Nordic Culture, Scandinavian Culture and Swedish Culture
Nordic Culture, Scandinavian Culture, and Swedish Culture One or None? Is this One Region? Americans crossing the Atlantic often say they're going to "Europe" thinking it's all the same over there. And they are, but as we Europeans know, Europe is one continent but...
How to Shake Hands in Other Cultures
How to Shake Hands in Other Cultures; To Kiss Bow or Shake Hands How often do you kiss if that's the way you greet each other? In Belgium, it is once. In the Netherlands, it is three times. In the USA you air-kiss (kissing when only the cheeks touch if at...
Most Common Cultural Diversity Mistakes; 9 Signs You’re Not Getting It
The Most Common Cultural Diversity Mistakes These are the most common cultural diversity mistakes we'll cover in this article: The lumberjack syndrome You Think We're All the Same They Don't Get It (but you do) I Just Don't Understand Them Everyone is Online...
Democracy and Cultural Diversity
Democracy and Cultural Diversity This writing is an attempt to explain, from a cultural point of view, why Democracy is not a World Universal "thing". Democratic elections in Pakistan, Russia, Afghanistan, Burma? The list is far from complete. In the western world, we...
Humor in Different Countries
In a previous post on Humor in Different Countries (2012), I tried to make a point about humor not being culturally neutral. (Click here to read it). I don't think there are many people who will disagree with the above point. In order to illustrate the...
The Good Assumption in International Business
The term ‘economics’ comes from the Ancient Greek oikos, which means ‘house’, and nomos, which stand for ‘custom’ or ‘law’. In other words, economics is really a social science about the ‘rules of the house'. Macroeconomics, microeconomics, business economics,...
Trust in International Business (but Verify)
The phrase ‘Trust but Verify’ was emphatically used by former US President, Ronald Reagan during his dialogues with Michael Gorbachev, then-leader of the Soviet Union. Reagan picked up the phrase from an American writer called Suzanne Massie, who told him that...
American Stereotypes in International Business
In terms of stereotyping the inhabitants of an entire nation, I can’t think of people who are more subject to be boxed in than Americans. I will leave the classic clichés aside as they do not provide any meaningful insight or are simply not true. However, I think it...
The most common mistake in international business
Are you a good driver? Do you do a decent job at the sport you like to play? Can you determine whether a joke is a good joke? Of course, it is all relative, because even if you think that you’re not particularly good at these things, surely it has crossed your mind...
