Intercultural Pitfalls

In a recent discussion with a group of senior managers from Hong Kong, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, I was asked what the biggest challenge for European and Korean companies when dealing with each other was. I answered that this obviously depends on the industry and several company-specific elements. I also added that, in my view, the biggest challenge in virtually all cases was business culture. It is a truism that there are important differences in culture, customs, manners and mentality between European and Asian nations. These different cultural traits also permeate business culture and the local Dos and Don’ts of business. Many Europeans are having a hard time distinguishing between Chinese, Korean or Japanese business cultures. The regular European or German manager, unless very experienced, will not notice these differences at first sight. The same might be true for the regular Korean manager. He or she too might have difficulties in understanding the fine differences between the many European countries in business culture. In large countries such as Germany, France or Italy for instance, where a common language is spoken, important regional differences exist. Germans, Austrians and Swiss share a common language, that is German. However, their daily behaviours and business cultures are very different. Here a few insightful examples: Swiss businesspeople usually use their first name and no titles, even with people they are meeting for the first time. In Germany, it is natural to use family names and academic titles, even with co-workers you have known for a long time. In Austria, there are hundreds of different titles, which you better use correctly unless you want to deeply irritate the title bearer in question. In Lausanne, it is common among business partners to open the first bottle of white wine around 11:30am for a pre-lunch ‘apéro’ aperitif drink. If you did the same in Zurich or Hamburg, people might think you have a drinking problem.

?Coming back to the discussion I mentioned above, the participant from Kuala Lumpur said that, for her, the language issue in intercultural contexts is key. What is the most used business language, she asked. English? Wrong! It’s bad English. Unless you are at native-speaker level in a language, finer details in the meaning of words, expressions and sayings might escape you. This is very obvious but often underestimated in intercultural business contexts. Now, just imagine a business negotiation between a European manager with bad English and a native Korean speaker with bad English; misunderstanding will not be the exception but the rule! Interpretation by professionals might help but is also time-consuming and brings additional challenges. If you speak via a third party, it is difficult to build an emotional bond between the negotiators. Additionally, you never can be quite sure if the interpreter translates what you wish to convey. Non-verbal signals in conversations are as important as spoken words. In some cultures, people use facial expressions and hand gestures to emphasise their talk. Italians for instance are world-renowned for their hand gestures when speaking. This can be very irritating for people who are not used to such expressive body language. Before I came to East Asia, I also used hand gestures to support my talk. I noticed that people then were looking at my hands rather than looking me in the face. It was irritating for them and for me as well. In most Asian countries, such excessive body language is frowned upon. Besides verbal and body language, there is a third element crucial to any business talk: the atmosphere of the discussion. In my experience, Asian managers are much better at sensing the atmosphere in a group than their European counterparts. There is a reason why Koreans have specific concepts such as “nunchi” or “jeong”. The existence of such expressions indicates that people are very sensitive to the ambiance and the interpersonal relationships in a social context and that they have cultural techniques to influence it in subtle ways, this to prevent from any potential disturbance.?Europeans are not immune to such signals, but my working hypothesis in intercultural settings is that Asian people are much more sensitive to such ambient conditions. Some compare nunchi and jeong with what Daniel Goleman called “social intelligence”. As Korean culture is becoming a global phenomenon, so is Korean business culture. The success of books such as The Power of Nunchi by Hong Euny, The Evolution of Tiger Management by Martin Hemmert or Samsung Rising by Geoffrey Cain further fuels the global interest in Korean corporate culture.

?Western managers with an interest in Korea are well advised to familiarize themselves with Korean business culture, the Dos and Don’t’s. They should not assume that their body language and other cultural idiosyncrasies will be understood. In my view, this is a critical success factor to conduct a successful business in Korea.

This article was initially published in KORUM Q3/2021, the quarterly magazine of the Korea German Chamber of Commerce.