Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands

Rachel Salaman: I just want to start by talking about your book, which is an amazing feat of research. The information you give about each country includes a little cultural quiz, tips on doing business, some history and politics, notes about cultural orientation, which we'll explain a bit later, and a description of business practices and social protocols. How did you carry out this research?

Terri Morrison: Well, I started in 1990 actually, with my firm, and prior to that, I was doing similar sorts of research and practical traveling and gathering of data for Booz Allen and Hamilton, so, when I saw that there were cultural issues that seemed similar in different countries, I started to develop a database from people that I worked with, and also with the University of Pennsylvania, the Wharton School, and did four years of research, starting in '90. And in 1995 the first edition of the book came out, and then in 2006 this new edition just came out, and that took an additional two years of research to update it, which included all sorts of interviews again, with different embassies, different institutions of higher education, private corporations and government.

Rachel Salaman: Well it must be a constant work in progress. Are you always working on the next edition?

Terri Morrison: Well right now, I'm actually negotiating another book, so there's always several things to juggle.

Rachel Salaman: What do you find that you are updating? Is it mostly the history and the politics, or does cultural behavior actually change as well?

Terri Morrison: Well there are cultural leads, significant changes with different generations, but, in effect, as you mentioned, it takes thousands of years, many times, for traditions to develop. So, with this edition, we discussed the fact that it was primarily economies have shifted, like Ireland and India, since the last decade, and several countries have dissolved, such as the Soviet Union or been absorbed, and some new ones have emerged, like Azerbaijan. So it varies across the board, whether you're talking about political, economic change, but deep-seated cultural traditions, you scratch the surface and you will generally find that they are quite stable.

Rachel Salaman: The cultural orientation process that you talk about in your book is split into three parts, starting with cognitive styles, which is how we organize and process information. Can you give some examples of what this is, and how it differs from culture to culture?

Terri Morrison: Well, some people think that in the United States we're very open minded, versus, you know, we don't accept data, and that can be true. However, we're not as open minded as some cultures in Northern Europe, because we do not accept information if it disagrees with some of our profoundly held belief systems. So, for example, if you approach someone in the US who's a Baptist, or has strong religious beliefs, and suggest that, "Hmmm. This belief system is equally as valuable," you will probably not receive a very open minded perception or reception to that concept. However, we are open minded in terms of technology. We are accepting, many times, of innovation and independent thought, so it depends upon which area you touch upon in business and belief systems in social interaction. A culture like Russia is also somewhat closed minded, or China, because they're circumspect. They accept information that applies to their dogma, or deeply held beliefs.

Rachel Salaman: The second part of the cultural orientation process is negotiation strategies, and in particular what people accept as evidence. Can you explain this?

Terri Morrison: Yes, some cultures arrive at truth through their belief in facts or scientific evidence. That would be Northern Europeans, Germans, North Americans. We like numbers, and we think that, if it isn't explicable in quantitative form, it's not evidence. In other cultures, like Costa Rica or Brazil, the facts are not as important, sometimes, as the relationship with the person. So they believe with their feelings that this individual is trustworthy, and they will do a deal with someone who they like or they're related to, the same as in many parts of Asia, rather than the person who may have the best price or product. Another aspect of evidence is faith. What do you accept as the appropriate behavior based upon your religion or the dogma? For example, it's widely known now that the Qur'an prohibits charging interest, so if God tells you that it's not correct to charge interest, you have to think of different ways to run a bank in Kuwait.

Rachel Salaman: How does knowing the negotiation strategies of a culture help you when it comes to negotiating a deal?

Terri Morrison: Well, it gives you an advantage, because if you know that you're going to Germany, and they want tremendous detail there and scientific data, you're well prepared with dozens of corroborating pages of evidence. But if you go to Columbia or maybe Chile, you're going to emphasize the relationship with that individual, and how sometimes you can change policy for them if the rules and the authoritarian environment of your organization don't appeal to them, because they want to work with Rachel. They don't care that you work for IBM or DuPont. They think, "Rachel will make policy."

Rachel Salaman: The third part of cultural orientation is value systems, which are the basis for behavior. This is such a big topic; you split it into three bits, the first of which is locus of decision making. What do you mean by that?

Terri Morrison: In the US, we are very individualistic. We like to take risks and make decisions by ourselves. We don't turn to a group many times, unless we are told to do so by a workgroup scenario at the office or such. That is in direct opposition to collectivism, which is decisions by consensus, many times. In India or in Asia, many people will consider the better needs of the group, rather than their individual predilection, so that is one aspect of decision making you ought to know, because it slows down the process. If you go to certain cultures, and you expect a quick decision, they want to gain consensus. Even in a country like Sweden, they would do that.

Rachel Salaman: Then you examine sources of anxiety reduction. How does understanding what stresses people out help you when you're doing business abroad?

Terri Morrison: Oh, that's wonderful, because if you look at how important a family is, or a religion, or technology, or a law is in a culture, then you know how to approach the negotiating or the marketing in a better foundation. What gives people a sense of security is important here. If you are in a culture that respects authority, you should have a business card with a very large company and a very impressive title on it, because that gives folks a sense of importance and stability. On the other hand, if you live in a culture where the law is not the primary motivating factor, as a matter of fact it's something that, in some cultures they mention that, "For my enemies, the law, for my friends, anything." You can find that in the Philippines, for example.

Rachel Salaman: The last part of your analysis of value systems is issues of equality and inequality. What kind of equality are we talking about here?

Terri Morrison: Well it could be anything from gender base or race or middle class, upper class, lower class. If you know how people are regarded in a different country, it's helpful. It's useful. For example, a female business executive goes to South Korea, nowadays it's a lot easier for her. Ten years ago when I went there, people came to the hotel just to see a live one, because there weren't that many of us. So, it changes with time, and issues of equality are changing politically as well, with all the women who are being elected to Presidential roles, but it also is an economic equality, and it helps – for example, in India, the people who have names, particularly in Southern India, some names are associated with specific castes, so people are actually changing their names, the younger generation, because they don't want to be associated with that particular lower caste system.

Rachel Salaman: Well that's some of the theoretical background to cultural differences. Let's talk, now, about some of the practical issues. How important is it to know details like how to greet someone, or what to bring as a gift when you go to a person's house?

Terri Morrison: Well, it can ruin a deal or your reputation if you do it incorrectly. You saw Richard Gere kissing Shilpa Shetty in India at that AIDS conference. This is a culture where you don't touch the opposite sex in terms of a big embrace and a kiss, particularly in public, and he dipped her and gave her a big smooch there on stage. Subsequently, the Indian different religious groups issued warrants for his arrest. He had death threats. They burned him in effigy. It can be a bad thing to make a faux pas when you have that first introduction. It also can be exceedingly inappropriate to go to a country without a gift. If you don't have a gift, and you go to Romania, and you're going to do business there, you're just not prepared, because they expect this. It's almost at the line in Romania or some countries, where you are considering the difference between a gift and a bribe, and it's, kind of, a wavy line there, but it's so common in many countries to take a gift with you, even on your initial meeting, that it's insulting if you don't have one because they, in turn, will have one for you, and you don't have anything to reciprocate.

Rachel Salaman: Can you give us any examples of how cultural faux pas have had a big impact on the success of a deal?

Terri Morrison: Yes, Wal-Mart. You know, when they went to Germany and invested all this money, and then they lost about eight billion dollars, I believe, because they had a tremendous amount of issues with labor and so forth, but some of them were cultural. For example, Wal-Mart does not like nepotism, it's against the rules of the company, and they had a rule in Germany where you're not allowed to flirt with your co-workers, and if we see you doing it, you're supposed to pick up a secret phone and rat on the person, so to speak, anonymously. That really distressed the Germans, and they took Wal-Mart to court, and the judge said, "Absolutely not. You're not going to be allowed to persecute people who flirt with each other, and this phone is illegal," so that was just one of them that contributed to a poor relationship, perhaps, with the German employees of Wal-Mart, and with the marketing of the product overall. They did learn when they went to China, because in China they did a lot of testing, and they acquired a firm that was, I think, Taiwanese, and they ascertained that the Chinese don't like it when you have food that's been prepared and wrapped in plastic, like fish, or chicken or whatnot. They don't buy that for their families to eat. They think it's too old or so. So that, after that feedback, Wal-Mart decided, "Well, we'll sell live fish, and turtles and frogs and everything," so that was exceedingly successful. They're doing very well, and their food department looks more like a pet store here in the US, but it's successful, so they learned.

Rachel Salaman: Now some people might steer clear of books like yours, because they might think you're stereotyping nationalities and their customs. You must've been accused of this in the past. What's your response?

Terri Morrison: Oh, I think it's the antithesis of that. Our goal is to foster cleaner, more successful communications, certainly not the opposite. We're not trying to stereotype. We're trying to inform, along the lines of understanding that, in general, people behave in certain patterns. However, we also are exceedingly aware that there's always the exception to the rule. You'll find some Japanese executives who are very loud and boisterous, and gesticulate wildly, and pound the desk, but that's not the norm. So if we can just say, as a culture, these are practices in business and social situations, and cognitive styles that can help prepare people to communicate effectively, that's our goal.

Rachel Salaman: Now clearly, each country has its own customs. What about regions? Is it possible to generalize about, say, Asia?

Terri Morrison: Well Asia is vast, obviously, and there's a lot of differences between China and Thailand and Vietnam, or any environment there, but I would say, in general, people in Asia exhibit more restraint. They're more formal. They do make decisions many times by consensus, and they also value apologizing more than we do in the West. If they make an error, they're more like people in England. They'll apologize immediately for any infraction that, either they're responsible for, or they're not, and that's a wonderful predilection because it's a way of re-establishing communications after a faux pas has occurred.

Rachel Salaman: What tips do you have for people going to do business in Asia?

Terri Morrison: Get rid of the superior attitude. I think there are too many condescending folks in every culture that go to Asia or Latin America or Europe, and particularly from the United States we have a bit of hubris about how things should be done, based upon our own incredible successes. So that's the first thing, is to ratchet down the level of accomplishments that I want to tell you about, or my extreme successes in these environments.

Rachel Salaman: What about Europe? What would be the biggest faux pas anyone could make there?

Terri Morrison: Well I liked when George Bush massaged Andrea [sic] Merkel's neck. I thought that was great at the G6 Conference. I know that it's terrible to pick out a particular faux pas, but that was just one of the basic things that one doesn't do, is, you don't touch people that don't want to be touched, or cannot touch you for religious sensibilities. The same faux pas has occurred many times with Orthodox Jews or observant Muslims, or Hindus or Sikhs. They do not like physical contact between the sexes, so that's a faux pas that happens over and over and over, and I think, in that one particular case, that was a good example of, "Let's not do this again."

Rachel Salaman: Well let's talk about the Americas now. Now it's such a big region, and let's divide it up into North and South America. What should people from elsewhere know about doing business in, let's say, South America?

Terri Morrison: Relationships are so important and I do business with people I know, I like, or I am related to in South – in Latin America. They are also offended when folks confuse things by saying, "Well, in America, we do it this way," thinking that, "Well, we're from the USA, and we're the only Americans," or, "We're from Canada, and we're North Americans," but Brazilians consider themselves Americans too, so the terminology is very sensitive, and you have to apply it judiciously. Also, people consider Latin America one big market sometimes, and they'll go and market in, for example, Brazil, and they'll think they speak Spanish, which obviously they don't, and they'll talk about how wonderful Argentina is, or Chile, and Chile and Argentina and Brazil have fought so many wars together that, if you're going to make an effective presentation, you have to be sensitive to where you are, and don't bring up inappropriate topics for conversation.

Rachel Salaman: And what about North America?

Terri Morrison: Speed. We're just so quick to close a deal. We have so many incidental acquaintances that we seem to be inviting to our homes or calling by nicknames and so forth, but that's really not an offer to get intimate, by saying, "Oh, just call me Bubba," or whatnot. It's just that we meet so many people virtually or face-to-face, and we like to get things done quickly, and we close deals, and we don't have to like you to do business with you. We'll do all our work online, or we'll just go to whoever has the best price, and the salesperson really is an incidental factor. They don't matter that much. So quickness and the lack of long-term relationships in terms of business situations, sometimes shock executives from different countries. So those, you know... and we're brusque. We say what we mean, and we can be brutally honest, so that's another aspect that people are taken aback by sometimes. In terms of interactions, we don't mean to be obtuse or insulting. It's just the pattern of behavior. We joke around a lot, we use nicknames, we pat you on the back, and we try to close the deal in one visit. So it's just a means of getting work done here.

Rachel Salaman: What are some of the most striking differences in cultural behavior you've seen in your research?

Terri Morrison: Silence versus incessant babble. If I go with clients sometimes to Asia, and this actually occurred, where a large corporation was at the very final stages of the negotiations in Japan, and he offered the client the price and the contract, and everything was supposed to just be a ceremonial visit, and the Japanese executive smiled, and looked at him, and was very gracious, and said nothing, and it went on for 15, 20 seconds. So the US executive, what did he do? He started babbling and filling up the air, because he was nervous, and he eventually lowered the price, but the Japanese executive never said no. So that was one of the most striking things that I learned, was that some cultures use silence to show respect, to reinforce that they're listening to you, and await to see if you're done, and maybe as a tool for negotiation as well, depending upon the situation.

Rachel Salaman: Terri Morrison, thank you very much for joining us today.

Terri Morrison: Oh thank you Rachel. It's been a pleasure.

You can find out more about Terri's work at her website www.kissboworshakehands.com.

I'll be back next month with another Expert Interview. Until then, goodbye.