international business culture
...ful in the business world, efficient mutual communications and understandings always play an important role, even when dealing with those who share the same culture in common. Today, international businessmen and businesswomen increasingly find themselves working in multi-cultural environments, dealing with real differences in everything from communication styles to social etiquette to core values. Thus, awareness of culture differences has undoubtedly become one of the most important aspects in today¡¯s business world. What if we don¡¯t care about the culture differences? Some experiences might serve to answer this question. Once an American businesswoman was appointed to sign a research and development contract with a British company, and she was met by a British businessman. All went well until the American traveled to London to meet face-to-face with her British colleague. The first meeting did not go well. Americans believe that looking someone directly in the eye during negotiations indicates sincerity and honesty, while the British believe such a gesture to be a mark of rudeness or even offense until a more familiar relationship is established. This trivial culture difference made both of them feel uneasy and nearly damaged the contract. From this case we can learn how risky it will be if businessmen and businesswomen fail to understand the business context and mindset of a potential foreign business partner. Another striking example that serves to demonstrate the importance of cross-culture knowledge and understanding is the case of The Disney Corp¡¯s French adventure-Euro Disney. Although the Disney lands both in America and Japan have been very successful, Euro Disney at first proved to be total failure. The company was simply unconscious of the different French culture and saw no good reason to change ...