Cultural Differences as a Hidden Hurdle to Successful Business

Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: The main effect of globalisation over recent decades has been the development of the world as a united market place. Through multinational companies, globally accepted management styles or organisational structures the impression might be given that there are hardly big differences in the way people do business all over the world. However, the variety of human cultures makes it impossible to believe that there is a uniform theory corresponding to all cultures on earth or assimilating their way of doing business. Misunderstandings while doing business or even failure of business relationships are, despite ever increasing market transparency, part of every day business life. It is less frequently the consequence of economic discrepancies but more often hidden cultural incompatibilities that can cause problems between two or more parties. Even between countries that have maintained business relationships for many years, as is the case between Germany and Spain, the problem of cultural differences is unfortunately present and moreover underestimated. For Germany, the European export champion, Spain has been for at least a decade one of the top export destinations. Also German companies located in Spain contributed 8% to that country’s G.D.P. for 2010. Those big subsidiaries originated from a successful attempt to do business with a different culture and yet, to a greater or lesser extent, still face this difficulty every day. This applies equally to enterprises that are pure exporters, those having production plants, distribution or sales departments in the respective country. Helping businesses avoid the potential obstacles arising from cultural differences through sensitivity and understanding would improve working relationships and smoothen the path toward economic growth. Hit hard by the European economic crisis, Spain had and still has to suffer economic cutbacks. Since Germany is the second largest destination for Spanish exports it needs to maintain this presence in Germany. As the head of Spanish government José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the German chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out on the German-Hispanic summit conference on 2nd of February 2011 in Madrid, there is still a lot of potential that can be exploited when both parties are pro-active. Looking at the above mentioned facts it is evident that both countries need each other. Besides creating a common political base, it is essential for their [...]