Cultural and communication differences exist in many capacities. In business, international managers often see differences in how meetings are used and conducted among cultures. In some regions, meetings are used to approve key decisions, as opposed to debate the merits of one strategy over another. Where meetings are used to…
Linguistic Barriers As a U.S. business manager, you are fortunate that English is the official language of business throughout the world. This dominance of English demonstrates and supports our economic strength throughout the world. However, it does not guarantee that English is universally understood by all people and all cultures. …
In international business, it’s critically important to understand the value systems of different groups of people and how they assign value to items and ideas. Values represent the importance, worth, or usefulness that an individual assigns to factors such as items, events, ideas, or frames of mind of anything considered…
Any intentional business leader recognizes that residents of Berlin, Tokyo or Dallas are different, regardless of the development of the Internet, social media, tourism, trade and other channels that bring the world closer together. Since conducting international business requires working with people, culture has a powerful impact on the relationships…
The ideas that we value, believe and support are molded by our culture. Communicating with people from different cultures often creates communication and relationship challenges. In order to be successful in international business, we need to understand other cultures by developing intercultural competence. Intercultural Competence Intercultural competence is the skill…
Companies that engage in global business must be flexible enough to work in diverse settings and cultures. Many times, workers underestimate the challenges of establishing a good reputation abroad, where language, culture and behavioral expectations may be unfamiliar. At a minimum, persons assigned overseas should be acclimated to the customs…