Product Description

More than a decade after establishing itself as the number-one book on international business etiquette, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands has been fully revised to reflect the profound global transformation that has occurred since its debut. In this new edition, author Terri Morrison McCarthy-the leading expert in this field-has included:

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6004 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

Amazon.com Review
In a global economy, it is crucial for business people to be sensitive to cultural differences. And although the best reason for doing so may be ethical, it's great for business as well! This is an invaluable book for "doing well while doing good" in your intercultural relations, covering the protocols of appointments, business entertaining, greetings, forms of address, gestures, dress, and gifts in 60 of the nations you're most likely to be doing business. Some interesting excerpts:

• Australia: The "thumbs-up" sign, which in the U.S. indicates "O.K." is considered rude.
  
• Brazil: The colors of the Brazilian flag are green and yellow, so avoid wearing this combination in any fashion.
  
• China: Avoid making exaggerated gestures or using dramatic facial expressions. The Chinese do not generally use their hands when speaking, and become distracted by a speaker who does.
  
• Indonesia: Since it is impolite to disagree with someone, Indonesians rarely say "no"...a clear way to indicate "no" is to suck in air through the teeth.

The authors are very aware that no generalizations apply to all residents of a nation, and are careful not to stereotype or judge. Highly recommended to any business traveler--or any student of the diversity of human cultures.

(Note: a great companion volume for this book is Gestures, which is devoted entirely to explaining the varieties of hand gestures in 82 countries!)

From Library Journal
Written by executives who prepare other executives for international travel and one Fulbright scholar in cross-cultural communication, this work is a godsend for rapidly growing international collections. It is affordable, to-the-point, and easily understood book by those who as yet have no stamps on their passports. The introduction discusses cognitive styles, value systems, and negotiation strategies in different cultures, explaining how delicate they make the process of intercultural relations. Sixty countries are examined in terms of background, cultural orientation, business practices (e.g., negotiating, entertaining), and protocol (e.g., gestures, dress). Morrison and cohorts cover some countries not included by more costly "Doing Business In" publications by Business International and Price Waterhouse. The average entry length is five pages-more than Brigham Young University's Culturgrams (Garrett Park Pr., 1993. 2d ed.). Recommended for all business and international studies collections.
Lisa K. Miller, Paradise Valley Community Coll. Lib., Phoenix
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
With GATT, NAFTA, and the globalization of business, there is a growing interest in the way cultural differences affect business transactions. A few guides do exist, notably Roger Axtell's Do's and Taboos around the World (1993) and The Do's and Taboos of International Trade (1994), but usually the information must be compiled or searched for country by country, and it is not always conveniently or consistently classified. The authors of this encyclopedic resource have put together "cultural" profiles for 60 countries that will be of value to anyone involved with international business. Brief information regarding the history of the country, the type of government, languages, religions, and demographics are included. The authors then provide what they call a cultural orientation for each country, identifying "cognitive styles, negotiation strategies, and value systems." A summary of business practices (appointment scheduling, negotiating do's and don'ts, business entertaining, and time zone information) follows. Finally, "protocol" considerations, such as greetings, titles and forms of address, gestures, gift giving, and appropriate dress, are offered. Although often running the risk of being stereotypical, observations regarding unique cultural differences are highlighted throughout. David Rouse

Customer Reviews

Full of mistakes - Swedish example
This book is a complete joke. It was recently ridiculed in a Swedish business weekly for its description of Sweden. According to the book's authors:

1. The indigenous population in the north of the country are called lapps. The expression sami is somewhat derogatory. In fact it's the opposite! This is as if a European guide book on doing business in the US suggested their readers use the word "negro" instead of "african-american." Also, the Sami number some 20,000 persons, not really vital information if you are visiting a country of 9 million people. Moreover, comparing them to American indians or Australian aborigines is somewhat misleading, the non-sami population groups began to settle what is today Sweden sometime 2000 BC.

2. According to the book English is spoken in the major cities but if they plan to do business outside of the urban centres, they should speak German! This may have been true fifty years ago. A visiting US business person would should definately stick to English, German (with a US accent as well, I presume) will not get you very far.

In short, this book seems as if it's been written based on what the authors could find from a quick scan on the internet.

2. Most people in Sweden speak English.

Don't Leave Home Without It
For we who live in the US, our knowledge of the geography, language, and customs of other countries is sometimes appalling.

So, it's a good thing there are books like this to help relieve our gauche-ness and keep the egg off our faces whether traveling or putting our businesses out on the Internet.

An alphabetical listing from Argentina through Venezuela, each country section has a small line map with the name of the capital city located inside.

They all begin with a short cultural note, followed by:

=> Country Background: Short history; Type of government; Language; Religion; Demographics.

=> Cultural Orientation: Cognitive styles; Negotiation style; Value Systems.

=> Business Practices: Appointments; Negotiating; Business entertainment; Time (in relation to Greenwich Mean Time).

=> Protocol: Greetings; Titles/forms of address; Gestures; Dress; Gifts.

Things you might not know include:

=> more than 14 major languages are spoken in India

=> in Ecuador, make appointments about 2 weeks in advance

=> literacy is almost 100% in Russia

=> Danes tend to get down to business right away, with a minimum of small talk

=> in Malaysia, one who expresses anger in public has shamefully lost face

=> nearly all Egyptians speak Arabic. Most business people who deal with foreigners speak English, French, or both

The appendix contains interesting & valuable information, too. I especially liked the pictures of phone, electrical, & ground adaptors. There's an entire page of metric equivalents for those who don't use them daily. Morrison includes a page about travel medical insurance, too.

What's missing? Information about African countries is nearly non-existent. Other than Egypt, no other country is covered, not even South Africa.

And, if you're looking for in-depth information about online courtesies, you'll have to dig deep to find them. There are few.

It should include more countries and be updated
I compared the information in this book about my own country and the one I'm living and it is almost correct; at least, if you follow what it says, you would not have problems when dealing with people from those places.

I have met people from several countries and so I know much of the information in the book is right and useful, as well.

In 4 to 10 pages per country, you'll learn the basis of history, language, people's way to handle information, and so on. It's a very good starting point. Moreover, I liked very much the political correctness of this book: The style is very respectful of cultures and people (in most cases).

Two problems: 1) It should include more countries. It would be a nice resource of data about the places the people you meet come from. 2) The information should be updated, let's say, in a web page, since the world changes continuosly.

However, you'll get a very nice picture about the places and people described in the book.