Your
fast-food franchise has been cleared for business in all 4 countries (United
Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico, and China). You now have to start construction
on your restaurants. The financing is coming from the United Arab Emirates, the
materials are coming from Mexico and China, the engineering and technology are
coming from Israel, and the labor will be hired locally within these countries
by your management team from the United States. You invite all of the players
to the headquarters in the United States for a big meeting to explain the
project and get to know one another. In preparation for the meeting, you want
to avoid cultural silos, while ensuring all parties engage with each other.
Answer the following questions in preparation:
What do
you know about these cultures—specifically their economic, political,
educational, and social systems—that could help you in getting them together?
What are some of the contrasting cultural values of these countries?
As you begin to plan, you are concerned about some of the language barriers,
particularly the fact that the United States is a low-context country, and some
of the countries present are high-context countries. Furthermore, you only
speak English, and you do not have an interpreter planned at this time. What
strategy would you use to begin to have everyone develop a relationship with
each other that will help ease future negotiations, development, and
implementation? Address the following questions in your response.
How will
this affect the presentation?
What are some of the issues you should be concerned about regarding verbal and
nonverbal language for this group?
