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Business Culture TipsAlways answer queries politely and promptly.Don’t delay when responding to e-mail, fax, andtelephone requests for price lists, quotes, andother information. Build your own marketinglist from the contacts. Ask for each customer’scommunication preferences. The query you ignoretoday might have been your next best source offuture business.Start with what you know. Try beginning with abusiness culture and system similar to your own.Canada and the United Kingdom are often goodmarkets for beginners.Learn from your domestic customers. Applycultural knowledge you gain from selling tocustomers from different social and ethnicbackgrounds than yourself. Preferences, productusage, and business protocol may not translateperfectly to international customers, but helpfulinformation can be harvested here in the UnitedStates and applied to market entry efforts abroad.Be patient. Different cultures have differentconcepts of time. Few markets have a fasterbusiness pace than the United States; manyare slower.Take time to develop personal relationships—especially with distributors or large-volumebuyers. Remembering birthdays and otherimportant events is a good intercultural businesspractice. It’s generally not difficult for Americansto be warm, welcoming, respectful, andthoughtful. Be yourself—or even a little more. Ifyou can’t, or if the self you know doesn’t fit thisprofile, consider making a trusted employee theprimary business contact.Learn the language. A few words of the nativelanguage of your buyers or business associateswill go a long way. They will appreciate the effort.Words of welcome on your website, and maybea currency converter, will further demonstrateyour interest in doing business in ways that aremutually respectful.Get an intern or hire a new employee. Asbusiness develops with overseas customers,consider recruiting a student intern or recentcollege graduate who speaks the language andunderstands the business culture. Investing incompany staffing resources is especially valuablewhen doing business with customers in Japan,China, and countries in which Arabic is spoken.Attend a U.S. trade show. Find one in your industrythat’s attended by foreign buyers. You can makegood contacts—even sales—and test the watersbefore heading overseas.Attend an international trade show in yourindustry. U.S. embassies abroad often staff anational pavilion where U.S. sellers and foreignbuyers, often from many countries in a region,meet. A great way to understand a differentbusiness culture is to do business, not read abouthow others do it.Get help. Before you head overseas on a businessdevelopment trip, contact the U.S. embassyand the U.S. Commercial Service. They’ll lineup qualified buyers for you to meet, and they’llcounsel you on business protocol, marketintelligence, regulatory issues, and much more.Chapter 16: Business Travel Abroad187
prevent you from accomplishing your objectives, and ultimately lead to the failure ofyour exporting effort.Americans must pay close attention to different styles of doing business andthe degree of importance placed on developing business relationships. In somecountries, businesspeople have a very direct style, while in others they are moresubtle and value personal relationships more than is customary in most U.S. businessrelationships. For example, in the Middle East, indulging in small talk before engagingin the business at hand is standard practice.Attitudes toward punctuality vary greatly from one culture to another, andmisunderstanding those attitudes may cause confusion. Romanians, Japanese, andGermans are very punctual, whereas people in many of the Latin countries have amore relaxed attitude toward time. The Japanese consider it rude to be late for abusiness meeting but acceptable—even fashionable—to be late for a social occasion.In Guatemala, though, people will arrive from 10 minutes early to 45 minutes late fora luncheon appointment.When cultural lines are being crossed, something as simple as a greeting can bemisunderstood. Traditional greetings include shaking hands, hugging, kissing, andplacing the hands in praying position. The “wrong” greeting can lead to anawkward encounter.People around the world use body movementsand gestures to convey specific messages.Misunderstandings over gestures are commonoccurrences in intercultural communication andcan lead to business complications and socialembarrassment.Something as simple andcommonplace as a “thumbs up”may be meaningless—or evenoffensive—in some cultures.Proper use of names and titles is often a source of confusion in international businessrelations. In many countries (including Denmark, France, and the United Kingdom),it is appropriate to use titles until use of first names is suggested. First names areseldom used by those doing business in Germany. Visiting businesspeople should usethe surname preceded by the title. Titles such as “Herr Direktor” are sometimes usedto indicate prestige, status, and rank. Thais, however, address one another by firstnames and reserve last names for very formal occasions and written communications.In Belgium, it is important to address French-speaking business contacts as“Monsieur” or “Madame,” whereas Flemish-speaking contacts should be addressed as“Mr.” or “Mrs.” To misuse these titles is a great faux pas.Understanding gift-giving customs is also important. In some cultures, gifts areexpected, and failure to present them is considered an insult. In other countries,though, the presentation of a gift is viewed as an offense. Business executives alsoneed to know when to present a gift (e.g., on the initial visit or afterward); where topresent the gift (in public or privately); what type of gift to present; what color thegift should be; and how many gifts are appropriate.188U.S. Commercial Service • A Basic Guide to Exporting
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A BASIC GUIDE TOEXPORTINGThe Offici
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export.gov/basicguideLibrary of Con
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Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introdu
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global GDP and 30 percent of global
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A GEE might consist, for example, o
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Success StoryPedaling Through Trial
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Chapter 2Developing anExport Strate
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specified in the EAR under a specif
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All U.S. businesses have many ways
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Answer these 11 questions:1. Which
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Product or Service• What need doe
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Sample Outline of anExport PlanTabl
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5. Current Trends and Practices•
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16. My Product’s Harmonized Code
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Success StoryDownloading NewInterna
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This last advantage is especially i
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Gathering and evaluating secondary
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Drawing ConclusionsAfter analyzing
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United Nations Statistical Yearbook
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Private-Sector Product and Industry
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Success StoryHelping Feed the World
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Chapter 4Export AdviceIn this chapt
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Some of the more important services
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the important difference that the b
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at no cost to the small business ex
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A commercial bank can perform many
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location and construction of manufa
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To prevent reverse engineering in C
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We are agnostic on the question of
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Distribution ConsiderationsHere are
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Often, the first company does not p
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your ability to terminate agreement
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Once your company has prequalified
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Choosing a ForeignRepresentative or
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Success StoryDon’t Wait—Innovat
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Chapter 6Finding QualifiedBuyersIn
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companies are available from many p
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Trade Fair Certification Program (e
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Millennium Development CorporationT
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Who Is the “Ideal”International
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Scores of new franchising concepts
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Success StoryCast a Wide Net to Cat
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Chapter 8Preparing YourProduct for
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You can also contact the Office of
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training seminars, or DVDs. Zeigler
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The ChallengeSmith first looked tow
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encompasses services in transportat
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give U.S. companies a competitive e
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Success StoryRecruiting New Franchi
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Chapter 10International LegalConsid
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For more information from the U.S.
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When goods enter a bonded warehouse
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under the UCC. Older works may also
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Trade names are also protected on a
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knowledge, in turn, promotes furthe
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prevent him or her from obtaining a
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Business-to-Consumer E-Commerce Wor
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Because such a website is often sta
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An online exporter may choose to pu
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important to identify and incorpora
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other business contacts) options re
Page 128 and 129: Success StoryGrowing Strong withInt
Page 130 and 131: Chapter 12Shipping YourProductIn th
Page 132 and 133: One popular method of shipment is t
Page 134 and 135: Certificate of ConformityRequired b
Page 136 and 137: The cost of the shipment, delivery
Page 138 and 139: To learn more about comprehensive r
Page 140 and 141: China but needed to do a lot of hom
Page 142 and 143: price is too high, the product or s
Page 144 and 145: CompetitionIn the domestic market,
Page 146 and 147: Commonly Used TermsIt is important
Page 148 and 149: Success StoryAligning Innovationwit
Page 150 and 151: Chapter 14Methods ofPaymentIn this
Page 152 and 153: Letters of Credit and Documentary C
Page 154 and 155: You must provide documentation show
Page 156 and 157: associated with open-account trade
Page 158 and 159: payment. This is because the export
Page 160 and 161: ut they were willing to make the sm
Page 162 and 163: • The need for preshipment financ
Page 164 and 165: Thus it is in your best interest to
Page 166 and 167: to support ongoing export sales or
Page 168 and 169: To be eligible, a business must hav
Page 170 and 171: Medium Enterprise Department and OP
Page 172 and 173: Success StoryManufacturingInternati
Page 174 and 175: Chapter 16Business TravelAbroadIn t
Page 176 and 177: Planning an ItineraryTravel agents
Page 180 and 181: Gift giving is an important part of
Page 182 and 183: particularly intense issue. So the
Page 184 and 185: Here are a few suggestions.• Expe
Page 186 and 187: Building a Working RelationshipOnce
Page 188 and 189: negotiations and agreements with it
Page 190 and 191: Chapter 18Rules of Originfor FTAsIn
Page 192 and 193: 5. Determine if the foreign content
Page 194 and 195: The original ROOs are listed in an
Page 196 and 197: Example Rules of OriginCombining Mu
Page 198 and 199: Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Bahrain, a
Page 200 and 201: The importer may ask the exporter w
Page 202 and 203: Generic CertificatesIf a good does
Page 204 and 205: Architectural Association of Kenya
Page 206 and 207: Appendix A: Glossary of TermsAdvanc
Page 208 and 209: Export-Import Bank of the United St
Page 210 and 211: Market SurveyReport that provides a
Page 212 and 213: Appendix B: Definitions of Abbrevia
Page 214 and 215: Appendix D: FormsHere, you will fin
Page 216 and 217: 228U.S. Commercial Service • A Ba
Page 218 and 219: Tech International1000 J Street, N.
Page 220 and 221: COMMERCIAL INVOICESELLER: INVOICE N
Page 222 and 223: Copyright © 1998 UNZ & CO.SHIPPER/
Page 224 and 225: DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITYU.S.
Page 226 and 227: PACKING LIST© Copyright 2001 Unz &
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1a. U.S. PRINCIPAL PARTY IN INTERES
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U.S. $13220of this FIRST of Exchang
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IndexAA2ASee account-to-account (A2
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Global Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (
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Swinko, RonSee Jet IncorporatedSzuc
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International OfficesAfghanistanKab
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