Introduction

Due to the social democratic nature of Austrian culture, employees are much less motivated by financial incentives than in more capitalist countries such as the United States.  As such, alternative methods need to be utilized in order to change employee behavior.

Historically, there are two proven ways to motivate employees in such circumstances: non-financial incentives and leveraging social status.  Austrians generally emphasize family life and believe in “working to live” rather than “living to work.”  As such, incentives that allow employees to spend more time with their families and improve their life/work balance are the most effective way to provide motivation.

In addition to explicit incentive systems, Austrians are frequently intrinsically motivated by social status.  By creating a social hierarchy that can be climbed through accomplishing specified goals and objectives, cultural change can be adopted over time.

Establishing better external relationships with customers can be accomplished by focusing on leveraging an understanding of Austrian culture.  Traditionally, sellers who engage in hard selling practices are seen as desperate; as such, it is important to educate potential customer on the client’s services outside of ‘cold call’ sessions in order to drive demand.  Moreover, because customer interest is more likely to generate new business than modified selling practices in this atmosphere, it is imperative that the client delivers a clear and consistent message about product offerings to consumers.

Problem Description

The client is exploring avenues for generating increased sales revenue.  They have identified the social democratic country culture as an inhibitor to sales both internally and externally.  Internally, employees are not motivated to produce sales because they generally lack the confidence to leave their comfort zones, model those who are successful, and seek constant and never-ending improvement. Austrians try to fulfill goals to the best of their ability but never try to exceed them. Externally, employees are not proactive in building business relationships; the Austrian business culture is transactional.  It is customarily to simply react to current need; indeed, professionals identify themselves as technicians instead of salespeople.

Strategy One: Non-Financial Incentives

Research has shown that non-financial incentives can have equal effect on employee motivation when compared with standard financial incentive systems. In a society that does not allow for significant income disparity, non-financial incentives can play a key role in motivating employees to sell.

Non-financial incentives for employees include:

• Reserved preferred parking spaces
• Increasingly flexible work hours (e.g. late start)
• Additional vacation hours
• Reduced work hours on Fridays
• Free meals or gym membership
• Access to a company vehicle
• Tickets to popular events

The specifics of these incentives can be tailored to fit the available incentive budget.  In addition, management should query the employees to determine other areas of interest for future incentives.

Strategy Two: Public Recognition

In order to emphasize the desired corporate culture, recognition for high-performing employees should be public; moreover, attendance for public recognition events should be mandatory for all employees.  By providing such recognition, a social structure can be established that intrinsically motivates employees to perform and thus gain status.

Public recognition can be combined with non-financial incentives in order to establish a focused strategy for motivating employees to perform to their utmost.

Since the societal nature of Austrians promotes herding of people, there is a danger of social rejection if an employee is seen as different from the group. Hence, the employee must be perceived as being rewarded for contributing to the collective good.

Strategy Three: Teambuilding

When establishing culture change, it is critical that employees be comfortable with management so that they have confidence in the path forward and are not afraid to raise new ideas and objections, which can often be incredibly helpful to the process.  It also increases the likelihood that employees will “buy in” to the new culture.

In order to conquer the gap between both multi-national backgrounds and between management and employees, teambuilding events that mix cultures and job functions should be established.  The type of events can be tailored to the employees’ interests (e.g. lunches, company retreats, sporting events, or other activities).

Cross-functional collaboration between various service departments is essential for client to implement core mission value and transition from a service based company to a solutions based company.

Managers and employees must be educated on the various offering in other departments. Cross-functional team projects and activities will ensure that employees get to know their counterparts in other departments and understand the benefits of solutions based offerings.

Strategy Four: Building External Relationships

Building external relationships is an extremely difficult endeavor; however, ensuring emphasis on key areas can increase the likelihood of success.  The client should focus on the following areas:

• Ensure consistency and clarity in Marketing Communications (answer the “what” and “why” for consumers)
• Participate in nontraditional advertising events (e.g. community events with employee participation)
•  Emphasize to employees the power of building relationships through networks and connections (much preferred to ‘cold calling’ in Austrian culture)

Tribalism in Austria has historic roots. Austrians have always had to look after their own. This attitude is evident in their policies on welfare. If a foreign company does not have an effective conditioning program for new employees they revert to tribalism to preserve their identity. The employee would take risks on building an external network if it benefits the entity he associates with his group/tribe. The key here is identifying the entity be it his department, team or self and reward the entity. There are many ways to identify the entity.

• Leverage existing business partners to establish new relationships
• Identify key goals (e.g. arranging meetings with potential new customers) and align non-financial and public recognition incentives with them in order to increase employee motivation in building new relationships
• Work with employees to identify specific disconnects in external perceptions and internal product offerings, then utilize this information to focus marketing activities
• Further educate consumers through seminars, conferences, and other awareness events
• Approach customers on a level playing field and be straight forward and transparent

The Austrians respect transparency, honesty and openness. The customer believes that U.S. companies tend to push unnecessary services at premium rates. The client has to make sure that the customer has a clear idea about the services offered, rates charged and benefits gained. Avoid overselling and using American approaches to pitching to customer. Using references from past successful Austrian clients may be advantageous.

Finally, the culture drives people to be perfect. The Austrian will give 100% effort to meet the goal but he will never exceed it. The concept of delivering more than expected is not understood. Hence, the goals set should reflect this characteristic. Hard to reach goals may impact the morale of the employees by discouraging them and putting them on the defensive. A mistake is considered as a fault and not an opportunity to learn. For people who are afraid to make mistakes, their managers need to set their goals by defining specific actions and desired behavior. The effective way to change culture is not to change how people think, but instead to start by changing how people behave. If necessary, managers need to provide training to change their behavior. In Austrian culture, as people try to meet the goals, you can change their behavior by showing what they do and setting achievable goals. The culture will change as a result.

Prepared By: Aditya Chinnareddy, Deputy Director of Business Development at Universal Consensus, with Chris Mortham, and Yoriko Sakamoto

What it will take to sell post-Mubarak Egypt to foreign investors in view of serious problems facing Egypt’s economy these days?

The questions on everybody’s mind these days are:  How is the economy situation in Egypt? Is Egypt on the brink of bankruptcy or it awaits a bright future? Moreover, what it will take to sell post-Mubarak Egypt to foreign investors in view of problems facing Egypt’s economy these days?

Some optimistic experts and analysts go as far as to include Egypt in the second wave of emerging countries to achieve high growth rates, maybe even adding an E to the BRIC!

Yet, numbers do not lie. Finance numbers given by the government last month draw a negative picture of the economy, after real GDP rate reached 7 percent three years ago; it recorded 1.8 percent in 2011.  The IMF has estimated Egypt’s gross domestic product growth will pick up only slightly in 2012, to 1.8 percent after 1.2 percent last year and 5.1 percent in 2010. Some economists think the recovery could be much faster, however.  HSBC expects GDP to grow 2.7 percent in the current fiscal year to June, accelerating to 3.9 percent next year.

Egypt also lost its half hard currency reserve after it reached US$36 billion in Dec 2010; it is now only US$15 billion, enough for three months! Account balance recorded deficit of US$9.8 billion.

Private investments decreased to reach around US$ 5 billion during first quarter (2010/2011) compared to US$ 6 billion for the same period of 2009/2011 at rate of decrease of 20 percent.  Foreign debts increased by 3.9 percent reaching US$34.9 million. Current account balance recorded -US$9.8 billion. Gross Government Debt (% of GDP): 74.21 %.  Net FDI recorded for the first time a negative US$65 million during Jan- June 2011. Frequent protests resulted in fleeing of investors & tourists due to instability and violence.

Tourism sector a 9% of GDP recorded the worst number at -5.9% when compared to 2009/2010. The already weak job market is worsening by low GDP rates due to the economic and political climate. Unemployment expected to reach 3 million against 2.7million last year.

To summarize, numerous serious problems are facing Egyptian economy; high rates of unemployment and inflation, a growing national debt and shrinking tourism revenues and most importantly is the threat of fleeing foreign investment. The Egyptian economy heavily relies on foreign investment, with almost US$7 billion in annual inflows.

On the other side, some important numbers are painting a positive picture to the Egyptian economy; according to a study made by Dr. Heba Nasar, professor of Economy, some sectors did well during 2010/2011, for example, exports kept its upward direction and rose for the first time to approximately US$22 billion in 2011, an increase of 18.5 percent compared to 2010 levels with an increase of US$3.3 billion.

Imports recorded 8.1 percent rise when compared with -3.2 percent last year.  Suez canal revenues recorded a growth of 11.7 percent of achieved an 11.5% of real GDP.  IT sector recorded 6.7% of GDP.  Consumer spending which represent 4.7% of GDP recorded considerable growth as private and public consumption rose 5 percent and 38 percent respectively.

Other important numbers also appear as in general revenues which rose by 16.9 percent to mark US$ 27.7 billion, Salary tax rose by 14.4 percent to mark US$ 1.24 billion in the second half of 2011. This increase contributed to income tax revenues to increase generally by 9 percent, indicating increase in work force salaries in both public and private sectors, it also indicates a strong labor force as there has not been large scale layoffs.

Some major Egyptian companies have been performing much better than analysts predicted. Ezz Steel, the country’s biggest steel maker, reported its third-quarter net profit jumped to US$21million because of strong demand for its products.

Commercial International Bank, Egypt’s biggest privately owned bank by assets, saw its consolidated net profit fall 20 percent last year because of higher provisions against loan losses — not a disastrous drop during an economic slump.

Dr.  Waleed Helal, president of the Chemicals and fertilizers Exports council, gives other promising numbers and points out that 6 of the top 20 Egypt exports markets of are changing.  For Egyptian exports; South Africa is ranked number 5 at about US$ 1billion, exports to Turkey rose to  US$ 7 billion, doubling 2010 exports  figures and  exports to china is steadily growing .

Egypt Real estate market gets ready to boom with political stability

The outlook for real estate firms, a motor of the economy in the past decade, has brightened since a court ruling late last year ended a dispute over state land bought by Talaat Mustafa Group that had cast doubt over projects across the sector.

A leading property developer, SODIC, says it plans to step up investment this year and the Ministry of Housing is trying to kick-start activity by selling 8,000 plots of land around Cairo to Egyptians living abroad. “We are already seeing some evidence of increased activity in Cairo’s real estate market” said Ayman Sami, head of consultants Jones Lang LaSalle’s Egypt office, he added: “Continued certainty is a basic requirement for the economy to fully rebound.

Recent report published by Drake and Scull International, states that despite the current conditions and the consequence that is inflected on the real estate market there are some positive signs. CEO, Mr. Khadoun Altabri expects long term promising opportunities reaching out to all sector segments as population continue to increase at its normal rate of 2 percent yearly. He added that in view of low percentage of mortgages 0.4% of GDP, source of buying houses still are remains personal savings and selling of existing assets. He expects increased mortgage financing operations by banks during the coming periods on 8 percent average. It is also expected lending will stabilize by mortgage finance companies. It is also expected that the rate of real estate lending will stabilize at its normal rate of 7 percent. Larger growth in retail real estate and offices during coming years is also expected.

With this optimistic view of the real estate sector the report notice that real estate financing is currently very low  as it did not reach US$ 850 million in the last five years despite the fact that the total value of the market is estimated to be around US$6 billion a year. The reports confirm that the real estate sector will remain among the most active sectors in Egypt. Egypt need no less than 760,000 residential units produced but has reach only 200 000 units (excluding commercial, touristic and industrial needs).

A Coldwell Banker report claims the market has recovered by 40 percent which is a good percentage; real estate prices will witness an increase in the next few months and will witness considerable improvement.

FDI expert says Egypt has great potential in IT and Tourism sectors

According to Dave Robinson, an FDI expert and the CEO for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa with Hill & Knowlton, a global communications consulting firm “There are many compelling opportunities in Egypt, some of which are related to geography, logistics, a large work force (skilled and unskilled), fairly cheap or cost-effective labor compared to many other countries and some particular industries where Egypt has significant experience. The IT industry is one of them.  Egypt has got an increasing level of skill in programming, technology, and infrastructure. It’s becoming a hub for that in a very competitive global market place”.

“….Tourism will remain strong. The uprising made people concerned about travel to Egypt for personal safety and so on and so forth, but that is diminishing quickly, and hopefully as the economy restores itself to a position of stability and growth, there will be further investment in the tourism sector. Egypt has fantastic natural and historical assets, whether it is diving in Sharm el-Sheikh or spending the time on the coast in Alexandria or the history of the ruins and museums of Cairo. I am sure that will come back quickly”.

To conclude; Events in Egypt since January 2011, and the transition to democracy, have had a negative impact on the economy. Economists forecast that overall growth for FY 2011 will be around 3% rather than the 5.7% which had been expected.

According to Dave Robinson, “The important thing in any crisis situation is not to overreact or under react. The situation is clearly significant and I think truth is always the best solution in any economic crisis situation. The reality is that Egypt is a large economy; it has a very large work force. Also, there are very good, compelling investment opportunities in Egypt. There are also clearly some infrastructure problems and some policy problems in terms of capturing those opportunities and working on them”.

He added: “You need to significantly improve understanding of the realities of the economy in Egypt in the world. What many people internationally have been left with is, I think, the images on TV screens of Tahreer Square of demonstrations, the closed stock exchange, the country under military rule and so on and so forth because of the comparative lack of communication of the reality. I am here in Cairo, we are doing business, we are meeting clients, we are talking to media, and we are doing active business for clients. There is an economy functioning, people buying and selling goods and this reality needs to be communicated. Is it as good as it was six months ago or a year ago? Probably not! There are some things that have been affected by the revolution – the regime change and those things are going to take a little bit of time to stabilize – but the efforts to stabilize those things, identify where those problems are and communicating that will give people the confidence that things are being done”.

Conclusion

To summarize; economical growth and high GDP rates are tied to security, stability, trust of government economical and political policies, changing bankruptcy and exit policies and the end the political vacuum after the election of a president next June.  The transition government has placed a real emphasis on the need to accelerate economic reform alongside democratic developments and improve further the climate in Egypt for international investment.

Analysts are predicting a period of economic uncertainty for the next 6-9 months with a return to higher growth depending on stability and a return to civilian government. For international companies going to invest in Egypt, now is a time for assessing, performing due diligence, and looking closely at market developments in relation to a particular sector.

Mohamed Buhaisi

Cairo, Egypt

Mohamed Buhaisi is the Founder & Managing Director of Buhaisi Consulting International, LLC (www.bpc-egypt.com). Buhaisi Consulting International, based in Egypt and with presence in the MENA-region is a Strategic Alliance Partner of Universal Consensus.

The Concept of Personal Space in CHinese CUlture

Personal space in China is different therefore the level of discomfort is different too. You might find that if you take a step back, they will take a step closer to you. The Chinese population is the first thing that most people notice when they come to China. The population density in China has a great effect on what personal space means to people here.  In China, living space is close. Sometimes entire generations of families will be living together, eating, sleeping, working, and playing all in the same one room. These type of living conditions are not exclusive to China, but also other Asian countries like Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and various tribal regions. Through the years, as these close family communities migrated from field to city, the closeness of community togetherness and habits also moved to the cities. Perhaps differences in the concept of personal space also has to do with China’s communist and socialist influence.  Socialist history often revolves around a culture where space, work, basic functions of living and belongings are shared.  The socialist concepts based on the collective versus individual also have an influence on this topic.  In Asia there’s a much more collective and often family approach to doing thing, while in the US, there is a highly promoted individualistic culture.  Down time, alone time, and in your own space/place in the US is respected and expected.

Difference in China And America

In America, our personal boundaries are large.  In terms of distance, our idea of personal space roughly encompasses a radius of approximately 2.4 feet.  When people step into our space, we notice and start to feel uncomfortable unless it’s someone that we’ve invited into our space like a close friend. We are very aware of things that go on near us. Chinese people grow up in small houses, and study in crowded rooms. Their dorm rooms have 6-8 people in a space that usually fits 1-2 Americans.   To an American, this is a completely different world. There is not the same priority that Americans place on having our own space in between self and stranger.  Walking down the street, sitting on the bus, you are shoulder to shoulder with mass groups of people. In summary, Chinese people are more comfortable with up-close and personal interaction. Cultural practice changes take a long time to adjust to. This is the feeling of uneasiness that people from the suburbs feel when they walk into the crowded streets of the city, and coming to China multiplies this feeling tenfold. It’s incredibly interesting to see the differences in behavior that stems from simple proximity.

Are you engaged in or planning to do business in China? Universal Consensus will help you to succeed there and our Strategic Alliance Member at High Street Partners will help you get there. View this webinar for further insight into how to successfully do business in China.

By Jessica Chang, Universal Consensus

With more than 80 million members, the Chinese Communist Party is the largest party in the world. Simultaneously, the Chinese Communist Party holds absolute power, including power over the judiciary, the armed forces and intelligence apparatus, and State Owned Enterprises (SOEs). For Westerns doing business in China the Chinese Communist Party is largely invisible. While power is centralized at the top it is decentralized at local level; there is no total control; but if something is in the party’s interest it will most likely be implemented.

Chinese Democracy

“All power in the People’s Republic of China belongs to the people,” the People’s Republic of China constitution proudly proclaims. But Chinese democracy is defined (by a Party whitepaper) as, “Democratic government is the Chinese Communist Party governing on behalf of the people.” Only 5-10% of people applying are accepted into Party ranks, consequently, being accepted is seen as a status mark similar to an Ivy League education in the U.S. There are no direct benefits of membership – you pay a monthly fee (salary deduction) and have to submit two patriotic essays annually. The most ambitious, well-connected, and educated will be accepted. This has been a conscious CCP strategy to target the best and brightest. The Chinese Communist Party has transformed itself from a mass organization for workers mobilization to a “technocratic leadership corps”, according to Professor Jeremy Paltiel of Carleton University in Ottawa, a CCP expert.

The propaganda starts at an early age. The Party’s youth organization (7-14 year olds) outlines in their official mission statement, that their goal is to promote “indoctrination of children by cultivating [positive] feelings of the Party and the socialist motherland.” In the most comprehensive survey to date, when Mainland Chinese where asked how democratic their current system was, Chinese gave it 7.22 on a 10-degree scale – third in Asia and well ahead of Japan and South Korea. It is important to recognize that Chinese don’t necessarily strive for a Western governance model with a multiparty system – but rather freedom of information, improved rule of law and greater accountability for local officials.

Cultural Influence

In a collectivist culture like the Chinese, the one party system has worked remarkably well. Other influential cultural threads are the Chinese endurance and resilience as well as the society’s long-term orientation. Today, it is hard to see an alternative to the Chinese Communist Party. Mostly because so many of the most able people are now party members – more than one in ten of the urbanized (665 million) population is now a party member – there is no viable leadership alternative.

Not having to directly placate special interest groups or changing policy directions after an election has served the Chinese economy well. But while pressing issues may be addressed quickly there is a problem when SOEs need Party guidance in strategic issues. Although all Chinese SEOs have direct communication lines to top-level Party officials the decision process can be protracted, especially as decisions are made through somewhat lengthy internal consensus-building. Also, there has generally been a problem for Chinese SOEs to execute more complex financial maneuvers as the financial aptitude is lagging. But this is rapidly changing. One of the greatest assets of Chinese SOEs have been access to State owned bank funding. These banks are also directly or indirectly influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.

The Chinese Communist Party has cultivated an international non-intervention perception, but the Party is omnipresent. Officials’ loyalty is foremost to the Chinese Communist Party and keeping the current system in place, secondly to the State and the people. Hu Jintao is primarily Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (and Chairman of the Central Military Commission – just as important) and secondarily President of the PRC.

Five-Year Plan

China’s biggest dirty little secret is its 5-year plans. This is a fairly detailed insight into the Chinese Communist Party’s plans for the country. In a bureaucratic communist country where Party and State is almost one and the same, one thing is shore; plans are going to get implemented. The current 5-year plan was enacted in 2011. The plan outlines a range of sustainability- and equality-oriented policies growing out of the (socialist) “scientific development concept.” More specifically the plan will address these issues:

• Counter rising inequality and create an environment for more sustainable growth by prioritizing more equitable wealth distribution with increased domestic consumption, and improved social infrastructure and social safety nets
• Rebalance its economy, shifting emphasis from investment toward consumption and from urban and coastal growth toward rural and inland development – initially by developing small cities and greenfield districts to absorb coastal migration
• Enhance environmental protection, accelerate the process of opening and reform, and emphasize Hong Kong’s role as a center of international finance

The plan also outlines seven priority sectors:

• New energy
• Energy conservation and environmental protection
• Biotech
• New materials – rare earths and semiconductors
• New IT
• High-end equipment – telecom and aerospace
• Clean energy vehicles

Richard McGregor published the highly acclaimed The Party: the Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers in 2010 which is a great insight into how the party works. McGregor makes the acute observation that the Chinese Communist Party works very much like the Vatican, with arcane election procedures and absolute power. Moreover, the Chinese Communist Party largely functions on a Leninist-inspired structure.

Doing Business in China

Foreigners should be very conscious with which information they share. Locally engaged staff in China will be expected to deliver intelligence on your operations to the authorities if your business is perceived to be sensitive to Beijing’s broad definition of ‘national security’ – the Chinese intelligence community could pressure any ethnic Chinese (for example using travel privileges as leverage), even expats, to provide them with information. Finally, one should remember that two thirds of Chinese businesses (as percentage of GDP) are not owned by the State. This means that when engaging with small to mid-size companies, the Chinese Communist Party exercises no direct influence over your counterpart.

To keep up with recent development and get the best insight from leading experts, you should get involved with us and our partner SWENASIA. SWENASIA is a Swenson Advisors initiative; a network of expert firms that can give you a true competitive advantage when you leverage our knowledge to move ahead of the curve; taking advantage of opportunities in China while staying clear of common pitfalls. Universal Consensus is an international business development firm and a SWENASIA Strategic Partner.

By Andreas Fried and Jessica Chang, Universal Consensus

What is the single most important aspect for the long-term success of any hotel? Returning customers whose experience was so stellar that they vocalize it in the form of writing rave online-reviews and recommending the hotel to their network. As we know, this doesn’t happen when customer service is “satisfactory.” According to Bain & Company, approximately 80% of customers who take their business elsewhere characterize themselves as “satisfied” before switching to the competition. Deloitte found that 62% of customers read online reviews and 82% of those customers say purchase decisions have been directly influenced by the reviews. Similarly, dissatisfied customers are very costly. Statistically, 96% of unhappy customers never return and an average customer with a complaint tells 9 to 10 people.

So what is the key to transforming a guest’s stay from satisfactory to one which is outstanding enough to vocalize, simultaneously minimizing the risk for unhappy customers? The key is to understand the customer. Without understanding their customers, hoteliers will have a very hard time reaching them, convincing them, or deliver a superior experience, and hotels run the risk of making errors and lose business or generate unhappy customers. Successful hotels leaves a guest feeling appreciated, respected, and understood.

Changing Landscape

There was a time when international tourism was characterized by Western travelers going abroad, however, the rising disposable income in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, South-Korea, and Vietnam have changed the international tourism market. In the state of California alone, Chinese visitors spent US$2 billion in 2010, the most of all international visitors. The rise of the emerging market traveler is identified as the predominant trend in Deloitte’s Hospitality 2015 outlook.

The challenge for the Western hospitality industry is that guests from East Asia are considerably culturally diverse from Western guests. Remember, the key is to understand the guest. But in order to understand the emerging market traveler hoteliers need a framework for cross-cultural understanding.

If a hotel’s marketing message to Chinese prospects revolves around speedy service in a culture where agrarian rhythms run long and time is not of the essence, then it is sending a message that will not lead to bookings. If the sales department is using a hard sell in a culture where communication is finessed through indirect communication, the conversation will end almost as soon as it begins. If front desk staff is joking informally with guests who come from a hierarchal and formal society, a guest may lose “face”. Losing face is the worst thing that can happen to a Chinese traveler. In short – disaster.

Some hoteliers have the luxury of tailoring entire programs to accommodate Chinese travelers; Hilton Worldwide launched such a program (“Hilton Huanying”) last summer in 30 destinations. But most hotels would not opt for this solution; while all customers want cultural respect and appreciation, many seek more of an authentic local experience.

Framework for Understanding

Hoteliers that want to successfully attract Chinese guests should start by looking at Cultural Threads.  Chinese cultural threads are rooted in folk belief and Confucian values, for instance filial piety, thrift, perseverance, and trustworthiness. These values are deeply engrained in guests’ perceptions and expectations. One thing in particular that has caught the eye of hoteliers is Chinese concerns over having their own kind of food, especially for breakfast. For many Chinese an ethnically traditional breakfast acts as a “security blanket” of familiarity.

In East Asian cultures Communication is very subtle and indirect and thus, the direct style of Western communication can easily create serious offense, despite the best of intentions. The term “no,” for example, is rarely used in deference to more indirect methods of communicating. Failure to understand simple but subtle issues in communication may cause both the hotel staff member and the guest to lose “face.”

An understanding of Group Dynamics in the target culture, significantly impacts the sales process. In individualistic cultures, such as the United States, customers make most of their buying decisions individually, whereas in collectivistic cultures, decisions are significantly influenced by the group (family, extended family, network of friends and colleagues, and the community at large). In China or Korea, highly collectivist cultures, the hotel’s marketing collateral and sales process need to be targeted toward the group and not toward the individual traveler. Marketing collateral would depict a group rather than a solitary guest.

Time Orientation is an important aspect of hospitality that is often overlooked without a cross-cultural framework. Two-thirds of the world does not view time the way Westerners do.  While many of us see time as a limited commodity that must be carefully managed, many cultures do not see punctuality as a virtue above other.

A striking time difference between China and Western countries is the extreme long-term orientation of the Chinese culture. This long-term orientation materializes in several ways, Chinese are very economical; wastefulness is despised and value for money is paramount; but expenses such as children’s education and international experiences (which has long-term benefits) are prioritized.

Much to Do

East Asian tourists still prefer to travel within Asia.  A recent University of South Carolina study indicates that the U.S. is viewed as “unfamiliar” and “unsafe” by Chinese tourists. Therefore, the singular most significant area of optimization is increased cross-cultural understanding which will undoubtedly be crucial to bridging the gap between “here” and “home.”

Universal Consensus will make sure your marketing as well as your services are tailored to be successful in the new global tourism landscape. Contact us today for your complimentary evaluation to determine how we can help you succeed globally.

By Andreas Fried, Director of Business Development, Universal Consensus. This article was also published on eHotelier.com
 
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Sources:
Business Model of Intercultural Analysis (BMIA)©
Survey by Deloitte’s Consumer Products group (2007)
Bain & Company Survey (2010)
Deloitte rapport: Hospitality 2015: Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Trends (2011)
University of South Carolina: China-U.S. Comparison (2011)
 

That means YouTube videos need cross cultural appeal. For producers, that involves an emphasis on visual story telling enhanced by the one language everyone understands—emotion. Fortunately, video has no equal when it comes to delivering emotional impact. Our basic emotions are a part of the human nature we all share, regardless of language or nationality. Effective communicators know how to tap those emotions to drive their message home.

Video is the primary tool for personal impact, followed by the script, which helps explain to the audience what is happening. The less you need to rely on the script, the more cross cultural your video will become. That means an emphasis on creative storyboarding based on universal themes, and getting the job done visually without having to rely heavily on the script. And yes, it can make the process harder, and more time consuming. But if you’re willing to pay the price, you’ll be expanding your impact to engage a worldwide audience. After all, you’ll be speaking their language.

Using a consulting company like Universal Consensus can assure that your video product will have appeal in all countries, not just the country of origin. Contact us today for your complimentary evaluation to determine how we can help you succeed globally.

There are plenty of best practice tips for writing an international email. The three main rules are:

• Reduce ambiguity – be very clear and use shorter sentences
• Don’t use colloquial expressions (i.e., “You really hit that one out of the park.” “Can I touch bases with you.” “That one came out of left field.”)

When sending an international email you have to reduce the risk of being misinterpreted. The risk of being misinterpreted is already enhanced in emails as opposed to face-to-face communication; don’t increase the misinterpretation risk by sending unstructured or unclear in your international email. One may be inclined to think that a more complex writing style is a substantiation of intellect and hence a good thing, but in international emails you should aim for clarity.

• Be aware of the target culture’s communication context – chiefly how direct vs. indirect communication is in the target culture.

Many cultures, especially in Asia, are far more indirect in their way of communicating than their Western counterparts. You may need to read between the lines of what your counterpart is telling you and likewise, if you have information to convey that is in any way disapproving, you will need to be conscious of the losing “face” issues prevalent in many Asian cultures. Given the risk of the running afoul of “face,” include as few recipients as possible in your international emails. While in Western cultures we might throw in a couple of VPs in the email loop to put pressure on the recipient, this could be detrimental in a high context culture, as relationships can get ruined if the counterpart loses face in front of senior people (and especially their boss).

• Finally, Always be more formal than in your native culture.

Even though you might have corresponded with a person for a substantial time it is never advisable to get too informal. Most foreign cultures value formality, respect, and seniority. Unless you’re 100% certain of the appropriateness of being informal, you are much safer keeping correspondence formal. Jokes, abbreviations, and irony is often lost in email writing, and substantially more so in email writing across cultures.

Good luck with all your international interactions, and if we can be of any assistance, please let us know. Contact us at info@universalconsensus.com or see our impact video on our home page at www.universalconsensus.com.

About GTC

GTC Consulting Services is based out of Guadalajara, JAL, Mexico, and services customers in the U.S. and the entire Latin American continent. GTC focuses on the areas of Executive Coaching, Operational and Business Development Consulting, and Corporate Training. GTC and University of San Diego (USD) have partnered to develop custom made programs for GTC customers, meeting the academic rigor required by USD standards.

About Universal Consensus

Universal Consensus is an international management consulting and training firm. We help develop result-oriented strategies, processes and training with spectacular ROI that leverage the power of culture to optimize our clients’ and partners’ bottom line. Universal Consensus consults for government entities such as the U.S. State Department and the Pentagon as well as Fortune 500 companies such as Qualcomm, Whirlpool, and FedEx.

Blue Ocean Strategy is the scientifically proven strategy for creating “blue oceans” of uncontested market space ripe for growth. Create powerful leaps in value for you and your customers, rendering rivals obsolete and unleashing new demand. BMIA is the Universal Consensus proprietary Business Model of Intercultural Analysis; a framework that generates unparalleled international revenue growth.

There’s no doubt that Blue Ocean Strategy is one of the leading methods for driving profit domestically. BMIA addresses the complex issues of driving profit across cultures. Now there is a way to integrate these two business strategies into a single synergistic approach to global business.

“By adding our capabilities to a cutting edge tool like Blue Ocean Strategy, we are observing compound benefits that yield immediate and broad results,” says Universal Consensus CEO Denise Pirrotti Hummel. She continues, “With this combined framework, we will help solve two of the biggest issues in American business life today, lack of innovation and lack of the cross-cultural core competence necessary to be successful across borders.” Pirrotti Hummel concludes, “The efforts of Blue Ocean Strategists and thought leaders in cross cultural consulting makes this a compelling proposition at a time when stagnated business economies need it most.”

Read the full press release: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/11/prweb8997353.htm

Contact us today to receive a complimentary mini-assessment; you are just one click away from transforming your sales with ‘Blue Ocean Strategy across Cultures.’