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Trying again--Americans doing business in Europe

Interesting article I will try to share with you all in 3 parts--U.S. Execs Counter Continental Critics By CAROL HYMOWITZ From The Wall Street Journal, 9/20/00 MY RECENT COLUMN on how Europeans, while envying U.S. business success, often consider U.S. businessmen materialistic and culturally ignorant, provoked strong replies from American readers. Among about 75 readers who sent e-mail, several felt the Europeans had a misguided notion of Americans. Others felt that instead of wondering, "How can Americans be beating us?" Europeans should acknowledge that their reluctance to break with traditions such as steep taxes, rigid union work rules and unresponsive hierarchical management structures have left them behind. "While having worldly sophistication is a nice thing, it is not a prerequisite to success," says Marco Budny, executive vice president at Crest Products, a small manufacturing concern. "Having the better mousetrap is the primary prerequisite." He also noted that he is "quite familiar with European history and culture" and speaks Ukrainian and Russian. Yet, while "knowing five or six languages is great, if almost everyone speaks English why waste time learning French or German. We're the dominant economy and culture and should not look back," he adds. Jim Sassen who spent three years living and working in Europe, says Europeans should "take a long look in the mirror, and see what their hierarchical management structure has and hasn't done for them."

Here is the 2nd part (I hope).....>> What's more, their emphasis on languages is motivated by economic more than cultural factors, he says. "How many Germans and French know Spanish?" he asks. "They haven't found a compelling reason to learn it since Spain is still a relatively small economic force," he says. "It all comes down to what your life experiences necessitate," he says. EXECUTIVES WHO HAVE lived and worked in Europe contend that many Europeans are intolerant of diversity in their workplaces and unwilling to mobilize an array of talent. "A lot of their talk about culture is really about racism," says Jonathan Ornstein, chairman and CEO of Mesa Airlines in Phoenix who spent three years as CEO of Brussels-based Virgin Airlines. He recalls how in that former position, one of his managers asked his permission to hire several black employees, saying he was worried about "repercussions." Subsequently, local union officials argued that the black employees shouldn't have been hired for desk jobs at the airport because they did not speak Flemish. "Neither do I," Mr. Ornstein pointed out to them. On another occasion, Mr. Ornstein decided to hold a job fair to fill 30 jobs. Some 1,000 people registered for it and even more showed up. Employees overseeing the fair, he later learned, "turned away foreigners and old people," says Mr. Ornstein. He further complained that the very notion of the fair had thrown off his local staff. "They were unwilling to try anything new, and cling to the status quo," he says. While Americans who want to expand their businesses globally agree that they should be sensitive to cultural differences, the same rule should apply to foreign executives, they say. "The French manager who is bothered by our custom of using first names should think about the phrase 'when in Rome,' " says Jim Griffith, manager of financial planning and analysis at Simulation Sciences, Brea, Calif., a unit of Invensys PLC. "When I go to Europe, I'm quite bothered that nearly every restaurant is full of smoke, but I live with it."

...and here is the 3rd and final part from the Wall St. Journal article...... MOREOVER, AMERICANS "overall are more willing to be adventurous about trying new foods or wrestling with chopsticks," than other nationalities, believes Michael Stitsworth, a professor and associate director of international programs in agriculture at Purdue University. Yet foreigners often "don't give Americans the chance to rise to the occasion," he says. He recalls visiting a Japanese plant in Lafayette, Ind., where managers, worried that Americans would not be able to pronounce their names, assigned themselves American nicknames. "I had the experience of meeting an engineer, who introduced himself as 'Masahiro,' but quickly informed me that I could call him 'Chuck,' " he recalls. "I smiled very politely and told him that if he could pronounce 'Stitsworth,' I could manage 'Masahiro,'" he says. As for the charge that Americans are uncouth and ill mannered, American managers retort that some of their foreign counterparts could benefit from lessons in etiquette. Chikako Lorenzetti, a translator and interpreter at Nippon Express USA in Secaucus, N.J., recalls the "pushing and shoving" that occurred on ski lift lines in the Alps and bus and train queues elsewhere in Europe where she lived for 11 years. "Well-dressed gentlemen thought nothing of shoving me with their elbows to get on the bus ahead of me," she says. "Whenever I encountered Americans, I felt a sense of relief from the stiff, selfish Europeans with their superior attitudes." Others say they willingly accept the view that Americans are materialistic. "You bet I am," says Mr. Griffith of Simulation Services. "I suppose I would trade some of it for five weeks of vacation every year. I'd like to attend a language school, but I don't have the time," he adds. +++++++++the end

You couldn't just post the title & website?

I did not choose to do that because sometimes, in the past, not everyone could reach the web sites people wanted to reference. Hence, my decision.

Well, I found it interesting; although (in musing mode) I kind of find the reaction of the US business men more interesting that the original thesis. My husband and I recently had a delightful dinner with 2 US Fodorites. My husband works for a huge US multinational and won't let us holiday in American because "it's full of Americans" As is said on the "Ugly American" thread there are many many more nice folk from everywhere than nasties. Generalisations help no-one.

Interesting article indeed. Thanks for sharing, KK. I have a German friend who asked me why Americans were so ignorant of other cultures. Never mind that, at the time, we were together in Europe, and we were touring amd learning about a local town. So, the fact that my husband & I had crossed an ocean to learned about other cultures was completely oversight, I guess. This is the same person who was horrified when I told her that the Queen of Sweden was part South-American (Brazil). She stated that Queen Sylvia was 100% German. Well, we may not know a lot about other cultures, but at least the information that is AVAILABLE to us has not been censored.....

I, too, Sheila, thought the US rejoinders were very interesting. I sent this article to a friend who is a French businessman, a man I used to work with in my corporate career days. Gerard responded that he'd found rude people and thoughtful people everywhere and he did't know why people had to categorize by nationality. To a certain point I definitely agree. But I do suppose that stereotyping is our small human way of trying to make sense of a big confusing world. But sometimes we take it way too far. In any event, I did think it was an interesting article.

KK, I saw this article too, and found it interesting. In fact, I cut it out and gave it to my boss.

One reason Americans are "so ignorant of other cultures" is because we have such a damn big country ourselves. You'll find that those who live close to the Mexican border have a much deeper and broader understanding of Latin America than those of us in, say, Pennsylvania. If I lived next door to France and visited it regularly, I'd probably have a much better understanding of French culture. Not an excuse, just a bit of an explanation.