Are you wondering why your Turkish contact arrived half an hour late to a company meeting? Do you have a left-handed colleague who was sent by the company to negotiate with an Arab business partner, resulting in disaster?<\/p>\n
<\/span>It\u2019s likely that you broke the sacred laws of\u00a0international business etiquette<\/strong>. Doing business doesn\u2019t leave much room for ignorance, so it is best to make sure you\u2019re prepared for international meetings and, above all, equipped with an interpreter who knows the rules of the game.<\/p>\n Business etiquette is essentially a set of\u00a0unwritten rules<\/strong>\u00a0that regulate\u00a0meetings and working relationships<\/strong>\u00a0and that tend to differ depending on the country you\u2019re in. Businesspeople who attend meetings with international partners on a daily basis can\u2019t really afford to ignore this unspoken set of rules.<\/p>\n Here are some of the international rules we recommend following in order to be a successful businessperson, and to avoid messing up important meetings before you even sit down at the table.<\/p>\n In Italy, we have a complicated relationship with punctuality. Generally speaking, in the business world, it\u2019s considered polite to arrive\u00a0five minutes before<\/strong>\u00a0a meeting is due to commence in order to prepare and settle in so that the meeting can get underway bang on time. However, this rule doesn\u2019t apply to all regions of Italy, in fact, the further away from Milan you travel, and the closer to Palermo you get, the laxer the rules seems to be.<\/p>\n The five-minute rule applies well to meetings with\u00a0Germans, Canadians, Americans, Russians and the Japanese<\/strong>. However, things change radically when it comes to\u00a0Turkish, South American, Portuguese and Spanish<\/strong>\u00a0business partners, who may consider arriving in advance of a meeting to be a bit rude.<\/p>\n In most Western countries, businesspeople tend to greet each other with a\u00a0brief but firm handshake<\/strong>, and if you\u2019re greeting someone from\u00a0Russia<\/strong>, you must do so while making\u00a0eye contact<\/strong>\u00a0with them.<\/p>\n The problem arises when you have to greet\u00a0partners or colleagues from the United Arab Emirates<\/strong>, who\u00a0never use their left hand<\/strong>. It is a deeply rooted habit in Middle Eastern culture, since the left hand tends to be used for hygiene purposes and therefore, out of both hygiene and respect, it is not traditionally used to perform other activities, especially when it comes to greeting strangers.<\/p>\nWhat is Business Etiquette?<\/h2>\n
Business Etiquette: too early or too late?<\/h2>\n
The left-handed rule in Arab countries<\/h2>\n