Cultural challenges in business

A-Read carefully the text:

Nobody actually wants to cause offence but, as business becomes ever more

international, it is increasingly easy to get it wrong. There may be a single European

market but it does not mean that managers behave the same in Greece as they do in

Denmark.

In many European countries handshaking is an automatic gesture. In France good

manners require that on arriving at a business meeting a manager shakes hands with

everyone present. This can be a demanding task and, in a crowded room, may require gymnastic ability if the farthest hand is to be reached. Handshaking is almost as popular in other countries - including Germany, Belgium and Italy. But Northern Europeans, such as the British and Scandinavians, are not quite so fond of physical demonstrations of friendliness.

In Europe the most common challenge is not the content of the food, but the way you behave as you eat. Some things are just not done. In France it is not good manners to raise tricky questions of business over the main 39 course. Business has its place: after the cheese course. Unless you are prepared to eat in silence you have to talk about something - something, that is, other than the business deal which you are continually chewing over in your head.Italians give similar importance to the whole process of business entertaining. In fact,in Italy the biggest fear, as course after course appears, is that you entirely forget you are there on business. If you have the energy, you can always do the polite thing when the meal finally ends, and offer to pay. Then, after a lively discussion, you must remember the next polite thing to do - let your host pick up the bill.

In Germany, as you walk sadly back to your hotel room, you may wonder why your

apparently friendly hosts have not invited you out for the evening. Don’t worry, it is

probably nothing personal. Germans do not entertain business people with quite the same enthusiasm as some of their European counterparts.

The Germans are also notable for the amount of formality they bring to business. As an outsider, it is often difficult to know whether colleagues have been working together for 30 years or have just met in the lift. If you are used to calling people by their first names this can be a little strange. To the Germans, titles are important.

In Italy the question of title is further confused by the fact that everyone with a

university degree can be called Dottore - and engineers, lawyers and architects may also expect to be called by their professional titles.

These cultural challenges exist side by side with the problems of doing business in a

foreign language. Language, of course, is full of difficulties - disaster may be only a

syllable away. But the more you know of the culture of the country you are dealing with, the less likely you are to get into difficulties. It is worth the effort. It might be rather hard to explain that the reason you lost the contract was not the product or the price, but the fact that you offended your hosts in a light-hearted comment over an aperitif. Good manners are admired: they can also make or break the deal.

B- Re-read the text and answer all the questions:

1-What is the general idea of the text? 

2-Show the importance of understanding other cultures in business? 

3- Decide whether these statements are true or false? Justify your             answers?

a-Italians don’t prefer to be called by their professional titles.

b- In Germany you are requested to call people by their first names.

d-The rest of Europeans focus on entertaining their guests of business more than Germans.

e-British and Scandinavians prefer to keep more distance while greeting.

4- Find in the text words or expressions meaning the same as: 

       a-worldwide        b-courtesy         c-menu        d-completely 

5- What do the two underlined words in the text refer to?