Cindy King's International Business Blog » entrepreneurs

International Links: Week 12 2010

Cindy King — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 23:00:55 +0000

International Links

Here’s the weekly roundup of all of the useful and interesting links I share on Facebook and Twitter.

Cross-Cultural Topics

Chinese Tigresses - It’s always interesting to look at how well women fare in business in different cultures. Here’s a look at women in China.
Poetry to boobies wins the Dutch press ad “peoples choice” award - As @DR4WARD say on Twitter, winning awards in one country would earn fines in another. Outside of Europe, where do you think this campaign would be received as intended?
The big red word, the little green man, and the international war over exit signs. - A very interesting read on the cultural differences in the perception of different types of “exit” signs. And a look at America’s skepticism toward pictograms and symbols, which have long been more popular in the rest of the world.
Gestures Speak Louder Than Words – Gestures have different, very specific meanings in different places. This is an endless source of miscommunication, amusement and despair for the world traveller and in International Business. Do you have any amusing stories to share?
Africa’s Cyber WMD - Here’s something to read if you like to follow International Social Media. Do you think this is a real threat?

Facebook Business Page on Cross-Cultural Communication:

Cindy King on Facebook

International Business

Middle Eastern Mirage - Dubai’s spectacular collapse has destroyed vast
fortunes and exposed the dangers of doing business in the Golf. What
have investors learned?
The World’s Most Tech-Friendly Countries - The U.S. is slipping and Sweden is in first position on this list. Martin Lindeskog does this surprise you?
Get a Great Start - Many French entrepreneurs decide to move to the United States to set up their company. Start ups simply have it easier there than in France. Here’s some useful information from globalEDGE if you’re thinking of starting a company in the US.
Hands on or hands off? The social media balancing act - This is an interesting read on Interbrand with a few examples of what businesses have learned about giving more power to their audience. So, who has another example like the Vegemite story?
Princeton Map Of The Month – A world map showing how Starbucks & McDonald’s are taking over the world.

Facebook Business Page on International Business:

International Business on Facebook

International Marketing

Getting Real About Creating Change – This article by Amber Naslund raises some great questions about the reasons why our customers want to connect with us on Twitter and read our company blogs. How has this impacted your international marketing today?
Cultural impact on advertising - Here’s a slideshare presentation on the cultural impact of advertising. Does anyone have any others to share?
Facebook’s global gaffe - John Yunker raises some great points: the new Facebook globe icon for notifications is potentially confusing to users. And it also prevents Facebook from creating
a global gateway strategy that leverages the globe icon. What icon would you like to see Facebook use for notifications?
Best Global Brands List In 2009 – There are not many surprises on this list, but it’s worth a look. Which of these brands has your vote?
Digital across cultures: superglobal or hyperlocal? – A good read on how mobile impacts cross-cultural marketing in International Social Media. “Evidence shows that the better a brand understands its customers’ local cultural triggers, the more likely it will be able to profit from digital marketing’s unique cross-market potential.”

Facebook Business Page on International Marketing:

International Marketing on Facebook

International Sales

How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle - Using trigger events to your avantage gets more international sales too. This article by Jill Konrath is a must read for anyone in international sales.
The U.S. Commercial Service International Sales Leads Gadget is Here! - globalEDGE shares information about a great resource to find international sales leads… and its an iGoogle Gadget! Is anyone using this? What’s you take on it?
W.T.O. Sees Trade Rebounding in 2010 - China overtook Germany as the world’s top exporter of merchandise in 2009, accounting for almost 10 percent of global exports. Do you see changes in where your international sales are coming from?
The China Price. Low, Lower, Lowest And Incredibly High. - Here’s a very interesting read on the cultural differences of how price is perceived in China. On the one hand China produces very low cost items, but on the other hand it’s a culture where high priced items are perceived as much better. Do find the contract interesting too?

Facebook Business Page on International Sales:

International Sales on Facebook

International Social Media

Iceland wants to be your friend. Really. - Here’s an example of how another country is using social media.
Social networking: Twittering classes - Here’s a graph to have a look at for an international perspective on how much time people spent on social media in 2009. The keenest social-network users, Australians, spent over seven hours a
month on such sites, “poking” friends and “twittering” in late 2009, twice as much as users in Japan.
Link Building and International SEO - Here are some tips on basic international SEO. Do you use any of these?
The best global web sites of 2010 - Here’s John Yunker’s 2010 list of best global websites. Facebook is tie with Google. And the new baseline to be a global website is 20 or more languages, and climbing. Which one of these websites is your favorite?
Blurred Out: 51 Things You Aren’t Allowed to See on Google Maps - There are a few things listed here located outside of the US which is interesting to note. Thanks to Blog Godown for sharing on Twitter!

Facebook Business Page on International Social Media:

International Social Media on Facebook

Now It’s Your Turn

What about you? Did you find any interesting links recently?
What do these international and cross-cultural links inspire for you?
Which international link is your favorite?

Where Do You Want To Work?

Cindy King — Tue, 12 May 2009 11:19:32 +0000

Culture In International Business

When you start looking at other cultures, you often ask yourself what if would be like to live there, to work there. I live in France where there is:

A 35-hour work week… for some people. I do not know many of them though.
5 weeks of statutory paid vacation… for everyone who is an “employee”, not for business owners. And many people with high responsibility jobs never actually manage to take the time off, or at least not in large chunks at a time .
3 public holidays in May that make it easy to have 3 long weekends in May.

Add to this the common practice of 2-hour business lunches and it is normal to wonder if you would like to “work” here. Many people on the outside think that the French do not “work” very much. It is true that other cultures do have harder days at work.

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Different Viewpoints

I have worked in 5 different countries and with an even larger variety of cultures which had different work habits.

A few months ago the question came up:

Do American entrepreneurs work harder than in French entrepreneurs?

The question came up because American entrepreneurs consider 2-hour lunch breaks a waste of time.

I also recently spoke to Fabrice Grinda, a French entrepreneur who has started successful companies both sides of the Atlantic and is now in the US.

Entrepreneurs In France

A few bloggers have asked me if the life of the entrepreneur in France is a good one. Well, before starting my own company I would have said there are no real differences here in France. Entrepreneurs work just as hard both sides of the pond no matter where they are located. We all have to do business within our own specific cultural environment, that’s it.

If I were to do it again, I definitely would change country… and, yes, this is possible in the next year or two.

Having a company in France means added bureaucracy. This is something you can get used to, even though I sometimes wonder if the administrative requirements are set up to encourage employment. I can see they need at least two full time jobs just to get these obligatory tasks done.

Entrepreneurs have it harder in France.

When I grew up in the Bahamas I lived through a “brain drain” – all the whites, who could leave, left the islands in the 1970′s. In many ways, there is a similar “brain drain” here is France. Brain drains are a wasting disease.

Hidden Cultural Differences

There is a hidden barrier that remains present here in France. This is the real cancer. This is the reason why people leave to start their companies elsewhere.

It is the culturally embedded attitude the French have towards people who are not employed. The French look down on anyone who wants to make money. This is a culture for employees. This negative attitude is probably at its worse with regards to entrepreneurs.

I encounter this negative attitude everywhere. It’s almost like being treated as a horrible money-sucking monster who is cheating the masses who have to work for a living out of their existence.

An exaggeration?

Barely.

In fact, the exceptions are so rare that I make a mental note when I am treated nicely and as a normal human. It’s been over a year. There have been two exceptions.

Not a fun environment.

To understand this negative attitude, you need to understand the French aversion to making making. There is real shame in acknowledging that you actually want to make money. It is just culturally unacceptable.

The funny thing is, when you can understand this, then several other cultural traits also begin to fall into place.

Their unique support of anyone that goes on strike
The great social benefits… only there for the “employees”

Things begin to make sense. If you think that all business owners are big bad monsters, then it is easy to:

Give moral support to anyone who want to go on strike.
Strike for as many social benefits as you can get
…but wait…

Now, I am exaggerating here. There are other cultural elements that come into this equation even if there is some truth here.

The Real Picture

When you have a strong reaction to something done differently in a different culture, it is often a sign of deeper cultural differences. People usually do not do “stupid” things. They do things differently for a good reason.

When French entrepreneurs schedule 2-hour business lunches they have good business reasons. You can be sure that they have calculated the ROI in investing their time and money in long lunches. Although they probably would not use American vocabulary and reasoning to do it, they do know the value of the business connections these long lunches bring to their business.

Where Would You Like To Work

Once you understand the cultural differences in different work habits, there is really only one thing left to do. It comes down to a personal preference.

After working with Malaysians for four years in a job with heave public relation duties outside of the office, I was happy to move onto a different work environment. Don’t get me wrong. It was great. I loved it. But I just wanted to move on. The same happened to me again after working in a Jewish office and being the odd one out.

I did not realize this at the time for either of these choices. It took me time to know what I liked and what my ideal cultural environment is with regards to work.

Instead of fixating on the cultural differences you see in other countries, ask yourself what you like. Where would you like to work. that is what one international entrepreneur did. Listen to the story of how Sean D’Souza came to New Zealand – an 11 minute video on Facebook.