I think the only way to cross this chasm would be to actually immerse and embrace a culture for a decent amount of time, which is why I am glad that we have the opportunity to travel to China (and I plan to independently travel to Japan and Brazil after graduating). There is no book or website that can throw every gaffe at the reader and have them prepared to travel to foreign negotiation meetings.

Perhaps a business opportunity would be for a firm to open multiple international offices in large markets to accomplish this goal. There would be liaisons that lived in these specific countries and offered ‘crash courses’ on business meetings and procedures for visiting businessmen to get them up to speed without having to experience the culture first hand. Contracts with large corporations who specialize in international business could set up these training offices as the first stop once in the foreign country, to avoid the embarrassment many have experienced.

While the restaurant industry is already cashing in on people’s curiosity over cultural food differences, I think they could offer more. People often go looking for authentic foreign restaurants looking to capture the dining experience of a different culture. Most times they receive the food of that culture but not the entire dining experience. I think it would be a more valuable experience if restaurants offered the entire dining experience and educated patrons on the customs and traditions of that culture. Dining is often a time where cultures come together and certain tendencies stand out. I am always cautious about dining in foreign places and would be relieved to already know the customs and not have to worry about offending anyone or standing out in a negative way.

In doing business overseas, someone should do their homework before starting their venture. I believe that you might not know everything about a culture but if you show that you are genuinely trying to learn, people will appreciate the thought. Also, it is important to seek help in overcoming what you don’t know. A classic example that I can think of was when GM tried to sell the Chevy Nova in the Latin American / South American market. The car sold poorly and it wasn’t realized at the time of launch that in the Spanish language, Nova could be translated into “no va” or no go (i.e. the car doesn’t go). Such a simple oversight in the translation of the language barrier became a costly endeavor for GM. To avoid this, I believe that cultural consulting could be a business in and of itself in bringing together two cultures to do business. In the corporate world, just introducing prospective company representatives to culture training can ease the transition for both sides of the agreement. But above all else, I believe it comes down to the individual to do their work and/or seek the help to bridge the cultural gap.

For example, the article from the Wall Street Journal explains a situation where a businessman went to Russia to make a deal with a company. The employee was joyful and even tried to make jokes while the Russian kept a serious face throughout the entire business meeting. So, he thought the meeting was a disaster. He later found out that it was part of the Russian culture to remain serious at all times in the business environment. Fortunately, the meeting was successful. If the employee were informed about the Russian culture before going on the trip, the meeting would have gone better, and he wouldn’t have made a fool of himself.

To capitalize on this culture barrier in the business environment there are a couple ways to address the opportunity. Depending on the amount of business flow it may not be feasible to have an expert from each region on the payroll. Being more cost efficient you could contract out work on a needs basis from a self made list of qualified representatives specializing in the culture you are interacting with. What could even be more cost effective in the long run, if done correctly, would to design an actual program that can detect phrases and analyze the overall message of your document in order to translate it meaningfully to the respective language.

Encountering cultural differences in business events should definitely be expected and violating some foreign tradition at some point in time may be inevitable. The focus should be to minimize the occurrence of these miscommunications. Referencing the recent case in our negotiations class, many foreign countries seem to expect us to be pushy, loud, and informal. It would be interesting to see other countries try to mirror that!

I also completed my undergraduate degree at Cal Poly’s OCOB. Two courses I took back then have helped me to understand the international business environment–they were: (1) International & Cross-Cultural Management and (2) Legal Environment of International Business. Maybe these courses set me up to believe that firms looking to expand worldwide prepare their employees and themselves to adjust to culture and business standards, but apparently that’s not true. In Management of Human Resources, I was shocked to find that many companies don’t offer cultural training for employees (or their families) looking to transfer to an international office. I would never think of even visiting another without reading some background material on their cultural business standards (if it was business related).

That being said, with China growing as an economy, I would look to exploit some sort of training school for individuals moving to or planning on completing business in China. Maybe something like an assimilation boot camp? If someone isn’t aware of the standards, they can’t do anything about it… except learn them! At least try to, that is. You rarely hear stories about individuals from other cultures offending Americans in business–that’s either because we’re much more lenient or those stories are saved for their own business school blogs. Either way, it doesn’t hurt anyone to try…

When I studied abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, I had to complete a group project with other international students. My group consisted of people from China, Germany, Albania, Israel, and Denmark. It was an enlightening experience to work with people from so many cultures. Luckily everyone was very close to my own age and we had a lot in common, but completing the project was more difficult than expected. As others have suggested, an international culture consulting services could be a huge opportunity. I thought it was interesting that even through the current recession, small business international expansion has stayed at a steady. This leads me to assume that as soon as we overcome the recession, international expansion will increase more than ever before.