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WorksheetsDo you have good global manners?
Total questions: 6
Worksheet time: 9mins
CHINA
You’re at a trade show in Beijing hoping to find a distributor for your luxury brand. You’ve had a great chat with a potential Chinese customer and now’s the time to give her your business card. Do you:
take a card out of your back pocket and write your mobile phone number on it?
point out that paper-based business cards are so old hat nowadays — is it OK if you just send her your details via your smartphone instead?
carefully remove your specially prepared Chinese business card from a silver case in your briefcase, then present it by holding it carefully in front of you, with both hands?
GERMANY
You’re desperate to work with a consultancy in Germany, but you’re not sure you can afford them. You’ve made them a good offer during a face-to-face meeting — now they say they’re ‘thinking about it’. How can you persuade them?
write an enthusiastic email reiterating how passionate you are about their work and what a great opportunity it would be for them
write an email asking when they expect to make a decision — after all there are plenty of other consultancies you can approach
do nothing except send a polite thanks for the meeting. It’s best to wait and see
INDIA
You’ve spent a year organising meetings for your buying trip to Chennai, India — but the manager you’re meeting seems distracted. He’s constantly answering the phone or chatting to employees who wander in while you’re trying to talk. How should you react?
Stop talking and politely wait for your host to finish his conversation/call
Just carry on but wrap things up quickly as he clearly isn’t interested
Ask him not to respond to any distractions — what you’re saying is important
JAPAN
You are on your way to Japan for a business meeting but have caught a horrible cold. Should you:
Go along anyway and don’t mention that you’re ill, you don’t want to cancel the meeting at such short notice
Go to the meeting and apologise for being ill
Cancel or rearrange the meeting
NIGERIA
You’re about to meet a Nigerian company director for an informal chat about how your company could expand into Nigerian marketplaces. How should you address him when you meet him for the first time?
By his title, whatever that is — Professor, Dr, Your Excellency — and his surname
By his first name, to establish rapport
By his full name but without the title — titles sound too formal and you want to appear friendly
MALAYSIA
You’re meeting the representative of a big retail chain across Malaysia. He invites you for lunch at a Lebanese restaurant to talk about your products. Which hand do you use to eat your pitta bread?
the left hand
the right hand
either right or left hand is fine
