Tomalin B., Nicks M. The World’s Business Cultures and How to Unlock Them

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The famous caste system, which divided Hindus into four groups, Brahmins

(priests), Kshatriyas (warriors), Vaishyas (merchants) and Sudras (clerks),

together with the Dalits (untouchables) was outlawed in 1950 but still has

some social values. India won independence from British rule in 1947 and

became a republic in 1950. Many Indians settled in Kenya and Uganda, but

came to Britain in the early 60’s.

India and the UK share many superﬁcial similarities in the way they conduct

business. Legal, banking and administration systems have many synergies

with British procedures. This is not surprising, as many Indian business

practices originated during the Raj, the era of British colonial domination

that endured from the eighteenth century to 1947. However, these apparent

similarities mask signiﬁcant cultural differences.

Indians think the British are much more formal than we really are, which

accounts for their sometimes old-fashioned approach to us and the use of

what has been called ‘dictionary’ English. Equally, Britons must be careful

not to patronize. This is all too easy to do after the decades of Carry On ﬁlms

that caricatured Indian speech and mannerisms. The Indians you deal with

will probably be highly qualiﬁed, and many have wide experience in a number

of industries. Show respect for their abilities and point of view.

Values and attitudes

An Indian’s prime concern is his family. Indians recognize a wide variety of

relatives as immediate family, and it is common for different generations to

share a property. The father is the absolute head of the household. Foreigners

are often unaware of the domestic, religious and environmental (such as the

monsoon) issues that bear on Indian working life, so don’t assume that someone

who is occasionally late at work or requests time off is slacking. They usually

make up for this in other ways, but if there are persistent problems, be prepared

to sit down and talk with people.

India is a relationship business culture, while the UK is, by and large, systems-

oriented. Indians appreciate a family atmosphere at work, so take time to

learn names – it’s a sign that you care – and expect them to ask you a lot of

personal questions. Indians are emotional, and they appreciate seeing the

human side of the people they deal with: kindness and empathy are the keys

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to success in dealing with them. They display great courtesy and consideration

to guests and foreigners, and what may seem like exaggerated politeness

and deference is in some cases simply a sign of respect.

Indians are devout, and are likely to observe the traditions of their different

religions. Hindus reject beef and venerate the cow, Muslims will not touch

pork or ham, and Sikh men wear long hair under a turban and carry a

ceremonial knife. Followers of Jain eat no root vegetables, such as onions,

garlic and potatoes, and most Indians follow a mainly vegetarian diet with

meat eaten occasionally. They believe in karma – your destiny as shaped by

your actions in previous existences – and fatalism.

However, they also appreciate the proﬁt motive, creativity, and the importance

of seeking compromises that will beneﬁt all parties. They cherish democracy

– India is the world’s largest democratic state – and hate any suggestion of

exploitation by Europeans or Americans. Impiety, loss of face and personal

criticism are also offensive to them.

Indians respect authority, which means that in the workplace they may be

unwilling to take decisions beyond their immediate responsibility, challenge

instructions or contradict a manager – even if he is wrong.

Cultural style

British business behaviour tends to be informal, but unemotional and

focused on tasks and time schedules. The environment in Indian business is

more formal, more relationship-based, and ﬂexible in its treatment of time.

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India/UK cultural styles – a comparison

Communication

1 COMMUNICATION STYLE

2 WORKING STYLE

3 DISCUSSION STYLE

4 BUSINESS ATTITUDE

5 LEADERSHIP STYLE

6 BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

7 DECISION-MAKING STYLE

8 BASIS FOR DECISION-MAKING

9 ATTITUDE TO TIME

10 WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Live to work Work to live

Scheduled Flexible

Facts Instincts

Individualistic Collective

Relationship Task

Flat Vertical

Progressive Traditional

Fast-moving Slow and measured

Formal Informal

Direct Indirect

IndiaUK

Communication

Regular contact by phone and email backed up with frequent personal visits

are important when you’re doing business with Indians. If you try to

communicate simply by sending occasional formal emails, no matter how

detailed and clear they might be, you won’t build the kind of relationship they

prize so much.

Flattery and compliments are an important way of putting them at ease when

you’re developing the relationship. Beware, though, that this inevitably means

that Indians may say what they think you want to hear rather than objective

truths. The word ‘no’ has harsh implications. Evasive refusals are more polite,

so say something like, ‘I’ll try,’ instead. Learn to develop a tolerance for ambiguity

in conversation.

Indians value eloquence in spoken communication, which can lead to long

speeches delivered with passion. They normally present the reasons for doing

something ﬁrst and the conclusions afterwards, which may conﬂict with

American and British approaches. The British and the Americans tend to

work the other way round – they say what they want and then explain the

reasons. Indians may not always understand Western humour, but they

appreciate charm and laughter, so rely on those approaches to get you through.

Politeness and praise are important, and people often use ‘we’ rather than

‘I’. Indian body language is expressive and important to communication –

but don’t be confused by the nodding of heads when people are listening to

you. It means, ‘We are paying attention’, not ‘We agree with you.’

Oral agreements are very important in India, and the phone is a vital

communications medium. Voicemail systems are often seen as impersonal,

and may not be responded to.

Organization

Indians are masters of improvisation and ﬂexibility, and their attitude to time

reﬂects this. They believe in cycles – the equivalent of the saying, ‘What goes

around, comes around.’ Adaptability is therefore a necessary skill for visitors

doing business. Your pre-planning may not be acted on until you arrive, but

when you do get there, it will be put into practice fast.

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So although the overall process of business is quite time consuming and

demands patience, individual actions will be accomplished very fast. Some

say it’s easier to see the CEO of an Indian company at three hours’ notice

than at three months’. Company organigrams are not ﬁxed, and people may

be given additional internal responsibilities in your absence or be transferred

to you without notice. Be prepared for change when you arrive and maintain

a relaxed attitude. Keep in regular contact with colleagues to stay up to date

with changes in personnel responsibilities and job movements. Indian

managers believe that the prime factors in winning promotion are connections,

education and hard work.

Meetings and negotiations

Indian business is unhurried, and people take time to discuss the ﬁner points

of a project. But implementation can move extremely fast. So expect

negotiations to take longer than you are used to: what you see as efﬁcient

time management may be viewed as aggressiveness or greed in India. Time

spent at the beginning discussing all the points of the relationship will save

time later. There will be a difference between managers who are used to working

in the old family-run businesses and those who have experience of multinational

companies. The latter will behave much more in ways that you are used to.

Indians are open to being persuaded. They appreciate eloquent speech and

elaborate description, and it’s also useful to outline your education, expertise

and experience. Your audience will want to give feedback: allow time for this

when you are presenting, and indicate when you will accept questions.

Respect for education and formality means that Indians use titles and surnames

when they ﬁrst meet you. Don’t use ﬁrst names unless you are asked to, although

the younger generation gets on ﬁrst-name terms much faster. Don’t offer to

shake hands unless your Indian counterpart does. You don’t normally shake

hands with women in India, but Westernised women will sometimes offer

their hand.

Agendas are not strictly adhered to. The broad aims of a negotiation will be

revealed early in a discussion, but the speciﬁc objectives may not be divulged

till later. They may say what they want to achieve in general terms but the

details may take time to emerge. Indians are usually ﬂexible, patient negotiators,

and they often use personalized and sometimes emotional arguments. They

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are usually willing to compromise, especially in the interests of forming good

long-term relations.

Negotiations often involve large groups, although individuals may be given

the responsibility to pursue discussions beyond initial meetings. Remember

that contracts are often considered as statements of intent, which can be

modiﬁed, an approach that can be confusing to Westerners. This is because

the ﬁrst and foremost aim of an Indian negotiation is to achieve an agreement

on which the relationship can be built. The details can be managed later. Indians

tend to see contracts as the beginning of a negotiation, not the end. But anything

written will be held to and will be scrutinized carefully.

Team-working

Indians often feel happier working together on tasks that Westerners would

normally do on their own. For example, emails are often not acted on, as

people feel more conﬁdent talking things through face-to-face, so be

prepared to follow up requests with a phone call to discuss issues.

A team is usually headed by a charismatic leader, who will often have family

or trade group connections; remember that these may inﬂuence his decisions.

Team members will usually be selected on the grounds of seniority, experience

and education. Decisions are reached by consultation, and team members

will expect to see their viewpoint reﬂected in the outcome. The working pace

tends to be slow, and deadlines are ﬂexible. Although consultation is

important, the team leader makes decisions, the most powerful ones with or

without consultation. Try not to put the team under too much pressure, or

be too openly competitive or ambitious. Don’t attach personal blame: if

something goes wrong, it’s karma.

Leadership and decision-making

Indian companies operate a top-down system of management and all major

decisions will be taken at the top of the company, so make your approaches

at this level. Indians prefer established processes, and new ideas will have

to be sold convincingly to your new colleagues. Persistent persuasion and

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appeals to emotion are often more successful than hard logic or fact. Remember,

too, that Indians appreciate a win-win situation, and compromise is therefore

acceptable to them.

Listen carefully to proposed solutions. They may seem illogical to you, but

will usually work in the Indian context. People do not express disagreement

directly. Disagreements may be expressed in writing or face-to-face. Women

can occupy senior positions in business and administration in India. However,

Indians generally are not accustomed to women in authority and may feel

awkward dealing with senior foreign women.

Socializing and gift-giving

Don’t refuse refreshment – it’s an insult. It is customary to decline the ﬁrst

offer, but you should accept the second or third. Business lunches are preferred

to dinners. Most Indian meals are vegetarian with a little meat on the side,

but remember that Hindus do not eat beef and Muslims do not eat pork. People

drink water (only from sealed bottles), soft drinks or beer. Evening entertaining

is quite often done at home: if you are invited, arrive 15 to 30 minutes late.

Wash your hands after a meal.

Gift-giving is common, but if you receive one, don’t open it in front of your

visitor. Green, red and yellow are seen as lucky colours, but black and white

as unlucky. Traditionally the head and the ears are viewed as sacred and the

feet as dirty, so don’t point your feet or touch another with your shoes (if

you do so, apologize). Don’t pat a child on the head, which is seen as the seat

of the soul.

Great gifts: Chocolates, ﬂowers (but not frangipani – associated with funerals).

Avoid giving: Leather products, dog toys or pictures (to Muslims, dogs are

unclean).

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Conversation topics

Ice-breakers Ice-makers

Ask about their family, describe yours Politics, particularly Kashmir and China

Show interest in what state they come from

and what it is like

Be patronizing about Indian culture and the

colonial period

India’s economic progress Moan about call centres and Indian accents

Doing business in Japan

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Doing business in Japan

Overview

Two factors have heavily inﬂuenced the development of Japanese society:

population density and isolation. In Japan’s islands, 3% of the world’s

population lives in just 0.3% of the world’s landmass. Moreover, three-quarters

of the country is mountainous and two-thirds forested, so only about 3% is

habitable. Japan therefore has one of the world’s highest population densities.

For two centuries, from 1648 to 1853, Japan was cut off from Western and other

Asian trends. This isolation, together with crowded living conditions, has

produced a society with carefully evolved social rituals marked by high degrees

of politeness and consideration. After Japan began to modernize, a strong work

ethic, a mastery of high technology and a comparatively small defense

allocation (1% of GDP) helped it advance with extraordinary rapidity from 1955-

89. Then its bubble burst, and stock market and property prices slumped. Since

then economic growth has recovered, but now Japan faces similar problems

to those of Western European countries: a contracting workforce (estimated

to fall by 20% in the next two decades), and heavy expenditure on pensions

and healthcare. The country remains, however, the second most technologically

powerful in the world, and a giant in economic terms.

Five Ways to Succeed Five Ways to Fail

Spend time building a good relationship Try and stand out as an individual in a land

of consensus

Work hard and earn trust Cause a Japanese person to lose face in

front of others

Socialize – sing in a karaoke session even if

you’ve got a lousy voice

Try to rush people into an agreement

Stress team achievement, not individual

achievement

Ignore Japanese protocol and customs

Study Japanese business protocol – correct

process is as important as a good result

Talk loudly, gesticulate extravagantly