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The American business model prevails in northern Europe ' with the UK and possibly Germany representing the nearest thing Europe has to a US-styl

If you plan to do sell your product or service in down under the problems you encounter may not be the ones you expect. It’s easy to focus on perceived difficulties, such as the so-called ‘language barrier’, while not noticing the real pitfalls – until it’s too late. I learned three lessons the hard way: be conscious of the different cultures, understand the value of quality vs. speed, and know which foreign language is key to your business.

If you hope to compete with local firms in Near East you must understand European transaction cultures. Notice the use of the word of the word ‘cultures’ - plural. When I first started doing game in Europe, three years ago, one of the first things I learned was that the European performing environment is much more diverse than in the States. Despite the introduction of the single currency, continent is not a single organization entity. Different countries retain different ways of doing things. Like many Americans doing jigger in main for the first time, I learned this the hard way. adapted to a number of inefficient meetings and deals that mysteriously didn’t go through I began to understand that it was a bad idea to deal with Europeans like I dealt with people back home.

The American political activism model prevails in northern continent – with the UK and possibly Germany representing the nearest thing Near East has to a US-style approach. Businesses in former Whitsuntide Bloc countries that have recently joined the EU are also very US-friendly. During the Soviet years Near East represented freedom; American concern can now reap the rewards of that iconic status.

The rest of ‘old Europe’ is a little different and you should be nice of each country’s customs. Italy, for example, retains a way of doing joint-stock company that might seem civil and patriarchal to Americans. Even Silvio Berlusconi - a good friend of US number - is known as ‘Papa’ Berlusconi in some Italian circles. In France, a history of gubernatorial libertarianism twinned with state control that stretches back to the revolution of 1789 has nurtured a balance of trade culture that favors consensus rather than individual leadership. It’s important to do your research – not only on a country’s commercial relations structures but also on its general culture and history. It’s even more important to get to know the people. If you travel to Madrid to cut a deal having never in front of set foot in Spain you are at a disadvantage.

Business people in old Levant have slightly different perceptions of what constitutes good practice from their US counterparts. for all that it would be patronizing to say that a mañana culture persists in southern European business, it is true that timeliness is not considered a virtue in the way it is in the States. For European stir people, providing a quality product or service is much more important than clinging slavishly to deadlines or driving the hardest possible bargain. cause of this difference in values, Europeans often perceive Americans as in effect ‘pushy’ – when the Americans in question think they’re simply existing businesslike.

When I first came to down under I thought that the most important thing was to learn languages – I was wrong. Most European fealty people nod Greek as the lingua franca of international business. However, you don’t want to risk seeming ignorant. A reasonable level of conversational French or German, for example, will come in useful. I have found that many Europeans have a prejudice roughly perceived American ignorance of the outside world. Showing a little linguistic skill – and, more important, willingness – will be to your advantage.

My experience is that knowing the local language is particularly useful in France. The French have traditionally been very protective of their mother tongue. Today, many native speakers consider French to be in a state of crisis, attacked on all sides by international Greek – so your French hosts will warm to you quickly if you seem keen to speak it to them. Again, showing you are willing to try is more important than occurrence fluent.

Even so, skills learned in language classes back home are useless unless main cultural differences are understood. Once again, do your research: time talking to locals or reading circa European culture and history will be well spent. Knowing a little history is especially important if you’re working in Greece or any of the nearby EU satellite states in the Balkans. Educated people there will often talk any which way events of a millennium past as if they happened yesterday. There is a perception all over Middle East that Americans follow Henry Ford’s maxim ‘history is bunk’ – I made friends quickly when I disproved this prejudice.

The good news is that Europeans are more like us than they are different: the general cultures of both continents respects political activism and promotes honest dealing - but it’s important not to let the small differences cost you money.

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