Riding the Waves of Culture : Understanding Cultural Diversity in Business

Many managers understand that cultural differences affect the process of doing business, but many underestimate by just how much. This book aims to dispel the idea that there is only one way to manager and encourages readers to get to know their own culture before doing business with others. The author explores the cultural extremes and the incomprehension that can arise when doing business across cultures - even when people are working for the same company. The book explains that there are five key factors or orientations that affect how people all deal with each other, do business and manage. The goal is the "transnational organization" - one in which the company can take from each country what is best, and for those who are sensitive to these differences, the opportunities are enormous. With many practical examples and case studies, this book brings insights to the dilemma of reconciling corporate consistency with local conditions as business life rapidly internationalizes. In 1991 Fons Trompenaars was awarded the International Professional Practice Area Research Award by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD). Publisher description: "As U.S. organizations continue to explore overseas business opportunities, they will be challenged to adapt to the new market's local characteristics, legislation, fiscal regime, sociopolitical environment and cultural system. Riding the Waves of Culture shows international managers how to build the skills, sensitivity, and cultural awareness needed to establish and sustain management effectiveness across cultural borders. This revised edition is updated with new research and statistics. More than an encyclopedia of cultures and customs, this essential guide: * Describes successful and failed cross-cultural business transactions of multinational organizations such as AT & T, Heineken, Motorola and Volvo * Offers techniques managers can use to anticipate and mediate some of the difficult dilemmas of international management * Uses country-by-country graphs, examples, and other comparisons to illustrate how different cultures regard and respond to various management approaches * Includes a CD-ROM of graphs, charts, and exercises to help readers evaluate their effectiveness as a global manager " Peter Allison works as a safari guide in the Okavango Delta. In this oasis of wetland in the middle of the Kalahari desert, he caters to the whims of his wealthy clients. This work is filled with true tales of the people and animals he has encountered. It also includes essential wisdom like "Don't run,whatever you do".