Learning how to integrate into the work environment of Eastern Europe can be challenging. I have background in doing business in both Russia and Azerbaijan. Here are a few things to remember in different parts of Eastern Europe:

Meetings: Moran, Harris and Moran (2011) state that foreigners should be on time to any business meeting but don’t expect the local you are meeting to do the same. In Azerbaijan, it is said that Azerbaijanis prize patience over punctuality (Azerb.com, n.d.). They expect you to be on time but they will generally not be. In Russia, “meetings are often for the purpose of information dissemination, rather than for the open debate of current business issues” (WBC, n.d.). This is very important for foreigners to remember. It can prove to be very frustrating if you plan to have many decisions made during a meeting. Instead, know that information will be shared but there will still need to be follow-up, usually one on one, to make the final decisions.

Photo Source: Danielle Novack

Currency Challenges: Doing business in foreign currency is always a challenge. Moran, et. al. (2011) state “innovative way must be developed to convert the volatile ruble and other new monetary units into international hard currency”. The Russian Ruble has tanked over the past year. In 2014, it went from 33 rubles to the dollar in January to 48 rubles to the dollar in November (Wright, 2014). According to Google’s exchange calculator, today it is 53.49 rubles to the dollar. Azerbaijan has also seen a decline in their currency value. Both of these countries are being affected by the falling oil prices, among other things (Matthews, 2014). Another thing about currency that is important for foreigners to remember, if you want to exchange US Dollars for local currency make sure you have new bills. The sale of counterfeit money on the streets of both Moscow and Baku is prevalent. Exchange house, and even many banks, will not take your older bills (especially if they have been wadded up in your pocket during your travels).

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Communication: Many people in both Russia and Azerbaijan speak English very well. I have found that knowing how to say ‘hello’ and ‘thank you’ go a long way with your colleagues. A formal ‘hello’ in Russian is ‘Здравствуйте’ (zdravstvuyte). Don’t assume that every post Soviet country speaks Russian. Azerbaijan has it’s own language and the way you say ‘hello’ is ‘salam’. Remember that your first greeting will probably come across as cold. Don’t expect a friendly smile when you first meet (e Diplomat, n.d.). Also, always use a nice sturdy handshake for greeting. Except if you are a woman. Only about 50% of men will shake a woman’s hand.

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Learning some simple cultural differences before doing business in another culture is vital to your success. Do your research on the specific culture you plan to do business with and never assume that they are the same as the rest of their region.

References:

Azerb.com. (n.d.). Business Customs in Azerbaijan. Retrieved from http://www.azerb.com/az-busi.html

E Diplomat. (n.d.). Russia – Cultural Etiquette. Retrieved from http://www.ediplomat.com/np/cultural_etiquette/ce_ru.htm

Matthews, C. (2014, December 16). Russian ruble’s fall: A classic ‘currency collapse’ – Fortune. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2014/12/16/russian-ruble-currency-collapse/

Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

World Business Culture (WBC). (n.d.). Business Meetings in Russia. Retrieved from http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/Business-Meetings-in-Russia.html

Wright, C. (2014, November 7). A Plunging Ruble Shows Russia’s Spiraling Decline. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/chriswright/2014/11/07/a-plunging-rouble-shows-russias-spiralling-decline/

 

My time living in Russia was challenging, incredible and everywhere in between. Being an American in Russia was interesting. Some people were excited and intrigued to know why we were there. Others liked to tell us that they “hated all Americans for what we did to their country” and wanted nothing to do with us altogether. The owner of our flat in Moscow was very excited to have Americans living in her flat and even took us out around the city to share her culture with us. We also had people refuse to wait on us at a restaurant because we couldn’t speak Russian. We had to learn to integrate ourselves carefully into their culture without losing ourselves.

We worked for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Doing business in Russia was more of a dance than just purely living. Moran, Harris and Moran (2011) state that Russia “remains one of the most criminalized, corrupt, and bureaucratic countries in the world”. Unfortunately, this is completely accurate and we saw it first-hand. A close friend was in a car accident while driving to work in Sochi. It was both his fault and the fault of the other driver. First of all, four DPS (Road Inspection Service) (Wikipedia, n.d.) officers continued driving once they learned my friend didn’t speak Russian. One finally stopped and began the reports of the accident. He made detailed reports with measurements and diagrams of the accident. Long story short, to allow both sides of the accident to make proper insurance claims, both parties were told to pay a large “fee” to get new, fabricated, official reports written up stating that they were both in single car accidents and the accident was due to environmental surroundings. The original accident report was torn up and these new, fake reports were now the “official” reports.

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The corruption moves through business just as smoothly. The Olympic Games in Sochi cost an estimated $51 billion (Schmemann, 2014). This is more than $40 billion over budget. An International Olympic Committee (IOC) member reported that as much of a third of the budget had been “siphoned off in shady dealings” (Campbell-Dollaghan, 2014). Moran, et al. (2011) state that one of the reasons business is such a challenge in Russia is due to the “remnants of very powerful ‘oligarchs’ who once amassed their wealth by seizure or rigged purchasing of state assets, and still are to be found among the rich elite”. It was reported that once the bid was awarded to Russia, the contracts for construction in Sochi “were awarded to Putin cronies and other oligarchs who saw a rich opportunity to profit”. “If you want to continue doing business in Russia, then you have to help Putin” (Campbell-Dollaghan, 2014).

 Photo Source: Danielle Novack

What should have been a proud moment for Russia will unfortunately always be tarnished with the corruption, and many other issues, that the Games were faced with. Learning to live, and especially work, in this culture proved to be a difficult task but not impossible. It was very important to adopt some of their behaviors and practices while integrating into their business culture. And although living and working in Russia was a challenge, it was still an amazing experience and one I wouldn’t change for anything.

References:

Campbell-Dollaghan, K. (2014, February 3). Can Sochi Get Its Shit Together?. Retrieved from http://gizmodo.com/can-sochi-get-its-shit-together-1514828222?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20deadspin/full%20%28Deadspin%29

Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Oxford: Routledge

Schmemann, A. (2014, February 7). Corruption and Terrorism Overshadow the Sochi Olympics – US News. Retrieved from http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/02/07/corruption-and-terrorism-overshadow-the-sochi-olympics

Wikipedia. (n.d.). Main Directorate for Road Traffic Safety (Russia). Retrieved April 18, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Directorate_for_Road_Traffic_Safety_%28Russia%29

If you have ever done any kind of work in the Middle East, or have worked with someone from an Arab nation, you have probably heard the expression “inshallah”. The direct translation of inshallah is ‘if Allah wills’ or ‘God willing’ (Inshallah, 2015). People write this expression in many different ways. The most proper way to write it is “in sha’a Allah”. It is technically three different words, which literally translate to ‘if Allah wills’. Some people add apostrophes in various places, for example insh’Allah or insha’Allah (Yahoo Answers, n.d.). But the most common English spelling, and the one I will use, is inshallah.

Most Muslims use this term for what it means. They say it “referring to any future occurrence, recognizing that tomorrow isn’t promised and that most of the conditions in our lives are out of our hands” (Jitan, 2013). It is meant to be a positive response to something that will happen in the future. Unfortunately, the term has taken on a negative connotation in today’s business and social interactions. It has become like a promise not to do something. Arabs and expats alike seem to abuse the expression to gently brush things off as unimportant or insignificant. They feel that saying inshallah is better than just telling the other person “no” even when they have no intention of following through with the task (Layla, 2010). “Colloquially, the phrase is closer to ‘don’t count on it’”(Jitan, 2013).

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I lived and worked in Doha, Qatar for one year and became very familiar with the expression inshallah. We ran into many obstacles for meeting deadlines because the local Qataris always wanted to do things “inshallah”. Meetings were usually prompt and ran on time. However, getting things done and having decisions made was another story. I worked with many media outlets including Aljazeera. When it came time to pay their fees for using our facilities, it was always met with an “inshallah”. They eventually came through but it wasn’t until after the event. Although this was unacceptable in our Western standards, to them they paid on time.

Doing business in an Arab country where inshallah is common practice in business takes a lot of patience. As an expat in their world, it is important to learn to accept that your deadlines must be flexible. Moran, Harris and Moran (2011) recommend to avoid imposing Western time frames and schedules to be successful in business in the Middle East. Remember that their day is divided into five prayer times per day. Meetings should be scheduled around these times. In general, inshallah isn’t a bad thing. If you plan to do business in an Arab country just be ready for it, plan for it and embrace it. Inshallah.

References

Inshallah. (2015). In Merriam-Webster Online. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inshallah

Jitan, A. (2013, March 26). Inshallah | The Chronicle. Retrieved from http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/03/27/inshallah#.VROjwzvF83Q

Layla. (2010, December 19). Blue Abaya. Retrieved from http://www.blueabaya.com/2010/12/abused-inshallah.html

Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

Yahoo Answers. (n.d.). How to correctly spell inshallah. Retrieved March 24, 2015, from https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100930142501AAjNAb7

The cost of outsourcing manufacturing to China is beginning to level out with the U.S. This is leading companies to search for new places to set up shop and they are finding that our neighbor Mexico might just be the place (Cioppa, 2014). Mexico has many attractive attributes for new businesses moving across the border. For example, Mexico is much closer than China so businesses would save on transportation. Companies would also be able to monitor the manufacturing process much easier from the States (Cioppa, 2014). Mexico also offers significant savings in terms of labor costs as opposed to China (HSBC, n.d.). It’s not cheap labor. In fact, the population is filled with educated working-age people looking for new opportunities (Cioppa, 2014). With all of these appealing qualities why aren’t more companies moving over the border rather than overseas? Could it be the corruption that plagues Mexico each day?

Transparency International (TI) publishes a report each year that ranks each country on a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and measures how corrupt each country is. On a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), Mexico scored a 35 in 2014. The CPI ranks countries based on how corrupt their public sector is perceived to be. Mexico ranked 103 out of 175 countries. This score is worse than 2013 and has been continually declining (Transparency International, 2014). Forbes names Mexico as being among the world’s most corrupt nations in 2014 based on the report from TI. They report that the decline in rankings came by no surprise based on the many allegations of corruption in government, politics, business and banking this past year. Among the 31 countries of the Americas, only 10 ranked lower than Mexico. Mexico also ranked as the most corrupt among the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries (Estevez, 2014).

With all of this corruption, how does it affect foreign businesses in Mexico? Bribery, colloquially referred to as “bites” or “mordida”, is a long-standing tradition. “Since the 1990’2 the government of Mexico has tried to change this behavior…and has found that this tradition is equally apparent in business as is just as difficult to eradicate” (Slab Watchdog, n.d.). In 2012, The New York Times published an investigative story about how the rapid growth of Wal-Mart involved systematic bribes. Read the full story here. The negative allegations hit Wal-Mart hard even though it was stated that bribery is a normal part of business in Mexico. In an NPR report about the accusations, financial journalist Eduardo Garcia states that it wasn’t shocking that the bribe happened, “it was a shock to see it out there in the public and being reported so extensively” (NPR, 2012). After being asked about bribery being a normal part of business Garcia responded “In Mexico, the culture of bribing to speed up certain requisites for you to open a business, it’s quite commonly done…so it’s almost part of your cost analysis when you do business in Mexico” (NPR, 2012).

There are countless reports about bribery and corruption in business in Mexico. Do the pros of doing business in Mexico outweigh the cons? It’s hard to say. For a smaller company, it may not be worth it to venture across the border. They may gain more affordable business costs and labor, but will the bribes even out their savings? For a large corporation like Wal-Mart, who can afford to play the game, getting the benefits of doing business just across the border could be worth it. What do you think?

References

Cioppa, D. (2014, August 18). HSBCVoice: 3 Reasons To Near-Source Your Business To Mexico – Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/hsbc/2014/08/18/3-reasons-to-near-source-your-business-to-mexico/

Estevez, D. (2014, December 11). Mexico Among The World’s Most Corrupt Nations In 2014, New Report Says – Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/doliaestevez/2014/12/11/mexico-among-the-worlds-most-corrupt-nations-in-2014-new-report-says/

HSBC. (n.d.). HSBC Global Connections — Helping businesses grow internationally. Retrieved from https://globalconnections.hsbc.com/us/en/tools-data/country-guides/mx/introduction

NPR. (2012, April 25). Are Bribes The Norm In Mexico’s Business Culture? : NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2012/04/25/151339996/are-bribes-the-norm-in-mexicos-business-culture

Slab Watchdog. (n.d.). Doing Business in Mexico | SlabWatchdog.com. Retrieved from http://www.slabwatchdog.com/problem/mexico/

Transparency International. (2014, December 3). 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index — Results. Retrieved from https://www.transparency.org/cpi2014/results#myAnchor1

Knowing, and understanding, the culture you are encountering is imperative to success both personally and professionally. I firmly believe that whenever you plan to visit or work with a different culture, you should take the time to learn what is appropriate and what is not. Learn what is considered offensive in their culture. Learn how to say “hello” and “thank you”. Learn how to tip at a restaurant. All of these vary from culture to culture. Culture impacts our relationships and business operations and if we are not prepared, chances are, we will fail (Moran, et al., 2011).

Moran, et al. states that some of the most complex and unstable issues are a misunderstanding of cultures. “At the root of the issue, we are likely to find communication failures and cultural misunderstanding that prevent the parties from framing the problem in a common way, and thus make it impossible to deal with the problem constructively” (Moran et al., 2011). In our text, they talk about the Vietnam war and how different the outcome could have been if, at the beginning of the conflict, “the military leaders and negotiations of the respective countries had used sophisticated problem-solving skills and dug deeper to understand the cultural meanings and the implications of their actions and behind their public statements about the war” (Moran, et al., 2011).

This made me think of the fighting in Istanbul that is going on today. On one side, the anti-government group says they are fighting corruption of the Turkish politics. On the other side, the President of the country is overly religious and trying to push his religious beliefs onto the country. Just like our text states about the outcome of the Vietnam War, the outcome in Istanbul could be very different. I believe that Istanbul could come to a civil agreement, without the violence, if the two different sides problem-solved together and understood the cultural meanings and implications of each side (Moran, et al., 2011). When I was in Istanbul, my husband and I found ourselves in the middle of a protest. We didn’t even realize what was happening until it was too late. Luckily, they were not very active when we were there. It was two weeks after we left the country that the anti-government protests turned violent.

While we were there, we also noticed that Istanbul is a giant melting pot of people who have different beliefs, different religions and different backgrounds. Although the fighting is happening within Turkey, it is still very important to know the different types of cultures within the city that causes such a divide when it comes to the civil unrest. “Change is also a part of our daily lives, and impacts all” (Moran, et al., 2011). The civil unrest in Istanbul started with the President wanting to make many new changes. Many people disagree with his changes and are now speaking out through violence. Again, if both sides were able to work together and get to understand each other’s cultural meanings, I believe this unrest could be resolved without violence.

 

Moran, R. T., Harris, P. R., & Moran, S. V. (2011). Managing cultural differences: Global leadership strategies for cross-cultural business success (8th ed.). Oxford: Routledge.

Lowen, M. (2015, January 7). BBC News – Turkish Marxist group claims Istanbul suicide bombing. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30707871

Photo Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bomb-found-outside-istanbul-shopping-centre-131849331.html

Hi there. My name is Danielle and I live in Orange County, CA. I have been married to my best friend for almost 9 years and we have two adorable four-legged corgi kids. I am in my last semester at Penn State (woo hoo!!) and will graduate with my BA in Organizational Leadership. I decided to go back to school in 2012 when we moved to Russia to work the 2014 Winter Olympics. My husband is still working Games and currently lives in Azerbaijan for the European Olympic Games. This kind of work is in our blood.I call myself a jack-of-all-trades. I have been a hairstylist, makeup artist, Disney entertainer, producer, graphic designer, director of a preschool, and a video board operator for large sporting events; to name a few. I am currently a virtual assistant for two different teacher-based websites and am in the process of launching two websites of my own. My long-term dream is to open my own business having to do with dogs.The quote I try to live by everyday is “Be the change you wish to see in the world” – Gandhi. I plan to get a tattoo of it someday, it means that much to me. I believe that you need to lead by example in everything you do. This is especially important when being a leader. 

I look forward to working with everyone this semester. Good luck!!