Business people

• Misunderstandings between those concerned; the business development strategy is behind schedule, despite all the technical groundwork
• Misunderstood cultural factors are delaying progress on the project

Some commonly held beliefs or approaches:

• When communicating with a foreigner you just do what comes naturally, based on who you are and your own cultural references.
• Standardising messages in English (disregarding cultural differences) makes it easier to enter a market.
• The development of the emerging markets is westernising their culture, with the result that the people in those countries now follow Western patterns of living, thinking and working.
• It's easy for people whose mother tongue is French to communicate in French in North Africa.

Before the meeting:

• Knowing one's own way of working and value system
  Among other things, Emerg-Et-Sens uses the AEC Disc^®  Method intercultural module as a tool for personal and professional development in an international context.
• Working on ideas - possibly preconceptions - about the culture of another country (that of the prospective business contact) about which one knows little or nothing
  Avoiding lumping together countries in the same part of the world 
  Dispelling confusion between Arab-Muslim/Jewish culture and Islam/Judaism
• Exploring all aspects of the culture of the other person's country (good manners, way of thinking, verbal and non-verbal communication, management, and so forth) with the aid of an intercultural decoding model (intercultural frame of referencelinking management criteria with cultural factors)
• Working on one's behaviour and message and also on the appropriate way of communicating with the person concerned, thus increasing the likelihood of a successful outcome

After the meeting or during the negotiations:

Coaching (face-to-face or online) for debriefing and ongoing support.