Cultures build relationships in different ways.

Understanding these cultural differences can be the difference between success and failure.

If you’re from the USA and work with the French, then it’s a good idea to understand the culture.

French people are incredibly proud of their heritage and cultural identity.

Is there a correlation between culture and the COVID-19 pandemic?

This is a question we’ve posed before in previous blogs.

Since email etiquette varies greatly across cultures, it can be hit and miss if you don’t understand the expectations of the people you are emailing.

Being unaware of the social cues or cultural norms of your recipient puts you at risk of miscommunicating or causing offense.

If you’re American and new to doing business with Saudis, then this is for you!

We're going to give you a quick-fire overview of some of the most common challenges faced by the two cultures when doing business together.

Every country has its quirks, right?

Well, the Land of Hope and Freedom is no different.

Do cultural commitments to ideas like freedom and liberty help or hinder Americans in their plight?

In this blog we’ll explore how American culture and values are potentially harming the country’s ability to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Depending on your own culture, working with Americans can be challenging.

When delivering cross-cultural training we get to hear many of the challenges facing professionals when working with Americans.

Imagine you’ve been asked to play an unfamiliar board game and that you’re instructed to play it without any understanding of the rules.

You soon begin to irritate other players by making mistakes and getting things wrong and, after a while, the game becomes a stressful and confusing experience.

We hear a lot in the news about cultural differences with Western companies going East, but rarely about Eastern companies coming to the West.

A great little article in the South China Morning Post by Mark Magnier suggests that when it comes to navigating different business cultures, Chinese companies are finding very similar challenges when working on the global stage, especially in the USA.

Living abroad gives you some excellent insights into foreign cultures.

Especially in terms of being able to compare them viz-a-viz with other cultures.

 With talk of a mega trade deal between The USA and The UK, British business is gearing up for a potential export rush across The Atlantic.

To help prepare British exporters for future opportunities, The Institute of Export and Open to Export recently hosted a webinar to which Commisceo Global was invited to speak.

Once again, tensions between America and Iran are high; inspiring the usual flurry of media accounts keen to elaborate on the cultural and political differences between the two countries.

While, in the West, we depict the USA as ‘free’ and democratic, Iran, is typically reported as oppressive, authoritarian and in the grips of ‘crazed’ mullahs.

Did you know that the USA is one of our most in-demand countries in terms of cross-cultural training?

We support a diverse spectrum of business professionals from across the globe who work with Americans by helping them understand the culture, and specifically the business culture.

We spend most of our time here working on serious cultural stuff, such as, how to negotiate successfully with the Americans, or, how to give good service to American customers.

Every so often however, we feel that need to go off at a tangent and indulge in some of the quirkier aspects of culture!

Did you know that Indians form the second largest group of immigrants in America, with Mexicans taking the top spot?

Although Indian expats may enter the US with a typically high level of education under their belts and a strong work ethic, they often find cultural differences between the US and India quite a challenge.

President Trump’s recent speech outlining his stance on the Iran nuclear-deal has caused outrage among Iranians, not for his position on the deal and potential new sanctions, but for his knowledge of geography.

When referring to his decision to withdraw presidential certification for the Iranian-deal, Trump stated that Iran’s regime “harasses American ships and threatens freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and in the Red Sea.”

Researchers believe they have finally discovered why the wide, white-teethed smile is so important in American culture - immigrants and cultural diversity.

Across different cultures, a smile can mean many things.

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.

As many Chinese tourists only pay a brief visit to the city, local Boston companies are now getting training to increase their appeal to this important group of visitors (and revenue stream).

According to The BBC, many Chinese tourists travel to the United States for their holidays. The top three American cities they visit are New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC, but Boston isn’t far behind.

However, the Chinese often only visit this city to check out universities like Harvard and the MIT, resulting in very short visits that aren’t very beneficial for the local Boston businesses.

If Chinese visitors could stay longer, the boom to the local economy could be massive.

Jolin Zhou, who works for the Chinese tour operator Sunshine Travel in Boston, tells a story about a Chinese man and his teenage son who had come to Boston to look at universities. "One day he asked my co-worker, 'Can you recommend a meal, a good restaurant and bring me there? The best restaurant in Boston, no matter how expensive.' My co-worker brought him to a restaurant; they spent $1,000 for two of them for dinner."

Zhou told this story to participants of a tourism workshop that was set up by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism. The Office wants to attract more Chinese people to the region as the middle class in China consists of about 300 million people who are spending more and more time abroad. In terms of most visitors per country, they are the ninth biggest group in the US, and the fastest growing one. They even rank third in the biggest spenders when travelling abroad.