The World's Business Cultures

Overview

With the aid of a specially developed model – The 5 C’s Model – expert authors demonstrate how to get your communications right internationally and ensure that meetings, both face-to-face and virtual, go according to plan.

Barry Tomalin and Mike Nicks offer strategies and tactics for getting people from different countries on your side, and detailing the knowledge you need to make the right impression and avoid giving offence.

The authors provide a framework for understanding any culture in the world, but include specific chapters on the top 14 economies in the world in 2050, according to Morgan Grenfell bank:

China, USA, Germany, UK, Russia, India, Brazil, France, Italy, Spain, The Gulf, Korea, Australia and Japan

The 5 C’s Model

The 5 C’s Model shows you how to select the information and understanding you need and how to make sense of it all. The 5C’s are:

Cultural knowledge: the basic information you need in order to show interest and familiarity.
Cultural behaviour – identifying the basic profile of a country and comparing it with your own.
Cultural values and attitudes: what make a business community tick and what turns it off?
Cultural preferences: how to verify your own preferences and compare with them with those of the communities you are dealing with. How to anticipate and resolve any problems.
Cultural adaptation: the six key areas of cultural difference where communication can break down.

Content overview

1 Risky business
2 How to unlock any culture in the world
3 How People think
4 Cultural behaviour
5 How to increase your cultural sensitivity
6 Communication
7 Leadership and decision-making
8 Teams, motivation and feedback
9 Meetings and negotiations
10 Gift-giving and hospitality
11 The top ten countries in 2050

What this book will give you

• A new approach to International business
• A business model for international cultural understanding
• An insight on how to communicate successfully internationally
• A knowledge of cultural expectations
• Teach you how to be more culturally sensitive
• Highlight the cultural bear traps

Content

CHAPTER ONE-Risky business

To do business worldwide it isn’t enough just to understand and apply a universal business model. You also have to understand the culture of the people you are dealing with.

This chapter provides and comprehensive introduction to this fascinating topic setting the scene with real life examples where cultural differences where not appreciated until after the deals collapsed.

CHAPTER TWO-How to unlock any culture in the world

• The curse of anecdotes
• The TRUST model
• The three ingredients of culture
• The importance of cultural knowledge
• Understanding values and attitudes
• Understanding behaviour
• The need for a cultural business model
• The Five C’s of culture
• Stereotypes and generalizations
• Other factors: Race, religion, sexual orientation and disability
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER THREE-How people think

• How to understand values and attitudes
• How do I find out what’s what?
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER FOUR-Cultural behaviour

• Why me?
• Scheduled, flexible and listening cultures
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER FIVE-How to increase your cultural sensitivity

• It’s all about perception
• The Personal Cultural Profile
• Comparing cultures
• Interpreting your Personal Cultural Profile
• The 80/20 rule
• Is it personal, procedural or cultural?
• RADAR
• Personal qualities
• The six personal characteristics of cross-cultural sensitivity
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER SIX-Communication

• The English language
• Taking culture into account
• Feel the people
• Presentations
• Writing emails
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER SEVEN-Leadership and decision-making

• Top-down or egalitarian?
• Company organigrams: are they reliable?
• Taking ownership and delegation
• Hierarchy
• Consensus or individually driven decision-making
• Speeding up decision-making
• Breaking the chain of command
• Maintaining status
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER EIGHT-Teams, motivation and feedback

• Two types of team
• Team selection
• Team leadership
• The process of team-working
• What, how and why cultures?
• Team motivation
• Feedback
• Virtual distributed teams
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER NINE-Meetings and negotiations

• Where are meetings held?
• Who attends?
• How are meetings arranged?
• Expectations of meetings
• An agenda or not?
• Meetings etiquette
• Results and outcomes
• Negotiating
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER TEN-Gift-giving and hospitality

• Gift-giving
• Hospitality
• Conclusion

Key learning points

CHAPTER ELEVEN-The top ten countries in 2050

• Doing business in China
• Doing business in the USA
• Doing business in India
• Doing business in Japan
• Doing business in Brazil
• Doing business in Russia
• Doing business in the United Kingdom
• Doing business in Germany
• Doing business in France
• Doing business in Italy

Reviews

“All MBA graduates will love this book – it’s a no-nonsense, systematic and practical book, written with such a pristine style of logic and rationality that it leaves you at times spell-bound.Peppered with many anecdotes and stories, it zeroes in brilliantly on the potential cultural mishaps that the somewhat parochial and ethnocentric reader could fall into. Or as the authors expressed clearly in the foreword, the book is for the “harassed, overworked and nervous” business person waiting in the airport lounge and doesn’t know why something is not right with a client in a foreign country.So, while on the plane, the reader is able to “unlock” some of the mysteries of cross-cultural encounters that should provide solutions and more importantly, a sense of relief. Interculturalist Tomalin and journalist Nicks have done their homework thoroughly – they have put together a compendium of cross – cultural information that covers almost every point you need to know to succeed in today’s fast moving world. Bottom line: the ideal gift for the business person on the run who wishes to remain on the run.”

Patrick Schmidt: Dia Delta Intercultural Academy April 2010

Spectacular merger collapses prove that a one-style-fits-all approach to business is not enough to succeed. Failure to understand cultural differences can prove costly. (Remember the break-up of Germany’s Daimier and Chrysler of the US).

‘Tomalin and Nicks show how understanding culture can improve performance. Sprinkled with colourful anecdotes, The World’s Business Cultures offers sound advice on meetings and negotiations, as well as decision-making, gift-giving and writing e-mails.’

‘Although it has chapters on countries forecast to the world’s leading economies in 2050, such as India, China and Brazil, the book also warns that we can get it wrong even when dealing with our neighbours.’

Claire Barron – Financial Times

‘Tomalin and Nicks is a must read for business travelers who want to successfully compete in world markets. More than a collection of cultural do’s and don’ts, it offers clear, practical and comprehensive guidelines for establishing and maintaining successful business relationships in the multicultural marketplace.’

Susan Stempleski, Lecturer, Graduate Program in TESOL Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, USA

A no-nonsense, systematic and practical book for business people and students of business everywhere. The short country profiles are especially useful and to the point.’

Ulla Ladau-Harjulin, FRSA, Lecturer in Intercultural Communication, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Helsinki, Finland

‘Nicks and Tomalin offer more than just helpful insights into different cultures. For this experienced traveller, WORLD BUSINESS CULTURES is also a guide to good behaviour based not on travellers’ tales but on principles which I can apply in many situations.’

Emeritus Professor Jack Lonergan, President of the International Certificate Conference

‘This book is more than just helpful insights into different cultures. It is a systematic and practical book for business people and students everywhere. A must read for business people who want to successfully compete in world markets.’

Business Executive Magazine

The authors

Barry Tomalin is Director of Cultural Training at International House in London, one of the largest language and cultural training organisations in the world, and Visiting Lecturer in Cross-cultural Communication at the University of Westminster. He is the author of many books and monographs on culture and has trained in 65 countries.

Mike Nicks is a journalist and a media and communications coach. He has worked on the launch or development of more than 30 magazines and newspapers in Britain, France, the USA and Australia, including titles as diverse as Nursing Times in London, the one-million selling Motor Trend in California, FHM in Paris, and the surfing monthly Tracks in Sydney.

He trains journalists in leadership, editing and writing techniques, and helps business people to communicate in effective English. He is a consultant with PMA Training, Britain’s largest media coaching organization, and International House Cultural Training in London. He contributes to The Guardian, The Independent and The Observer newspapers, is passionate about languages and world business cultures, and speaks Spanish and French as well as his native English.