Technological advancement has had such a huge
effect on our ability to conduct business on a global scale. Wiith Skype and VoIP services such as Packet8, along with the old reliables such as
email, the Internet and blogs, surely there's nothing to stop us conducting great business with potential clients/customers from around the world? This technology makes it an almost perfect world except for the
international time zones! Since I regularly work with people from around the globe, and, at times produce a live show
from one side of the great Atlantic to a
studio on the other side of that vast ocean, the time difference is the one major
drawback in doing international business. In fact, iIt's possibly the one thing I’d like some genius to change. But I guess
that's not likely to happen any time soon!
Outside of the time thing, there's another aspect of global business
that every aspiring entrepreneur should know about. And that's cultural
etiquette. You may well have the killer proposal, but the difference between
winning and losing your much sought after contract could come down to something as simple as an everyday
gesture. Just as you're about to sign on the dotted line, in an act of enthusiasm you make the OK gesture (fore-finger to thumb!) and in that single moment
the deal collapses. Then you might just regret that you didn’t take the culture test or listen to the following interview!
In the following interview we speak to Dean Foster,
an international expert on intercultural and cross cultural training, as he takes us through the
dos and don'ts of doing business abroad.