Your boss, Marian Yang, wants to know more about intercultural and international

Question

Your boss, Marian Yang, wants to know more about intercultural and international business etiquette. Today, most managers recognize that they need to be polished and professional to earn the respect of diverse audiences. Assume that your boss will assign different countries to several interns and recent hires. Choose a country that interests you and conduct a Web search. For example, in a Google search, input terms such as business etiquette, business etiquette abroad, and intercultural communication. You could visit websites such as the popular, informative etiquette and business guides for specific countries by Kwintessential Ltd. Also consider CountryWatch and the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) The World Factbook.

Your Task: As an intern or a new-hire, write a memo report about one country that is considerably different from the United States and that offers new business opportunities. Address your report to Marian Yang, president of WorldTech. Confine your research to what U.S. managers need to know about business etiquette in that culture. You should investigate social customs such as greetings, attire, gift giving, formality, business meals, attitudes toward time, and communication styles to help your boss avoid etiquette blunders. The purpose of your report is to promote business, not tourism. Compare your results with those of other students and, if directed, compile them in an informational team report.

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Explanation / Answer

The approach of business is changing a lot with time and today most of the leaders in the industry is planning to have a global presence and exposure in order to do big. Globalization has made things both simple and complicated because we have seen that various countries in Asia has accepted western products and the reverse is also true and this has made organizations strive for a global presence. In order to do business globally there are various issues that the organizations have to encounter and these may pose real challenge in the proper functioning of the organization. Cultural factors are most important and the organization planning to do business needs to understand the proper work and business culture that the country follow and abides because the organization has to act accordingly with the culture.

Saudi Arabia a country in the middle east Asia has a huge difference in the culture and etiquettes followed by the United States and there are instances of issues occurring due to these differences. The basic and one of the most important differences is in the style of communication, Saudi Arabia is a country which is governed by the Islamic Law and Islam plays a huge role because the customs and practices may seem very rigid in comparison to that in the United States. The organization planning to do business should possess a basic knowledge about the religion or a good research is expected because any action posing a threat to their custom can be dangerous.

The process of building relationships is also different from that what is followed here, people take relationship seriously in Saudi Arabia and a business relationship is possible only after trust is there between the two stakeholders. This situation is totally different from the United States because in United States there is a clear difference between personal and professional relationship but here business relationship depends on the personal relationship. Hospitality is very much present in the people and they value networks and friendship a lot and over business.

Attitude towards time is also a major issue because even in this aspect they generally expect punctuality from foreigners but flexibility has to be there. They offer daily prayers to their almighty and will not schedule any business meeting at that time irrespective of the criticality of the meeting. The working week in Saudi Arabia begins on Saturday and ends on Wednesday which should be kept in mind. The people possess a lot of respect for each other and the younger ones has to provide respect to their elders even in business environment.

The regional stereotypes present in such country has to be kept in mind while doing business else success may seem quite difficult as the western culture is very much different.

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