Cultural Cheat Sheet: Grow Global. Love Local

Navigate 10 largest economies in 5 minutes

Doing business in China

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Be sincere: it’s the quality most prized by the Chinese

Expect quick results

Do favours: it’s a great way to build relationships and they will be returned

Lose your temper or get impatient – it shows a lack of control

Show respect to senior people and older people Fail to keep regular contact

Spend time building the relationship Be extravagant or immodest in your dress, behaviour or personal habits

Reciprocate: if someone asks for your help, help them

Ignore Chinese social etiquette – especially at mealtimes

Doing business in the USA

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Be positive and clear about what you do and who you are

Use British understatement and sarcastic humour

Network and be visible Make un-PC comments about sex, race and religion

Deliver on time and on budget Suggest that Americans lack a sense of humour

Adopt a relaxed and friendly approach Fail to advise of slippage in the project

Be supportive: modify proposals, don’t reject them

Slip out for a beer at lunchtime

Doing business in India

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Spend time building the relationship Keep your human side hidden

Do things on the phone of face-to-face when you can

Be patronizing – India ceased being a part of the British Empire more than 60 years ago

Check performance and delivery – but with courtesy

Show intolerance if things don’t happen exactly the way you expect

Be more relaxed about time and schedules Show impatience if things don’t happen in your timescale

Build a basic knowledge of India’s religions and dietary customs

Fail to adapt to local business customs and adapt them to your needs

Doing business in Japan

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Spend time building a good relationship Try and stand out as an individual in a land of consensus

Work hard and earn trust Cause a Japanese person to lose face in front of others

Socialize – sing in a karaoke session even if you’ve got a lousy voice

Try to rush people into an agreement

Stress team achievement, not individual achievement

Ignore Japanese protocol and customs

Study Japanese business protocol – correct process is as important as a good result

Talk loudly, gesticulate extravagantly

Doing business in Brazil

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Build the relationship Avoid mentioning Portuguese or Argentinian superiority in any area

Dress your best – good clothes and accessories, clean and pressed

Insist on bringing up the disparity of wealth in Brazil

In all-male company, compliment the beauty of Brazilian women

Decline social invitations

Brazilians are very house proud: accept if they invite you for dinner or just a drink

Be inflexible, stiff and formal

Stay in good hotels – style matters Ask to see the favelas, Brazil’s shanty towns where guns and drugs are frequent

Doing business in Russia

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Be patient Criticize Russia

Be firm, even tough, in your negotiations – the Russians value leadership and strength

Compromise too early in a negotiation

Respect the Russian calendar: their meeting times may not be the same as yours

Show disunity in the team

Pay attention to the hierarchy: it’s important to give due respect to the boss.

Neglect to check what ties behind the prosperous front

Show personal warmth: Russians build business on personal relationships

Use ‘hard sell’ rather than ‘academic sell’ tactics in negotiating

Doing business in the United Kingdom

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Deliver on time, without drama Boast about your achievements

Arrive at meetings punctually Talk for an hour in a presentation

If you’re having difficulties, ask advice immediately rather than risk missing a deadline

Phone people in the evening about work

Check at the end of a meeting exactly what the Brits expect of you

Let a colleague down once he or she believes they can depend on you

Join them for a beer after work, or in the gym (many Brits now avoid alcohol)

Be patronizing to women

Doing business in Germany

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Demonstrate efficiency and punctuality Be disorganized and ignore due process

Be straightforward and direct Promise and fail to deliver

Do what you say you will do Do things without consultation

Find out the rules and follow them Go over the heads of line managers or reports

Respect the management hierarchy Be over-familiar with colleagues

Doing business in France

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Understand the free market v social contract debate in France

Do it all in English – if you have no French, apologize

Show appreciation of French culture Ignore the French intellectual approach

Make sure that French guests eat and drink well

Swear and drink too much

Maintain a degree of formality until you’re invited to use first names

Dig up the old clichés about Anglo-French conflict

Be logical and consistent in negotiations, and when you reach a decision, stick with it

Decline lunch invitations and buy a sandwich to eat at your desk

Doing business in Italy

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Build good personal relationships and keep in contact

Criticize or belittle Italy and its economy

Show appreciation of Italy and especially of your partner’s region

Remain solely on a business footing

Remember that the top man or woman makes the decisions

Decline invitations to eat or drink with your hosts

Dress carefully and in coordinated fashion for meetings: in Italy clothes do make the man (or woman)

Wear jeans and trainers to the office on a Friday

Name Italian products that you own of have enjoyed

Make jokes involving the Pope

Sources: Glocal Partners, adopted from The World’s Business Cultures