How Cultural Conflicts May Arise in International Business with ValueMags

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ValueMags understands that there are many effects of cultural differences in international business. As iterated in the previous question, individuals, corporations, and governments should do their research and understand the cultures they are working with. In some cases however, they don’t and it is essential that negotiations to come learn from the mistakes of past negotiations.

Some of the issues that can rise when doing international business are all related to miscommunication and misunderstanding. They include: not appreciating cultural values, not dressing to a cultures expectations, communication with wrong gestures, misunderstanding languages, and having different expectations.

Firstly explains ValueMags, communication problems in terms of cultural values can often cause issues. For instance, in Latin America, business and political figures will communicate a lot by using facial expressions and a lot of tone and variations in their voices. When doing business with them, Europeans and Canadians need to understand that they are not being loud to be arrogant but rather loud because that’s how they are taught to communicate by their society and culture.

Secondly, certain cultures have very strict dress codes for how they are to dress in professional situations. In North American corporate offices, it is essential that individuals, man or woman, be ideally dressed in black and white. Acceptable colours are blue and grey. Unacceptable colours are red because it demonstrate inferiority. However, in latin cultures, red is a vibrant colour that al individuals are encourage to wear.

Thirdly, most international business conflicts arise in face to face encounters. These face to face encounters between politicians and business people include salutations and welcoming, negotiations, and all kinds of gestures. These gestures are what can often make or break and international business meeting. More importantly says ValueMags, conflicts between countries usually take place when there is a difference in priorities. For example, Canada wants to expand their exports in the minerals and mining industry whereas Mexico wants to expand their exports in their agricultural sector. Canada does not want to take in the expansions of Mexico’s agricultural products but expects Mexico to accept theirs. The differences in priorities may cause tensions.

Thus, it is important that countries and nations collaborate when negotiating to find a common ground where both parties will win. This includes understanding that the customs in each country are different. They should remain open minded about other culture’s values while staying true to their cultures.

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