For an international business person or business traveller, doing business in foreign countries brings with it cross cultural challenges. Understanding a country's business culture, protocol and etiquette is important in establishing good business relationships.
This guide to doing business in Latvia offers some introductory points to some of the above mentioned areas such as business culture and etiquette. It is not intended to summarise all 'doing business tips' nor meant to stereotype. Rather, it highlights some important key areas for consideration when doing business in Latvia.
Meeting and Greeting
When doing business in Latvia handshakes are the custom it's important that you shake hands with everyone when you enter a meeting. It is not uncommon for individuals who are already acquainted to share a brief embrace, or, a kiss on the cheek.
As soon as the handshakes are over, it is custom for individuals who are not already acquainted to exchange business cards. It is recommended that you have one side of your business card translated into Latvian.
It is good manners to address someone with their professional or academic title if they have one. If not, then you should apply the relevant honorific title of 'Kungs' to address a male and 'Kundze' to address a woman.
Although business casual is becoming more acceptable in Latvia, formal business dress is still the norm. Men are advised to wear a dark suit whilst women are advised to wear either a suit or, a conservative dress.
Communication
When doing business in Latvia you will notice that Latvians are not particularly emotive speakers and they are sometimes perceived by non-Latvians as being cold or austere on the first meeting. They are also fairly reserved and do not have a problem with 'awkward silences'.
Latvians are extremely courteous in their communication and perceive interrupting others as bad manners. It is important therefore, that you give meeting attendees ample time to complete what they are saying before speaking.
Latvians are fairly direct in their communication and will often 'say what they mean'. However, they will also moderate what they say to avoid potential offence. When doing business in Latvia you should follow suit therefore, and ensure that you do not say anything within either the confines of the meeting or outside the meeting which could be perceived as critical of another individual.
It is also the norm in Latvia not to furnish speech with non essential information. You many notice therefore that Latvian meeting attendees become irritated if you add unnecessary information into your speech and fail to speak succinctly and to the point.
Meetings and Negotiations
The Latvian meeting is a fairly formal affair and agendas are followed throughout. The most senior Latvian attendee will typically make an opening speech which should then be followed by a speech from the most senior member of your visiting party. He / She will then take the lead in directing the meeting and overseeing the decision making process. Since decision making comes from 'the top', this can sometimes make the process fairly lengthy.
Latvians often use time as a negotiation tactic and it is recommended therefore that you are cautious in respect to making it known if you are under any time constraints as they may use this to their advantage.
Before doing business in Latvia ensure your proposals are backed up with materials which summarise and rationalise your proposals. This material should be purely relevant and succinct. It should also be translated into Latvian.
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