If you were planning on taking your business to the Nigerian market, you might want to prepare your staff for a trip to the African continent, as Nigerian merchants apparently favour real-life conversations over business talk via email.

Different cultures prefer different ways of communication: according to online shopping and price comparison directory PriceCheck, Nigerians working in retail preferably handle their communication in face to face meetings, website HumanIPO says.

Travelling to the Arab world on business?

Whether you're visiting the UAE, Jordan or Saudi Arabia, no matter where you go in the Arab world, knowing a few words or phrases in the local language can break down barriers, build relationships and smooth the way to business success!

To help you make a great impression with your hosts, we're going to share 20 "must know" Arabic words and phrases every business person should learn before they visit Arabic speaking countries.

During these past four days in Accra, we have often been asked what we make of Ghana – the culture, people, food, etc.

It’s been an exciting and eye opening 4 days. Interestingly, one of the most surprising factors have been the traffic jams during rush hour and the extent to which these influence timeliness – we have experienced this ourselves on most days, so to avoid unnecessary frustrations, I have had to surrender to the traffic and simply go with the flow (and try not to inhale too many fumes!).

All week, in Ghana, we have reached out to a broad spectrum of successful  Ghanaian businessmen to help determine how they have managed to attain success. 

Our meetings focused on hearing their experiences, their challenges, as well as their formula for breaking out of the crowd.

Based on my experiences of organising business meetings in Ghana, I am going to elaborate on business etiquette in general, with the hope to give a few more insights, explanations and tips for doing business in Ghana.

I have to specify that the insights which will be given below were collected from Ghanaians currently living and working in Ghana, as opposed to Ghanaians from the diaspora who have recently come back to open up businesses back home.

According to culture awareness expert Andy Molinsky, 'global dexterity' is key to successful cross-cultural understanding.

Awareness of culture and cross cultural differences are increasingly important in our global economy; Molinsky explains more in an interview with Forbes.

We focus a lot on this website about cultural differences in business; however for us it's all about culture and understanding that culture influences who we are and what we do.

Only when you understand your own "self" and the cultural programming your have received, can you move towards understanding the "other".

Has the adoption of western education, management and leadership paradigms killed off local and national management styles across the world?

Voices in the UAE are claiming this is unhealthy and unsustainable as foreign principles can never 100% fit in with local cultural needs.

As the retail market continues to suffer under the crippling effects of the current financial crisis, retailers (especially in the UK) are turning to new strategies to expand their businesses - export and international sales through online commerce.

How many though have considered the impact of cultural differences on the chances of their success?

'Active listening' is a communication skill crucial to doing cross-cultural business.

As a skill, it requires the listener to become attuned with the speaker in order to confirm what they have heard and moreover, to confirm the understanding of both parties.

Different perspectives = different priorities.

This is true of anything in life and especially in global business.

Have you ever thought about the link between culture and retail?

One of the first things I like to do when I go into a different country is go check out the local supermarket.

You can read as many books about cultural awareness as you like; you will only become successful when working with other cultures when you put your knowledge into action.

When working on a cross-cultural basis, cultural awareness training often isn’t enough says Andy Molinsky.

Want to improve your people skills?

Need to train staff in communication skills?

Exporting food?

Beware of cultural differences and always carry out research on consumer, retail and shopping habits say the experts.

A report undertaken by Ipsos called "Culture at Work" throws some interesting light on intercultural skills in the international workplace.

The intercultural skills most commonly reported by these business included: 

A new report from Ipsos finds that businesses need and want people with intercultual skills.

John Worne agrees, stressing the importance of knowing your foreign languages and being culturally aware as a company.

Doing business internationally can be exciting and fulfilling.

It can also present opportunities to learn new approaches to the workplace. 

Weichert Relocation specialists, provide essential insights into international relocations and personnel movement with their whitepaper “Current Global Workforce Mobility Trends”. 

As online cultural awareness training providers, whitepapers such as these are essential to helping us ensure our expatriate cultural training programmes meet the needs of relocating staff.

As a training consultant, one of the best aspects of my work is seeing how different industries approach employee training.

I'm lucky, I get to meet HR, L&D and Training Managers from across industries and businesses and to them about their work. In my last visit to Paris, I was blown over by the proactivity and dedication to training by a natural resources company.