Dr Barbara West is co-founder and Director of Training at Culture Works, based in Melbourne , Australia.
What is the nature of your business?
Providing consultation and training in all areas of intercultural communication. We are also heavily involved in research in this area and are currently working on two publication projects: one on Australian workplace culture and the other on the peoples and cultures of Asia and Oceania .
What are your company’s competitive advantage(s)?
All of our trainings are custom designed to suit the exact needs of our clients. Whether you are sending a manager and her family to China for a three-year posting or are outsourcing your company’s IT to India or Malaysia , we work with you to create the specific training program you need to get the most out of every international interaction. In addition, we can design trainings to suit all levels of intercultural sensitivity and competence, from beginners who are hiring their first overseas employees to expatriates with many years of experience living internationally.
Our academic background means that clients have access to the most up-to-date intercultural resources and research when they come to us with a project. Our training is based on decades of research that has been scientifically verified and experientially confirmed by thousands of people all over the world. Our country studies draw from the most contemporary data and research available.
We have trainers and researchers from both Australia and the USA to provide clients with an insider’s view of both countries. In addition, our people have lived and worked in such diverse places as the UK , Germany , Hungary , Turkey and a number of countries in East Africa . They have also taught degree level courses on such places as Vietnam , China , Japan , Guatemala and Liberia . This wide range of experience allows our trainers to provide you with the right information for a successful overseas business venture.
We have the academic background to back up our state of the art content but at the end of the day our training is about having fun in a highly interactive, stimulating environment. We don’t talk down to our clients. We meet them right where they’re at, building on existing competencies and introducing new ones. We’ve received awards for teaching excellence and genuinely love what we do.
How does your company help companies to achieve business success overseas?
It is critical to understand and enjoy the cultural aspects of doing business. We help people to see what cultural differences exist and provide strategies for engaging with them. This means improving cultural self-awareness and intercultural communication skills, which then leads to depersonalising the frustration of cultural differences, fostering, maintaining and deepening relationships with others, managing expectations and getting on with the business of international business.
What cultural factors must a company consider when attempting to expand offshore?
Begin with the systemic aspects of your offshore site and learn about their history, as well as their political, social, economic and legal systems. Learn a few words of the language even if they speak English well or you will be using a translator. Make sure you are clear about the favoured communication and negotiation styles, as well as the relative importance of hierarchy, orientation to time and degree of formality of everyone participating in the negotiation process, including yourself. A sure way to jeopardise your overseas expansion is to stand by the belief that your overseas partners’, brokers’ or translators’ ability to speak English means that you do not need to prepare yourself for extremely different communication styles and channels, social structures and cultural expectations for behaviour. The differences between the linear and direct styles of communication favoured in the west and the contextual and indirect styles favoured in much of Asia are enormous. Not understanding these nuances has led many westerners to misinterpret and misjudge their counterparts elsewhere, and vice versa.
How different/difficult is it to negotiate transactions in other countries, as opposed to the domestic market? Give examples.
The failure rate for international joint ventures is between 50% and 80%. As this figure shows, it can be extremely difficult for overseas companies to negotiate the various levels and types of transactions in other countries. Cultural differences lead to different expectations at all stages of these transactions, from team meetings to large scale mergers and joint ventures.
One difference that causes many businesses significant frustration and even failed international relationships is the vastly different approaches to time held by different cultures. An Australian doing business in China must learn that meetings scheduled for 2 pm may not get started until 6 pm , after a tour of the city and all of its important historical and cultural sites. Also, factor in time for a dinner banquet that may last for many hours. For the Australian this can seem like a waste of time and a frustrating diversion from getting down to business. But for the Chinese, these activities indicate a desire to establish a relationship of trust and longevity, which takes time.
Different orientations to time can also lead to far more serious problems than just frustration over missed meeting times and late evenings. The former US energy giant Enron’s mid-90’s foray into the Indian market with local subsidiary Dabhol Power Company was disastrous because of the very different cultural expectations for the length and nature of the contract negotiations. On the US side, Enron executives were concerned with getting the contract signed as quickly as possible, which they achieved. However, on the Indian side, the Maharashtra state government came under intense criticism from its own people for the haste with which it entered the deal and the perception that local interests had been ignored, sold or simply left unprotected by this haste. The deal was ultimately cancelled because of the Indian concerns. Thus Enron’s interest in speed and inability to adapt to the cultural expectations of appropriate time frames held by their Indian partners cost them millions of dollars.
What general advice would you give to a company that is expanding their business overseas for the first time?
Three things. First, use local mediators, informants, partners and/or brokers whenever possible. No matter how comfortable you are with the local language and culture, you cannot beat the experience of local knowledge and the good will you will gain from this association. And remember that local really means local, not just national. There are vast differences between doing business in different regions of the USA , China , Japan , Germany , the UK and most other countries. Bringing a Texan with you to negotiate a deal in New York or Los Angeles may be as disadvantageous to you as doing the deal yourself. The differences between Tokyo and Osaka can be as distinct as those between Melbourne and London .
Second, do as much preparation as you think humanly possible in terms of research and training. And then do some more. Many companies prepare themselves fully for the finance, sales, marketing, logistics, supply chain, etc. sides of their overseas business experience, but fail anyway. Having never thought to learn a few words of the local language or find out about local holidays, customs and history these companies are perceived in many parts of the world as trying to continue the arrogant, colonial relationships of the past. This perception, whatever the reality, is one sure way of making your overseas expansion much more difficult than it need be, if not impossible. Get some training in both communication styles and in understanding the specific social structures of the country and region in which you hope to engage in business. A few thousand dollars in training can lead to millions of dollars (or more) in profit later on.
Finally, go in to it with genuine curiosity and openness to learn. Think of the vast array of opportunities not only in terms of dollars and cents but also in terms of the rich life experiences to be had. We’ve had clients relocate with their families to Asia giving their children an international education and new languages. That’s a competitive advantage few will be able to match in future job markets.
Thank you, Barbara, for your time.