Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries) |...

Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries) | Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway | Kiss Bow or Shake Hands

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Kiss, Bow, or Shak...

	Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries) Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conaway Adams Media, 2006 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 40 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

You need this along with your travel reservations

On my home office bookshelf....right beside my dictionaries. Excellent country overviews, history, "how to and don't do" tips. Easy reading. Copy the pages you need for your destination and put them along with the ticket and passport in your travel kit.

Kiss Bow or Shake Hands

Excellent reference book. Especially useful if you do international business of any kind.

Avoiding the cultural faux pas...

Today's business world is such that you are very likely to have working relationships with global business partners. And you *should* know that "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". But what exactly is that? Terry Morrison and Wayne A Conaway bridge some of that information gap with the book Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands. This is one of those books that could help you close a big deal (or avoid killing one).

The book covers a large number of countries, one chapter per, and gives you the basics of culture, history, language, and what-not. The chapter starts with a quick culture note (some small and interesting fact) followed by a Cultural IQ test (a few quick questions to see how much you know about the country). There are then tips on doing business there, a very brief historical background, the type of government that is practiced, and what languages are common. The Cultural Orientation section attempts to delve a bit into the general mindset of how they think, make decisions, and regard each other in terms of equality. Probably the most practical sections are the Business Practices and Protocol areas, where you learn what is expected when doing business over there. For instance, there are different speeds in which negotiations occur. Some countries get right to the point, while others will engage in social talk for an extended time before starting business. In some places, being on time is critically important, whereas in other countries, the other party may be an hour late with no explanation. There is also extensive coverage on what to wear and what is expected socially once you're outside of the normal workday.

Overall, I found the book pretty interesting. I read it from cover to cover, which isn't the best way to digest this book. Since countries in neighboring areas might be similar in culture, I found large sections of information that were identical to something I read a few pages before. It's better to use the book as reference, paying particular attention to the countries where you have interests. There are also websites included in the material that point you to additional references on history, culture, and the like. I would recommend using those, as you can only cover so much information in four or five pages.

While not an exhaustive reference for any particular area, it *will* keep you from making the obvious cultural faux pas. A book that would be worth reading before your next trip out of the States...

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A resource for me

Written for the international business traveler, this book was a great resource for me as characters in the Marketplace novels came from around the world. For my fans who keep asking me for "the protocol:" hey, start here and you tell me.

Another inaccuracy

Perhaps many of the people who are rating the book so highly did not take the "cultural IQ" quizzes. I took the one for Spain, a country I have visited. The answers were correct in identifying the Prado as being in Madrid, but the last time I visited the Alhambra, it was in Granada, not Toledo (where the book puts it). That's quite a distance to move a major cultural landmark!

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reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

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