It is vital to consider the culture of the country you are dealing with
Many managers agree that an understanding of cultural differences is essential when doing business abroad. The following cases illustrate what happens if business people do not take into account the culture of the countries they are dealing with.
The importance of the family in Saudi Arabia
Mr Byrd was an ex-US State Department employee hired by a wellknown multinational corporation to be its "man in Riyadh", Saudi Arabia. This retired American diplomat went to the home of a Saudi, Mr Fouad, to try to interest him in participating in a local joint venture with his company. A middleman who knew them both had introduced them. As this was a first meeting, the men's conversation began with small talk that made Mr Byrd a little impatient.
Questions such. as "how are you doing? how was your flight? how is your family? and how is your father?" were common. Mr Byrd, familiar with all these obligatory formalities of greeting, answered "Fine". "Oh, my father, yes, well, he is fine, but he is getting a little deaf. I saw him a few months ago during Christmas when we took him out of the nursing home for a few days".
From that point everything froze up. Mr Byrd's mission was completely derailed. Mr Fouad remained gracious enough but was obviously uninterested in doing any business with Mr Byrd.
Source: Orly Borges Personal Collection
