Product Description

Richard Lewis provides a truly global and practical guide to working and communicating across cultures, with penetrating insights into how different business cultures accord status, structure their organizations, and view their role of leaders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #164885 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 599 pages

Wall Street Journal
Nobody knows better than Richard Lewis, Chairman of a company with offices in more than 30 countries, that people have different cultural characteristics that affect the way they do business... An authoritative roadmap to navigating the world's economy.

Chartered Secretary
Instructive and highly entertaining, an invaluable insight for the global business manager... highly recommended. As indispensable as your passport.

Asia Magazine
Richard Lewis has been crossing cultures for 30 years and knows the secret of success when East and West do business.

Customer Reviews

The definitive textbook for navigating the global economy...
Amidst the plethora of business books out there, here's one that is likely to remain in print for many years without ending up in the $1.98 bargain table at your local Borders Books. Lewis's tract covers over 60 different countries and virtually every major region in the world. New chapters in this Third Edition include information on doing business in Iraq, Pakistan, Serbia, Columbia and Venezuela.

"When Cultures Collide" is more than just a book on doing business internationally; it is guide to communicating effectively with the individuals of these diverse and emerging markets across the global marketplace.

Divided among the "Lewis Model," the author examines and divides cultural types through what he calls "linear-active, multi-active, and reactive variations." For example, the Germans and the Swiss are considered "linear-actives" as they thoughtfully plan, schedule, organize, doing one thing at a time; in contrast, the Chinese, Japanese, and Finns tend to be "reactives" since they value and priortize courtesy and respect, as they listen quietly and react carefully to another's proposal.

The book has been tremendeously helpful to me in negotiating deals foreign clients allowing me to avoid the faux pas we Americans erroneously commit while doing business with our international customers.

In a nutshell, the author examines how the mind--any mind is conditioned even at an early age. As a result, the irreversible nature of this childhood training establishes a relationship between langauge, action and thought.

For anyone who does business internationally, or simply wishes to find out more about the other cultures on this ever-shrinking planet we share and inhabit, Lewis's book is a must read.

When in Rome
A fascinating and comprehensive review of national characteristics and cultural differences and the critical role they play in the conduct of international business dealings. The book deals with issues such as business and social etiquette, spoken language, body language, negotiating styles, and the role religion, politics, and culture play in informing international business behavior.

Author Richard D. Lewis believes that graduates of liberal studies are often better equipped to deal with foreign nationals in a more meaningful way than graduates of programs from which business persons typically come, such as the social sciences, and observes that liberal studies graduates rarely end up with careers in international business. That was music to the ears of this reader, a lawyer whose BA was in English and History and who is eager for an opportunity to exercise his professional skills in an international setting.

I only read the Parts I and II; I didn't get to Part III, which provides detailed analyses for individual nations and regions. But when I have the opportunity to do business or travel abroad, I will certainly come back to this wonderful book.

jeffbrownlegal@gmail.com

Great resource for international business
Great resource to help you understand the cultures you'll encounter when working abroad. The first half provides an overview of cultures and how they are formed, etc. The second half is full of short 5 page overviews of cultures by country. A great combination of background (1st half) and country specifics (2nd ahlf) that you can reference as necessary depending on where business takes you.

Working only in the USA? Well this is a good resource to understand some of the folks you'll manage or work with from other cultures.