GUIDE’s KEY CONTENT
WHAT MATTERS IN BUSINESS ?
The guide reviews in each business culture twelve features that have a direct and profound influence in the way people conduct business.
COVERING THE WHOLE PLANET
The guide aims at covering most zones and countries where business is taking place.
Its goal is also to remain simple and practical.
Instead of reviewing about 200 regions or states it hence designates families of countries with similar business cultures, sharing more common patterns than differences.
This is not only a gain of time; this permits a wider geographical coverage as most countries in the world can be related to one group.
There are some exceptions though. In Turkey the business culture is a kind of hybrid made up of Latin, Slav and Arab influences. Slav norms largely penetrate the business culture in Central Asian countries along with Arab and Asian inclinations. The Arab influence is predominant in Iran with some Asian business culture patterns.
This classification somehow follows linguistic and religious borders but not entirely. Quebec in Canada and French speaking Switzerland, have a thoroughly Anglo-Saxon business culture. Greek is not a Latin language while the business culture is, in this Orthodox country. Romanian is a Latin language whereas the business culture is definitely Slav.
The diversity of Asia is challenging, with considerable disparities between India and Japan, China and Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam etc. Manifest Asian patterns are however plentiful in all these business cultures and this grouping bears no geopolitical implications. Arab and Sub-Saharan African business cultures also display numerous similarities with their Asian counterpart.