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Doing Business in Europe: Not the Challenges You Think
Doing Business in Europe: Not the Challenges You Think
Copyright © 2007 Steve McLaughlin
Global Market Insights
http://www.gmi.lu
If you plan to do sell your product
or service in Europe the problems you
encounter may not be the ones you expect. It's easy to focus on perceived
difficulties, such as the so-called "language barrier",
while not noticing the real
pitfalls - until it's too late. I learned three lessons the hard
way: appreciate the
different cultures, understand the value of quality vs. speed, and
know which
foreign language is key to your business.
If you hope to compete with local
firms in Europe you must understand European
business cultures. Notice the use of the word of the word "cultures" -
plural.
When I first started doing business in Europe, three years ago, one
of the first
things I learned was that the European business environment is much
more
diverse than in the States. Despite the introduction of the single
currency,
Europe is not a single business entity. Different countries retain
different ways
of doing things. Like many Americans doing business in Europe for
the first time,
I learned this the hard way. After a number of awkward meetings and
deals that
mysteriously didn't go through I began to understand that it was
a bad idea to
deal with Europeans like I dealt with people back home.
The American business model prevails
in northern Europe - with the UK and
possibly Germany representing the nearest thing Europe has to a US-style
approach. Businesses in former Easter Bloc countries that have recently
joined
the EU are also very US- friendly. During the Soviet years America
represented freedom; American business can now reap the rewards of
that iconic status.
The rest of "old Europe" is a little different and you
should be aware of each
country's customs. Italy, for example, retains a way of doing business
that might
seem bureaucratic and patriarchal to Americans. Even Silvio Berlusconi
- a good
friend of US business - is known as "Papa" Berlusconi in
some Italian circles. In
France, a history of civil libertarianism twinned with state control
that stretches
back to the revolution of 1789 has nurtured a business culture that
favors
consensus rather than individual leadership. It's important to do
your research -
not only on a country's business structures but also on its general
culture and
history. It's even more important to get to know the people. If you
travel to
Madrid to cut a deal having never before set foot in Spain you are
at a
disadvantage.
Business people in old Europe have
slightly different perceptions of what
constitutes good practice from their US counterparts. Although it
would be
patronizing to say that a mañana culture persists in southern
European business,
it is true that timeliness is not considered a virtue in the way
it is in the States.
For European business people, providing a quality product or service
is much
more important than adhering slavishly to deadlines or driving the
hardest
possible bargain. Because of this difference in values, Europeans
often perceive
Americans as being "pushy" - when the Americans in question
think they're
simply being businesslike.
When I first came to Europe I thought
that the most important thing was to learn
languages - I was wrong. Most European business people accept English
as the
lingua franca of international business. However, you don't want
to risk seeming
ignorant. A reasonable level of conversational French or German,
for example,
will come in useful. I have found that many Europeans have a prejudice
about
perceived American ignorance of the outside world. Showing a little
linguistic
skill - and, more important, willingness - will be to your advantage.
My experience is that knowing the
local language is particularly useful in France.
The French have traditionally been very protective of their mother
tongue. Today,
many native speakers consider French to be in a state of crisis,
attacked on all
sides by international English - so your French hosts will warm to
you quickly if
you seem keen to speak it to them. Again, showing you are willing
to try is more
important than being fluent.
Even so, skills learned in language
classes back home are useless unless basic
cultural differences are understood. Once again, do your research:
time talking
to locals or reading about European culture and history will be well
spent. Knowing
a little history is especially important if you're working in Greece
or any of the
nearby EU satellite states in the Balkans. Educated people there
will often talk
about events of a millennium past as if they happened yesterday.
There is a
perception all over Europe that Americans follow Henry Ford's maxim "history
is
bunk" - I made friends quickly when I disproved this prejudice.
The good news is that Europeans are
more like us than they are different: the
general cultures of both continents respects business and promotes
honest
dealing - but it's important not to let the small differences cost
you money.
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Steve McLaughlin founded Global Market Insights, with offices in
Europe and the
U.S. (http://www.gmi.lu), with his vision of giving clients two synergistic
competencies: knowledge of the global marketplace and industry expertise
in
manufacturing, finance and information technology. Steve has over
twelve years
of international experience in three continents, having started in
executive search
as a Beckett-Rogers Associate. Steve is a graduate of Rice University,
where he
was student body president, and completed post-graduate studies in
International
Economics at the Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile.
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