the only language spoken by employees was Italian. The company was taken over in the mid-nineties by an Anglo-American multinational with its European headquarters in London. The new British general manager arrived and called a meeting for all management, to set out the new strategy. The employees understood little of the presentation, because he spoke fast, idiomatic English. They left the auditorium in a state of panic, knowing that in future, they would be reporting in English. The presenter had not adapted his language to his audience.
This is not an isolated example. Similar stories are heard whenever non-native speakers have to deal with native English speakers.
The young Spanish aeronautical engineer on a management development programme with British and Irish fellow students, felt isolated as he struggled to keep up with their language.
The group of French purchasing managers for a Franco-German pharmaceutical company had enormous difficulty understanding their British counterpart when he presented to them.
The Japanese manager of a Japanese electrical engineering company could not understand the Scotsmen on his team. The list goes on.
Use of Off-shore English is growing
We may ask: "Why don't they learn better English"? The answer is, they are doing so. Companies and individual invest heavily in English training, and there are increasing numbers of managers around the world using English daily. They use, however, a different form of English from the native speaker: 'Offshore English' (OE), is a practical, direct language used as a business tool throughout the world. It cuts out the idioms, expressions, indirectness, phrasal verbs and colloquial phrases that we use to add life, interest and magic to our language.
OE is growing rapidly. It enables managers from a Franco-Japanese automotive company to communicate effectively, or executives from an Italian-German manufacturing company to solve complex problems together. Frequently, non-native speakers tell us that it is easier to talk to the Dutch, the Germans or the Scandinavians in English rather than the Americans, Australians or British.
Why do native speakers not use OE? In our experience, it is because most people using English internationally do not realise that it exists. In addition, the relatively poor foreign language skills of native English speakers are well known, and many of us do not appreciate the practical difficulties of using a foreign language at work. We hear a frequent complaint: "There is one American in my team of ten Germans, and so we all have to speak English at team meetings in Germany". Or that the British manager has been in Madrid for two years now, and still is unable to understand a presentation in Spanish. There are accusations of laziness, but more frequently of cultural arrogance.
Cut out idioms
So, how can the native speakers help their non-native counterparts? Clearly, adapting their language to OE is crucial. "We'll do it willy-nilly" is difficult to understand. "We'll do it anyway" is not.
Cut out those delicious idioms we love, and use unconsciously.
A former British prime minister used a mass of cricketing idioms in a meeting with a Spanish minister proud of his excellent English. But talk of 'sticky wickets' and 'being stumped' totally confused him, and before the next meeting he demanded it be conducted through interpreters.
Phrasal verbs are a minefield for anyone learning English, and often a more formal equivalent will be more easily understood. To a Frenchman or German, "I'll contact her" is easier than "I'll get on to her", or "Let's postpone the presentation" is more understandable than "Let's put the presentation off".
Presenting internationally
We also need to take into account cultural differences when we present internationally. The more we know what an audience in a particular country expects, the more effective we can be. The British prefer the presentation to be short and to the point, full of humour, metaphor and analogies. However, this can appear lacking in seriousness in Germany or Scandinavia, or not detailed enough in Japan.
A presentation keeping strictly to the timetable will be appreciated in Northern Europe, but may be less relevant in Italy, as one executive discovered to his cost. Asked to present to an Italian business association, he delivered a concise, well-argued performance in two minutes! After he finished there was an awkward silence, and then polite applause. The other presenters spoke for much longer, some for as long as 20 minutes. The meeting ended two hours late, and afterwards the Englishman was approached by a friend, who asked: "Why didn't you spell out in much greater detail the many things I know your company can offer?" The Italians expected to hear a well-argued case with the appropriate embellishments, and felt short-changed by the concise English style.
Presenting internationally offers many challenges. We need to be aware of not only what we say and how we say it, but also what our audience expects from a presentation. The more we know about our own language, and how to adapt it to a non-native audience, the more the audience will understand, and be able to take an active part in the meeting. The more we understand the cultural dimension, the greater our chance of hitting home with the message we want to give, on the level that the audience understands and feels comfortable with. When we get it right, we can build relationships and trust, and do business effectively.
Original Article at http://www.intercultural-training.co.uk/articles/general/presentation_skills.asp
Tuesday, 28 August 2007
Working Abroad - Learning how....
Many companies contemplating expansion into new markets often fail to achieve the expected results because they were not prepared for the cultural differences and business styles of the potential market. Greater understanding and more informed planning will certainly lead to a much higher probability of achieving business goals.
Cross-cultural effectiveness requires more than common sense, and the pursuit of cross-cultural understanding is an essential tool in helping potential exporters increase their competitive advantage.
In the highly competitive and fast changing business world of today, we need to get it right, and get it right first time. Whether we are presenting our ideas to an audience from another culture or negotiating with them, understanding that culture, and in particular our ability to communicate effectively within that culture, will impact on how we are perceived, and substantially effect our success. Their ideas about what makes a good communicator may be very different from our own, and what is a permissible negotiation tactic in our culture may be unacceptable in another.
Individuals operating in international markets require particular competencies and personal characteristics. Unbridled inquisitiveness, patience, depth of field and self-awareness are some of these characteristics and above all highly effective communication skills. However, this is only the beginning. They need to acquire both the operational tools and practical skills that will help them articulate their thinking and adapt their style and approach to the needs of the markets in which they wish to operate.
Working with different cultures becomes all the more rewarding when we know what we should be looking out for, and when we are able to recognise our own strengths and weaknesses. Working within an international marketplace need not be a daunting task if we recognise the advantages thorough preparation and planning can bring.
Farnham Castle, recognised by many of the world's most successful international companies as the leading provider of intercultural management skills training, provides a complete range of programmes to support companies and individuals to achieve greater business effectiveness.
Full details of training programmes and the conference and meeting facilities available at the historic 12th century castle are available at http://www.farnhamcastle.com/
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