Training business professionals prior to going to Iran gives us excellent insight into the misconceptions, stereotypes, fears and worries many foreigners hold. Here's the 10 most common. Deadly not because they can cause death; deadly in that they are based on ignorance and falsehood and lead only to misunderstanding.
Iran regularly features in global news; bandied around by governments arguing the potential benefits or drawbacks of doing business with Iran.
I recently heard someone of North Korean origin say that you cannot refer to someone as simply 'Korean'.
From a Korean’s perspective, there’s no such thing as ‘Korean,’ as people originating from Korea identify as either South or North Korean.
What imagery would you use? How could you help someone understand the basic mechanics of culture and the impact this has on the world?
Not an easy one!
Has globalisation led to a homogenity of culture when it comes to product, marketing, sales and service?
Or have our cultural differences actually become more acute?
Having received great feedback on my blog about the place of "tarof" in Persian culture, a few people have requested a brief guide to doing business in Iran for companies making the journey over.
So here goes....
Marketing is perhaps one of the trickiest elements to get right when taking your business or product into new and unchartered territories. Language, culture, local practices and many other factors heavily influence success or failure.
Many companies have learned the hard way that you have to think outside of your own cultural bubble when it comes to marketing abroad and be very much in tune with local means and ways.
Whether we know it or not, culture impacts almost everything we do. Within business, one should always be aware of cultural differences. Yes, even within interior design!
When thinking about cultural differences, interior design might not be the first area of business that comes to mind.
However, in a great article on Prime Resi, Joe Burns explains that luxury homes will only meet the client’s wishes if the designer knows the ins and outs of their culture.
According to new research, the cultural divide between the West and the East can be explained by the type of farming methods used between the regions. As rice requires more human labour, researchers say it’s no wonder that people in the East are more interdependent.
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? To find out more, we interviewed it’s creator – Jerome Vadon.
Different perspectives = different priorities. This is true of anything in life and especially in global business.
