The Savvy Business Traveler's Guide to Customs and Practices in Other Countries: The Dos & Don’ts to Impress Your Host and Make the Sale

The Savvy Business Traveler’s Guide to Customs and Practices in Other Countries

The Dos & Don’ts to Impress Your Hosts and Make the Sale

By Dan Blacharski

The Savvy Business Traveler’s Guide To Customs and Practices in Other Countries: The Dos & Don’ts to Impress Your Hosts and Make the Sale

Copyright © 2008 by Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.

1405 SW 6th Ave. • Ocala, Florida 34471

800-814-1132 • 352-622-1875–Fax

Web site: www.atlantic-pub.com • E-mail: sales@atlantic-pub.com

SAN Number: 268-1250

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be sent to Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 1405 SW 6th Ave., Ocala, Florida 34471.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Blacharski, Dan, 1959-

The savvy business traveler’s guide to customs and practices in other countries : the dos and don’ts to impress your hosts and make the sale / by Dan Blacharski.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-60138-013-5

ISBN-10: 1-60138-013-5

1. Business etiquette. 2. Business travel. 3. Intercultural communication. 4. Corporate culture. I. Title.

HF5389.B58 2008

395.5’2--dc22

2007049124

LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.

A few years back we lost our beloved pet dog Bear, who was not only our best and dearest friend but also the Vice President of Sunshine here at Atlantic Publishing. He did not receive a salary but worked tirelessly 24 hours a day to please his parents.

Bear was a rescue dog who turned around and showered myself, my wife, Sherri, his grandparents Jean, Bob, and Nancy, and every person and animal he met (well, maybe not rabbits) with friendship and love. He made a lot of people smile every day.

We wanted you to know a portion of the profits of this book will be donated in Bear’s memory to local animal shelters, parks, conservation organizations, and other individuals and nonprofit organizations in need of assistance.

– Douglas and Sherri Brown

PS: We have since adopted two more rescue dogs: first Scout, and the following year, Ginger. They were both mixed golden retrievers who needed a home.

Want to help animals and the world? Here are a dozen easy suggestions you and your family can implement today:

•  Adopt and rescue a pet from a local shelter.

•  Support local and no-kill animal shelters.

•  Plant a tree to honor someone you love.

•  Be a developer — put up some birdhouses.

•  Buy live, potted Christmas trees and replant them.

•  Make sure you spend time with your animals each day.

•  Save natural resources by recycling and buying recycled products.

•  Drink tap water, or filter your own water at home.

•  Whenever possible, limit your use of or do not use pesticides.

•  If you eat seafood, make sustainable choices.

•  Support your local farmers market.

•  Get outside. Visit a park, volunteer, walk your dog, or ride your bike.

Five years ago, Atlantic Publishing signed the Green Press Initiative. These guidelines promote environmentally friendly practices, such as using recycled stock and vegetable-based inks, avoiding waste, choosing energy-efficient resources, and promoting a no-pulping policy. We now use 100-percent recycled stock on all our books. The results: in one year, switching to post-consumer recycled stock saved 24 mature trees, 5,000 gallons of water, the equivalent of the total energy used for one home in a year, and the equivalent of the greenhouse gases from one car driven for a year.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction: Business Is Never Just Business

Chapter 2: Food: Fried Fish Guts, Lard Sandwiches, & Duck’s Blood Soup

Chapter 3: A Little Common Sense

Chapter 4: A Changing World

Chapter 5: China

Chapter 6: Japan

Chapter 7: India

Chapter 8: Thailand

Chapter 9: Vietnam

Chapter 10: Indonesia

Chapter 11: Malaysia

Chapter 12: Philippines

Chapter 13: South Korea

Chapter 14: Taiwan

Chapter 15: Bangladesh

Chapter 16: Hong Kong

Chapter 17: Australia

Chapter 18: Russia

Chapter 19: Poland

Chapter 20: Ukraine

Chapter 21: Czech Republic

Chapter 22: Romania

Chapter 23: Hungary

Chapter 24: United Kingdom

Chapter 25: Germany

Chapter 26: France

Chapter 27: Italy

Chapter 28: Spain

Chapter 29: Ireland

Chapter 30: Netherlands

Chapter 31: Austria

Chapter 32: Belgium

Chapter 33: Switzerland

Chapter 34: Greece

Chapter 35: Portugal

Chapter 36: Sweden

Chapter 37: Norway

Chapter 38: Denmark

Chapter 39: Mexico

Chapter 40: Argentina

Chapter 41: Colombia

Chapter 42: Peru

Chapter 43: Chile

Chapter 44: Brazil

Chapter 45: Venezuela

Chapter 46: Canada

Chapter 47: Iran

Chapter 48: South Africa

Chapter 49: Pakistan

Chapter 50: Saudi Arabia

Chapter 51: Egypt

Chapter 52: Nigeria

Chapter 53: Algeria

Chapter 54: Turkey

Conclusion

Author Dedication & Biography

Chapter 1: Introduction: Business Is Never Just Business

Sitting in a restaurant with my wife and several of her colleagues in Bangkok, I unintentionally made a rude suggestion to the waitress.

We were with several of my wife’s coworkers at a publishing house, and I wanted to make an impression. Unfortunately, I believe I did. The Thai language is a tonal one, and saying the same word with a slightly different inflection can yield an entirely different meaning. I thought I was merely asking the waitress to bring me coffee with cream, but it came out quite differently. Fortunately, she was a good sport and knew what I was trying to say, and she, my wife, and her coworkers had a good laugh at my expense.

My grandfather came to the United States from Poland and never learned to speak English well. Although we lived in a predominantly Polish neighborhood, it was difficult for him to communicate. After traveling to several foreign countries, I know now what it must have been like for him, struggling just to speak a foreign language in a broken manner, making mistakes, and being thought of as the quaint foreigner with the funny accent. You may laugh at the Chinese lady at your favorite takeout place who wants to know if you want to eat some flied lice, but you are going to be providing the comic relief when you go overseas, so be prepared.

Doing business in a foreign country is so much more than merely doing business. As Americans, we are more accustomed to making a business presentation and striking a deal as quickly as possible. In most other countries, it just is not done that way. Business, pleasure, family, and, indeed, life in general are intertwined so that, before someone does business with you, they want to see you in a social setting, and they want you to accept not only their business, but their culture as well.

The old phrase, It is not personal; it is just business does not apply in many foreign cultures where business is not considered separate from the rest of life. Business is personal. It involves much of your waking day and affects your life style and image. In many cultures, the entire family is part of the business in one way or another, whether it is actually working in a family-owned shop or acting as host for a dinner party. In Asian cultures, if you lose face in a business deal, you have lost face to the entire world. There is no clean separation. At the end of the day, this intertwining of business and life keeps our business practices more humane.

America Is Only a Place

Americans tend to have an unfortunate point of view about our native country that makes us unpopular in the rest of the world. That point of view is that America is the best. We believe in good old American know-how, American ingenuity, and the land of the free and the home of the brave, as if citizens of all other countries are somehow inferior. We speak of the American Way and the American Dream. We think that America somehow has an edge on the rest of the world, whose customs, religions, and political infrastructures are not acceptable. We think we have the best political system, the best social services, the best workers, and the best universities. We think soccer is not real football. We think that our food is good but other countries’ food is weird.

That is pure ego.

Countries are nothing more than artificial constructs created for the purpose of social organization. The United States is one such artificial construct. We have some good schools, and people tend to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. Then again, the same can be said about dozens of other countries. India produces some of the brightest engineers in the world. Switzerland is more democratic than the United States by design (and they make better chocolate). While we may enjoy our steaks, there is nothing deadly about eating a plate of fried beetles.

The most important element of being a successful business traveler is adopting an open attitude, and not bragging about oneself or the United States. You may have an excellent product at a fair price, but your hosts will not assume that your proposal is the best just because you are American. They do not share your same point of view that America is the best in the world at everything. They just want a good deal, and they want to make it with someone they like. In short, acquire some humility. While you are in a foreign country, do not look for what is the same. Seek out what is different and savor it.

Will They Reject Me Because I Am American?

There is a perception that Americans are not welcome abroad, but this is for the most part incorrect. I have visited many countries throughout Europe and Asia and have always been treated regally. It is true that foreign countries see some American foreign policy and politics as aggressive, but for the most part, people you encounter will distinguish between you as a person and the country you come from.

I have felt safe everywhere in the world, probably safer than many places I have been in the United States. I have always had freedom of movement, even in Communist countries, and I have found that locals are willing to go out of their way to accommodate me. People, especially in countries that do not get many outside visitors, are very eager to talk to you and learn about where you are from.

Having the Best Deal Is Not Enough

Being all business is not going to work in most foreign countries. You may have a superior business plan, a well-engineered proposal, a crew of the finest and most talented individuals ever assembled, and you may also have the best deal financially. If you were in an American setting, that might be enough to win you the contract; but it is not going to be enough elsewhere. Foreign bids are not always won based solely on who offers the best terms. Business may be about more than the bottom line.

In most other cultures, it is just as important to make a deal with someone you can get along well with, as it is to make a deal with someone offering the best bottom line. If you are in Japan and your business associate invites you out to a karaoke bar and you do not sing, you refuse to taste the sake, you insist on a Budweiser, and loudly proclaim I only eat my fish breaded and fried, you are not going to get the deal, no matter how much better your proposal is than the next guy’s. The guy from Germany who hates sushi but eats it anyway is going to get the deal.

Table of Contents

Chapter 2: Food: Fried Fish Guts, Lard Sandwiches, & Duck’s Blood Soup

I knew an American businessman who traveled throughout Asia. Upon arriving, the first thing he did was open his suitcase and take out canned tuna and other canned items that traveled well. They were his entire diet for the duration of his trip. I cannot eat the food here. It is nasty, he complained. When he did manage to venture out for restaurant food, he went no further than the local McDonald’s. He never got far in business because, in many countries, more business gets done in informal situations where food is present.

Food is a big part of our social lives in America, but in foreign countries it is often a big part of business as well. People take pride in either serving you their favorites in their homes or taking you to their favorite restaurants. When I took my son Shanti with me to spend the summer in Poland a few years back, I was struck by the importance of accepting unfamiliar food. My son and I took the train to several different cities and, no matter where we were, one relative or another sent us off with a bag of kielbasa, some bread, lard sandwiches, cheese, and other goodies. As a special treat, we might even get a container of czarnina (duck’s blood soup).

My dad loved to tell stories of how his mother made lard and onion sandwiches on black bread. I could not conjure up any delightful visual and figured he was just telling tall tales. Then I got to Warsaw and found that they really do eat that. What was even more surprising was that I enjoyed it. Smalets, or seasoned lard, is often used instead of butter. It may be a heart attack waiting to happen, but as my cousin Macek (whose medical knowledge is a bit suspect) always said, The vodka burns away the cholesterol.

Part of the delight of traveling to foreign countries is experiencing new cultures, and that means eating the food, no matter how strange. As a businessperson, you are not just in it for the experience; you are there to make some money. To do that, you have to accept your host’s culture and country and be a gracious guest. In many parts of the world, the peculiarly American phrase, It is just business, does not make any sense. Business, life, and enjoying good food are all intertwined. Enjoying a plank steak in Sweden, a full English breakfast in London, or a snack of fried fish skins in Vietnam is so much more than just trying out new foods. It is accepting and respecting your host’s culture. In many locations, before any business gets done, there is socializing, which often centers on food (and sometimes alcohol). If you reject your host’s choice of cuisine and insist on a Big Mac, your negotiations just may hit an impasse.

Thai food is strange to the uninitiated. Before I learned how to speak Thai, my wife (who is a native of Thailand) took me to a footpath restaurant. They are small,