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.

“There’s no food for lazy man” is a common saying displayed all over Accra, and one I happened to hear today on my first day in Ghana.

Many of these proverbs beautifully illustrate the values of Ghanain people. 

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.

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.

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!).

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.

E-commerce companies that wish to go international need to focus on cultural awareness as part of their global marketing and sales strategies.

Not enough companies are applying localisation at every level, leaving gaps in their global goals.

According to a new global study about workplace bullying, bullying bosses are more accepted in Anglo countries such as the U.S. or the U.K than they are in many other countries.

The study was recently published in the Journal or Business Research and is co-authored by Nikos Bozionelos, who is a Professor at the Audencia Nantes School of Management.

This July, the European Union will present new rules to encourage a Single European Payments Area. However, cultural and regulatory differences prove to pose challenges for the EU executives involved.

With these new rules, which are basically an update for the EU’s Payment Service Directive (PSD II), the European Commission is aiming to level the card, internet and mobile payment services industry across Europe.

Cultural awareness is important in today's day and age.

Businesses, government bodies, the third sector and public services all realise the need to understand and embrace cultural diversity at many levels.

A number of American marketing and advertising companies have come together to start a new organization that aims to encourage cross-cultural marketing: a sign of changing directions and prioritizations within the marketing world perhaps?

Cross-cultural marketing, i.e. marketing aimed to target one large, general market, has been enriched by a new association.

Five large agencies...

- American Association of Advertising Agencies
- Draftfcb, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG  -  Analyst Report, Pepsico, Inc. (PEP  -  Analyst Report)
- two divisions of WPP plc (WPPGY  -  Analyst Report),
- Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and
- the Millward Brown research company

....have joined forces to form the Cross Cultural Marketing and Communications Association.

Instead of focussing on individual sectors or industries, the CCMCA will employ a “total market approach,” meaning that the market will be approached as a whole in order to generate revenue.

According to the New Yorker, founder Jeffrew L. Bowman believes cross-cultural marketing brings together two fields of industry that usually stay separated. He believes that companies are expected to be either in general or multicultural marketing, but that cross-cultural marketing unites these two fields.

In addition, the association’s work force will be recruited from different cultures to make sure all consumers on the general markets are understood.

In the New Yorker article, member of the advisory board of the new association Vita Harris, who is also executive vice president and chief global strategy officer at Draftfcb, explained this practice. According to her, the total market approach entails that agencies and advisors exactly know the consumers’ wishes. If a staff comes from different cultures, this is more easily achieved than when all employees have the same background.  

Zacks reported that the association was officially launched at the Total Market Industry Conference at Ogilvy & Mather on 9 and 10 September. Here, the association’s spokespersons addressed vital issues such as demographic and technological trends an strategies to attract new, skilled employees and keeping those that are already working for your company on board.

It is expected that the association will be beneficial to the overall advertising market. This is also what the association is aiming for. According to the New Yorker, Mr. Bowman states that the association wishes to “complement the other associations out there rather than compete with them for attention and resources.” He added: “If we’re successful, other organizations will adopt the total market approach. If we go away, great, it would mean we’ll have been successful.”

Global Real Estate advisor Jones Lang LaSalle have carried out some research into the difficulties that can be encountered by western companies when they enter the Indian market.

The result? Cultural differences are a major obstacle.

According to a new study, not enough organisations regard a culturally diverse work force as a top priority.

As having employees from different countries and cultures can benefit an organisation greatly, experts are urging Human Resource (HR) departments to take action!

Maps are a great source of information – but they can also become points of contention as maps, by their very nature, draw political, cultural and historical boundaries.

When these boundaries are incorrect it can lead to negative consequences.

Students and graduates, pack your bags!

Studying or working abroad is not only an experience of a lifetime, the lessons you learn when you spend time in another country might benefit you later in life as well.

You may have seen this amazing graphic going viral in the past couple of days.

How did such a simple and funny representation of stereotype become viral so quickly?

Always wanted to know more about the Swazi language and culture but found plane tickets a tad too expensive?

With the new SiSwApp that is to be launched in February next year, the culture of the beautiful African country will unfold itself before your very eyes!

Have you heard those nightmare stories of foreigners working abroad and causing offence?

Well, strap yourself in because this is one hell of a tale!

Conflicts are never beneficial for a working environment – cultural conflicts are one of many challenges that need to be avoided at all costs.

A recent study, however, revealed that avoiding cultural clashes in the workplace does not only result in a more peaceful environment, but can aid the creative process within companies as well.