Business Negotiating

. Meetings and negotiations are slow. Russians do not like being rushed.
. It is a good idea to include technical experts on your negotiating team.
. Hierarchy is important to Russians. They respect age, rank and position. The most senior person reaches decisions.
. Russian executives prefer to meet with people of similar rank and position.
. Russians see negotiations as win-lose. They do not believe in win-win scenarios.
. Have written materials available in both English and Russian.
. Russians view compromise as weakness. They will continue negotiating until you offer concessions.
. Russians may lose their temper, walk out of the meeting, or threaten to terminate the relationship in an attempt to coerce you to change your position.
. Russians often use time as a tactic, especially if they know that you have a deadline. Be cautious about letting your business colleagues know that you are under time pressure or they will delay even more.
. Nothing is final until the contract is signed. Even then, Russians will modify a contract to suit their purposes.
. Do not use high-pressure sales tactics as they will work against you.

Dress Etiquette

. Business dress is formal and conservative.
. Men should wear business suits.
. Women should wear subdued coloured business suits with skirts that cover the knees.
. Shoes should be highly polished.

Business Cards

. Business cards are exchanged after the initial introductions without formal ritual.
. Have one side of your business card translated into Russian using Cyrillic text.
. Include advanced university degrees on your business card.
. Hand your business card so the Russian side is readable to the recipient.
. If someone does not have a business card, note their pertinent information

UK - Language, Culture, Customs and Etiquette

GREAT BRITAIN

Facts and Statistics

Location:Western Europe, islands including the northern one-sixth of the island of Ireland between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, northwest of France
Capital:London
Climate:temperate; moderated by prevailing southwest winds over the North Atlantic Current; more than one-half of the days are overcast
Population:60,776,238 (July 2007 est.)
Ethnic Make-up:white (of which English 83.6%, Scottish 8.6%, Welsh 4.9%, Northern Irish 2.9%) 92.1%, black 2%, Indian 1.8%, Pakistani 1.3%, mixed 1.2%, other 1.6% (2001 census)
Religions:Christian (Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 71.6%, Muslim 2.7%, Hindu 1%, other 1.6%, unspecified or none 23.1% (2001 census)
Government:constitutional monarchy

Language in the UK

The United Kingdom does not have a constitutionally defined official language. English is the main language (being spoken monolingually by more than 70% of the UK population) and is thus the de facto official language.

Other native languages to the Isles include Welsh, Irish, Ulster Scots, Cornish, Gaelic and British Sign Language.

Immigrants have naturally brought many foreign languages from across the globe.

British Society, People and Culture

The United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is comprised of four countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It is important not only to be aware of these geographical distinctions, but also the strong sense of identity and nationalism felt by the populations of these four nations.

The terms 'English' and 'British' do not mean the same thing. 'British' denotes someone who is from England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. 'English' refers to people from England. People from Scotland are 'Scots', from Wales ‘Welsh’ and from Northern Ireland ‘Irish’. Be sure not to call someone Welsh, Scots, or Northern Irish ‘English’.

The Class System

Although in the past few decades, people from varied backgrounds have had greater access to higher education, wealth distribution is changing and more upward/downward mobility is occurring, the British class system is still very much intact although in a more subconscious way. The playing field is levelling but the British still seem to pigeon-hole people according to class.

Class is no longer simply about wealth or where one lives; the British are able to suss out someone’s class through a number of complex variables including demeanour, accent, manners and comportment.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 962