Conducting International Business Check This Out First

Conducting International Business Check This Out First Culture is a tricky thing. It can be hard enough to do geschftliches miteinander in your country, let alone to strike deals across international borders, where whole new minefields of unspoken assumptions, pregnant gestures, and deeply held beliefs await. Last May, I spoke with author and INSEAD professor Erin Meyer about the challenges of cross-cultural recruiting, but working with people from other cultures in any capacity poses its own unique challenges. Luckily, todays business people dont have to go blindly into the international market. They have the benefit of extensive sociocultural research on their side, not to mention interactive tools like Towergate Insurances Cultural Guide to International Business.Created by digital marketing and SEO agency Builtvisible the same company responsible for the Small Business Skills Challenge we repo rted on in November the Cultural Guide uses data collected from 101 countries around the world by the Hofstede Centre, as well asinput from author and interculturalist Chris Smit,to create a visual representation of the national cultural differences that are relevant to international business.The Cultural Guide measures countries along six metrics, also developed by the Hofstede CentrePower Distancehow willing are people with no power to accept the unequal spread of power in their country?Individualismare individuals loyal to themselves first and foremost, or do they put the group ahead of themselves?Masculinitydespite the title of this metric, its not strictly a measurement of gender differences. Rather, it measures the extent to which people value the achievement of goals and the importance of status over the process of goal achievement. In other words are people mostly goal-oriented (masculine), or do they place more value on the process that leads to achieving the goal (feminin e)?Uncertainty Avoidancedo the people of the country prefer to avoid the unknown via strict rules and regulations, or do they handle ambiguity well and rely less on rigid, codes and structures? Do people take risks or play it safe?Pragmatismare people practical and future-oriented, or do they take a more normative approach to the world, preferring to focus on the present?Indulgencedo people value (and indulge in) leisure and self-expression, or do they prefer restraint and strict social norms? (It should be noted that the Cultural Guide calls this metric controversial and speculative, as much of the data used to measure it is incomplete.)Countries are measured on a 100-point scale in each metric lower numbers mean lower scores in a given metric, and higher numbers mean higher scores. Explanations of each metric also include example characteristics of countries and implications for business in those countries, depending on a countrys scores. For example, the tool states that people i n countries with high individualism scores tend to be more task-oriented people in countries with low pragmatism scores tend to value and respect tradition. Likewise, when doing business in countries with low masculinity scores, the tool says its better to reach for compromise than to go for confrontation when working with businessesin a high power distance country, people need to respect the chain of command.mora useful than checking out each countrys individual scores fascinating as that may be is using the tool to compare two countries with one another. A user can choose their country and compare it with a country in which they plan on doing business. The tool then generates a chart that shows the overlap (and differences) between each country andthescores of each country in each metric. Heres an example comparison between the U.S. and BulgariaOlivia Wiltshire, digital executive at Builtvisibile, says she hopes people will be able to use this tool as means to help them more suc cessfully and confidently enter into business with companies in other countries.For example, the guide has the capability of informing the user whether a country has a high level of masculinity or not, Wiltshire explains. If a country is masculine, then making decisions even if they are bad decisions is seen as better than making no decision at all. Knowing this sort of cultural information before entering business with this country will therefore help you mold your approach and perhaps even adapt your strategy before opening up business conversations or beginning meetings.Wiltshire says the guide should be beneficial to businesses of all size, entrepreneurs, and even people who are just starting up.Ultimately, I think the information in this guide is something to take note of especially if these people are looking to go global or do business in/with different countries, Wiltshire says. At the same time, I think this guide is also a useful tool for anyone interested in becoming m ore culturally aware.