bWise: Crossing Cultures: (bWise: Business Wisdom Worldwide

Whether you’re new to doing business globally or an “old-hand”, bWise Crossing Cultures is your must-have, engaging and reliable business guide, a new source for tips and information on doing business overseas.

Most people hear about culture and business and immediately think about protocol—a list of dos and don’ts by country. While these practices are certainly useful to know, they are just the tip of the iceberg.

Culture, in the broadest sense, refers to how and why we think and function. It encompasses all sorts of things—how we eat, play, dress, work, think, interact, and communicate. Everything we do, in essence, has been shaped by the cultures in which we are raised. Similarly, a person in another country is also shaped by his or her cultural influences. These cultural influences impact how we think and communicate.

We often underestimate how critical local culture, values, and customs can be in the business environment. We assume, usually incorrectly, that business is the same everywhere. Culture does matter, and increasingly, people are realizing its impact on their business interactions and the bottom line.

bWise Crossing Cultures explores the methods of analyzing cultures and how values may differ, resulting in an intriguing discussion of how culture and ethics impact global business. Cross-cultural analysis incorporates the fields of anthropology, sociology, psychology, and communication. The convergence of cross-cultural analysis and business is a new and evolving field; it’s not a static understanding but changes as the world changes.

bWise Crossing Cultures explores the leading thinkers of cross-cultural analysis and the main components of how they define culture and the impact on communications and business. At first glance, it may seem irrelevant to daily business management to learn about these approaches. In reality, despite the evolution of cultures, these methods provide a comprehensive and enduring understanding of the key factors that shape a culture, which in turn impact every aspect of doing business globally. Additionally, these methods enable us to compare and contrast cultures more objectively.

By understanding the key research, you’ll be able to formulate your own analysis of the different cultures and the tangible impact on your business, marketing, and communication objectives.

bWise Crossing Cultures is part of Atma Global’s bWise – Business Wisdom Worldwide – series. Engaging, concise, and informative country, culture, and global business guides for professionals, educators, students, and global enthusiasts. Maximize your success potential and satisfy your curiosity as you learn about countries, cultures, and timely global business topics.

Edu-taining Content. Our philosophy is that learning should be enjoyable, engaging and user friendly, regardless of how, where, and when you choose to access it.

Useful insight needs more than 140 characters. Our approach is not to “spoon feed” you a bunch of do’s and don’ts, rather we look to give you an in-depth, straightforward perspective of a culture, country or a global business topic so that you can extract the information you need and want.

Context. We believe that it’s essential to know about how’s and why’s behind a topic. Whether the attitudes towards work and business interactions, business protocols, or the way people communicate – much has to do with the overall context in which society operates. History, government, politics, geography, and a host of other factors all play into this equation as well. More than just a presentation of facts, our essential learning content provide a reliable, comprehensive proprietary analysis about a business culture or global business topic.