In a global economy, it’s a mistake to assume that negotiation strategies are a one-size- fits-all proposition. Understanding the culture of the parties you are negotiating with is vital in order to establish a successful business
relationship.
“Negotiation relies so much on the ability to read a situation and adapt on the fly to the cues that are there,” says David Livermore, executive director of the Global Learning Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., and author of “Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success.”
With increasing globalization, cultural intelligence becomes only more critical to business success. Livermore points to a study done by The Economist which found that 90% of executives from more than 60 countries said cross-cultural leadership was their top management challenge . “It’s important for any business individual from support services all the way up the chain, but especially for a leader who is trying to figure out how do we strategize to remain competitive in a global economy. … A leader in particular has to be able to adapt on the fly,” he says.
The following ideas and academic institutions demonstrate the extraordinary educational experiences that are attainable today. As practical experiences, says Dubberke, they best describe the modern, globally-minded professional. In any industry, it is essential to know that an international education is more valuable than ever before.
By Sean Dubberke
Of the many credentials that professionals, experienced or otherwise, exhibit on their résumés and curricula vitae, “global mindset” is not spelled out in the same obvious ways as Ph.D. and vice president. Because it is no simple task to determine the global competency of various candidates, HR practitioners and global mobility professionals require a framework to understand the cultural aptitudes individuals need to thrive in multicultural environments as, among others, new hires, project managers, and international assignees.
What Is a Global Mindset?
Today, an education that allows you to be competitive in the workplace increasingly is about developing a global mindset through studying abroad or collaborating with and learning about people from other cultures. First, what is a global mindset?
Recent research from the Worldwide ERC® Foundation for Workforce Mobility and the Thunderbird School of Global Management, “Global Mindset Defined,” explains it as, “a mix of individual attributes that enable [someone] to successfully influence those who are different from him/her.”
International experience and education no longer are value-added qualities but, rather, are prerequisites for success in the global marketplace. Cultural awareness and cultural knowledge are crucial to being successful in global business, which is why international degree programs are perfect for the development of these assets.
“A global mindset allows you to recognize marketplace opportunities, manage and motivate diverse employees, and tap into a range of alternative ideas about how to run your business so that cultural hurdles don’t take you far off course,” state Charlene M. Solomon and Michael S. Schell in their new book, “Managing Across Cultures: the Seven Keys to Doing Business With a Global Mindset.”
For a long time, Kraft Foods Inc., the second-largest international food company by revenue, struggled to make headway in Asia-Pacific, the world’s most populous region.
“The top line [revenue] was sluggish, profits were under squeeze. And critically, we didn’t have a strategic direction,” says Pradeep Pant, Kraft’s president for Asia-Pacific. “There was a lot of activity, a lot of churn, but not much impact.”
Kraft’s operating profit in Asia-Pacific between 2001 and 2007 was “slightly negative.” But starting in 2008, operating profit in the region has grown at a double-digit rate. The company doesn’t break out Asia-Pacific performance figures, but Kraft’s global net income in the second quarter jumped 11% to $827 million from $745 million in the year earlier period; sales fell 5.9% to $10.16 billion in the quarter.
The turnaround prescription in the region had several critical elements, including Kraft’s $7 billion acquisition of French company Groupe Danone’s global packaged baked-goods business in 2007. (Last week, Kraft’s latest major expansion effort, a $16.73 billion bid for Cadbury PLC of Britain, was rejected. Kraft said it would continue its quest, which would create a global food giant.) Another key “game changer” was that “we gave people close to the point of action the power to take decisions,” says Mr. Pant, who was ap
pointed to his role in January 2008. Also crucial was instilling a “mindset of risk-taking, people willing to experiment.”
That experimentation extended to altering product formulations to suit local tastes. For instance, when Kraft’s research showed that Chinese consumers found Oreo cookies too sweet, “we toned down the sugar, whereas the Indonesian version is definitely sweeter than the Chinese product.” As a result, he says, Oreo is now the best-selling packaged cookie in China.
At Kwintessential we like to think big, to think new and to think in a way that benefits our website visitors. Over the past few weeks our Kwint-techies have been working away creating the latest addition to our suite of online tools and resources.
Let’s re-cap what we already offer to the world wide web for absolutely free:
For more of our tools and resources visit the Culture Vulture who will give you an intercultural tip for the day and show you around the things we offer.
We are now proud the announce the launch of Kwint-Vision. Essentially we are building a library of free online videos for our visitors. All the videos fall under the umbrella of our interest - cross cultural communication. We hope you will be pleased with the new resource. To visit simply click the logo below!
“The only thing we deliver or are trying to deliver to our guests is satisfaction . . . we have nothing else…In our business, no excuse is accepted when something goes wrong…”
Koichi Satoh
President and General Manager, Hotel Okura
One of the common complaints I hear from Japanese folks about American customer service is that when Americans break a promise, rather than apologizing they make excuses. This is more a gap in cultural expectations than an indictment of American manners. And it begs some questions:
Why are Americans so uncomfortable apologizing?
Why is it that when confronted with criticism, many Americans tend to get defensive?
And why would the Japanese be any different?
American behavior is driven to a large degree by how Americans define the concept of responsibility within the context of a society that values individualism. So back to the first two questions: why are Americans uncomfortable apologizing and why so defensive? The answer is that the mere act of apologizing in America is often interpreted as an admission of personal (read “individual”) guilt. After all, someone’s got to accept responsibility. No surprise that no one wants to step forward and assume the burden of responsibility as it can wreak havoc on one’s reputation or career. For this reason, when Americans give “reasons” for making a mistake they are, more often than not, on the defensive–victims of circumstance outside of their control. No one told me about the schedule change! And so on.
You are invited to submit a proposal for an innovative intercultural training idea or model for inclusion in a new intercultural training resource. PURPOSE
Many intercultural training activities and models have been used now for the past 30 years. This resource aims to highlight innovative activities and models that can be used in intercultural training. Innovative here is defined either as an entirely new and original way of engaging participants around intercultural themes and/or creative adaptations of concepts/activities from other fields. POSSIBLE TOPICS
We welcome you to submit for consideration your latest and greatest idea for working with culture, in one of two formats:
1. Training Activities – be it icebreakers, exercises and activities, simulations, case studies, role plays, games, or other types of creative training activities that you have created or discovered and that are highly effective.
2. Creative Alternatives for Culture Concepts - be it new models, analogies, pictures, processes, proverbs, quotes, cartoons, or other interesting and visual approaches to helping people understand culture concepts.
These can include the use of technology, face-to-face delivery , etc. GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION
The less common, the more original, the more creative, and the more effective–the better.
If you thought of it yourself, great.
If you borrowed or adapted it from somewhere else (e.g. another field, another colleague, that’s fine too, just cite your sources).
If you have one idea or a dozen to contribute, please contribute as many as you wish. SUBMISSION PROCESS
The deadline for submitting your ideas is September 1st, 2009.
The best way to submit is online. For further instructions and a link to the submission form, go to:
http://www.culturosity.com/CallforProposals_InnovativeTraining.html
If you have difficulty submitting online, you can email Kate Berardo (kate@culturosity.com) and Dr. Darla K. Deardorff (darlad@email.unc.edu).
The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy 2009 will bring together a diverse group of participants from across the world for a weeklong program of lectures, panel discussions and social events that will look at the role of soft power in contemporary international relations. The speakers during the week will be experts and leading figures from politics, academia, and the private sector. The participants of the Symposium include students, young professionals, senior academics and diplomats, who will have the chance to consider the future of soft power and cultural diplomacy with fellow participants and leading authorities. In the evenings the participants will have the opportunity to network in social events, enjoy live music and entertainment and to explore Berlin’s vibrant nightlife.
Program
The International Symposium comprises a weeklong program of panel discussions and lectures in different locations across Berlin. Each component will be followed by an interactive question and answer session with the speaker. This structure enables the participants to hear a range of informed perspectives on the issues under discussion and then raise issues they feel are important for further consideration.
During the evenings the ICD will organise activities and events that will allow the participants to experience Berlin, network and socialise with other participants and the Symposium speakers, and discuss the topics raised during the day.
Symposium Themes
The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy will look at the role of soft power in the international environment and will focus on five related themes:
* The approaches of states and international organisations to soft power and the role it plays in their policy making
* The importance of multi-lateral understanding to cooperation on global challenges
* The role of cultural diplomacy in relations between the Western world and the Middle East
* The challenges and opportunities of using art and culture as vehicles of national foreign policy
* The influence of the private sector in the generation and application of soft power
To explore these themes thoroughly from both theoretical and practical perspectives we have selected expert speakers from the fields of academia, politics, and the private sector. We will hear from individuals with experience in prominent international organisations, including the United Nations, the African Union, the North-Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and the European Union, as well as politicians and former politicians who have played instrumental roles in the development and application of foreign and national policies.
The Symposium speakers will also include professors and academics who have been at the forefront of international relations theory over the past two decades and who have played key roles in pioneering and developing the related concepts of soft power and cultural diplomacy.
The ICD is proud to announce the following as a selection of our speakers:
• Jorge Sampaio, UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Former President of Portugal (1996-2006)
• Joaquim Chissano, Former President of Mozambique (1986-2005), Former Chairperson of the African Union (2003-2004)
• Dr. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, Former President of Latvia (1999-2007)
• Cassam Uteem, Former President of the Republic of Mauritius (1992-2002)
• Dr. Vasile Puşcaş, Romanian Minister for European Affairs
• Ints Dālderis, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Latvia
• Dr. Erkki Tuomioja, Member of Parliament and Former Foreign Minister of Finland (2000-2007)
The British are known culturally for many things, one of them “reserve”. Reserve relates to the general disinclination to show emotion, feelings or to act in any way that could be viewed as slightly off-centre. The cultural concept heavily correlated with the sense of privacy the British hold.
As a result of British reserve you will note that language is heavily tempered and gestures are restrained. Neutrality and diplomacy in communication are seen as necessary components of courtesy. British reserve does not mean that Brits are boring, lifeless and unemotional. It simply means that in British society people are trained from school-age to be self-contained and not to be open emotionally.
A biennial conference on the interculturalcommunication between China and the world opened here on Friday.
Titled “Intercultural Communication between China and the World: Interpersonal, Organizational and Mediated Perspectives,” the 8th China Association for Intercultural Communication (CAFIC) Intercultural Conference aims to enhance the mutual understanding between China and the world as well as the teaching and studying of the subject.
This year’s conference is co-hosted by the Intercultural Studies Center of the School of English and International Studies at Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
The three-day conference will cover more than 100 topics, including intercultural competence, intercultural identity, organizational communication and China’s image as well as the overseas Sinology study.
The business set up in the Philippines is hierarchical. Interculturalmanagement needs to take into account the need to maintain a formal manner and pay strict attention to titles, positions, and hierarchical relationships. Expect to find many gatekeepers whose job is to protect the schedule of and limit access to the ultimate decision maker. In this relationship-driven culture, you will find it easier to make the proper contacts if a third party who already has a relationship with the decision maker makes the introduction.
Filipinos avoid behaviors that would make either party lose face. This leads to an indirect communication style, so carefully watch facial expressions and body language. This is a country where a smile may mean many different things, not all of them positive.
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