Archive for the ‘business’ Category

Cultural challenges to innovation in China

Business Week recently published an interesting column by Nandani Lynton in which she discussed some of the cultural challenges that face China in its efforts to build a more innovative economy. Innovation is the buzzword in China these days. The mainland overtook Japan this year to become the world’s No. 2 investor in R&D after [...]

December 27, 2006 business 0 Comments

Technology startups in China and Scandinavia

Business Week currently has two articles on technology startups, one with tips on investing in internet businesses in China and another about new technology companies in Scandinavia.  Within both articles are clues to the business cultures of the respective regions. First, some cultural advice for investing in China … One of the biggest challenges for a [...]

October 12, 2006 business 0 Comments

Islam and capitalism in Turkey

Anyone who likes to argue that Islam cannot exist in conjunction with either capitalism or democracy needs to take a closer look at Turkey.  Not only does the country have a functioning democracy, but the region of central Turkey is fast developing into much more than an agricultural economy, as noted by this recent article in the [...]

August 28, 2006 business, religion 0 Comments

Western values causing Japanese anxiety

Interesting story in the London Times about how Western business practices seem to be a cause of rising anxiety and depression in Japan.  The more individualistic practices common to Western business go against the grain of a Japanese society that is traditionally more group-oriented.  Other anecdotal stories in recent years seem to indicate that younger workers [...]

August 11, 2006 business 0 Comments

Networking across cultures

There was a recent article on MSNBC (via entrepreneur.com) about networking around the world.  It offers a few tips on overcoming cultural differences in business. For example, here is an excerpt on how to treat business cards in Asia: The business card means much more in the Asian culture than it does here in America; it’s [...]

July 12, 2006 business 0 Comments

European migration and Irish pubs

Now that the European Union allows workers to move around the continent for jobs, some interesting migration patterns have developed.  According to this NY Times article, Germany, Britain and Spain are three of the top landing spots for immigrants from other nations.  These are not just laborers in search of a construction contract, but also thousands [...]

June 2, 2006 business 0 Comments

The experiences of Japanese expats

Nice story in the English-language Japan Times about the increasing numbers of Japanese who are choosing to live and work overseas.  Almost one million Japanese now live outside of their country, a 40 percent increase in ten years. The newspaper asked several of those expats to share their experiences from Argentina, France, Spain, the United States and other [...]

May 18, 2006 business, live/study abroad 0 Comments

Doing business in Mexico

U.S. News and World Report this week takes a look at small firms that do business in Mexico.  The article provides several ideas for business assistance, as well as these cultural tips: No doubt, face time is a must for potential exporters. “You really need to get a feel for what the environment is like,” Duncan says. [...]

April 20, 2006 business 0 Comments
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