Increasing Intercultural Competence: German Culture & Busine

Introduction
Bring consultants to the seminar for trade show training
Recommendations
Arnie Guzman
Ashley Stickel
Gus Murray
Justis Storm
Kristin Brown
Rylee Theodore
Conducting Business in Germany:
Attending a Trade Show
Germany Group
BADM 300, Spring 2014
May 2nd, 2014, 9 a.m.
Recommendation #3 (Rylee)
Conclusion
1. Seminar - Survey of German Culture
2. Training Program - Trade Show Conduct
3. Weekly Team Lunches
What we want to Prevent!
Trade Show Culture in
Germany
Goals of the Seminar
To introduce:
Mannerisms
Customs
Taboos
Commonalities in daily German life
(Angela Casler, personal communication, April 7, 2014)
How do these norms affect German business culture?
Recommendation #1: Conduct a Seminar that Surveys German Culture
(www.Seminars4Business.de)
Building the Team
Weekly Team Lunches
Catered by different restaurants
Attended by:
Trade show employees
Managers
German colleagues
A practical application on trainings
Weekly Team Lunches
1. What
2. Why
3. Who else?
Practice Makes Close to Perfect

"No matter how well-travelled and internationally savvy we are – there is always more to learn about cultures, values and their application."
Working in intercultural Teams. (n.d.).
References

Kaufmann, H. R., Englezou, M., & García-Gallego, A. (2014). Tailoring cross-cultural
competence training. Thunderbird International Business Review, 56(1), 27-
42. doi: 10.1002/tie.21594.
Recommendation #2
Why should we conduct a seminar prior to departure?
Nearly 42% of overseas assignments result in failure.
Culture shock
Communication barriers
Closed-mindedness
(Maurer, 2013)
Big
Flashy

Why?
Differences in German Culture
How do we interact ?
Are you being
Direct?
Did you succeed?
Short term project
Not a constant action
Team members lack experience
(Angela Casler, personal communication, April 7, 2014)
Example:
Apple gets
old NIKE
Innovative
(Claire,1997)
(Hinner, 2009)
Hinner, M. B. (2009). Culture's Influence on Business as Illustrated by German Business
Culture. China Media Research, 5(2), 45-54.

(Kaufmann, Englezou, García-Gallego, p. 31, 2014)
(Brown, 2011)
Working in intercultural Teams. (n.d.). Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://www
.agcs.allianz.com/careers/learning-and-development/intercultural-teams/
Brown, Carolyn. "7 Tips for Foreign Business Travel." Inc.com. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.
<http://www.inc.com/guides/201103/7-tips-for-foreign-business-travel.html#ixzz2zs23xKNI>.
Minter, R. L. (2008). Preparation of expatriates for global assignments: revisited. Journal of Diversity Management, 3, 37-42.

Learning objectives
Business Protocol

Dress to Impress
First Impressions
Interaction, not
over-action
Intercultural Incompetence
Internationalization
Corporate Resource Report
"Support for a constant exchange between employees in the domestic market and abroad
(Audi, 2012)
"A set of cognitive, affective, and behavioral skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts"
(Bennett, 2011)
Reasons for Failure:
Social ignorance
Economical Unfamiliarity
Inconsistency among cultures
(Landler, Barbaro, 2006)
Intercultural Competence-
Consequences
What is needed?
Time
Benett, J. (2011, February 22). Developing Intercultural Competence: For International
Education Faculty and Staff. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.intercultural.org/documents/competence_handouts.pdf

Landler, M., & Barbaro, M. (2006, August 1). Wal-Mart Finds That Its Formula Doesn’t Fit
Every Culture. The New York Times. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/business/worldbusiness/02walmart.html?pagewant
ed=all

Some Topics
1. Body Language
2. Respect and Interaction
3. German Culture
Business Problem
We are Mercedes-Benz USA, and every year we go to a trade show in Germany. At this show, we will interact with other companies and the German Division of Mercedes. Our employees need to be familiar with German culture and customs to efficiently do business there.
Maurer, R. (2013, July 8). Survey: companies fail to train managers for overseas assignments.
Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from https://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/global/articles/pages/fail-train-managers-overseas-assignments.aspx
Working effectively with Germans. (n.d.). Seminars4Business. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from
http://www.seminars4business.de/wp-content/uploads/intercultural-competence-pdfs.pdf