Sunday, May 21, 2006
Business Etiquette for Dummies
Posted by John Branston on Sun, May 21, 2006 at 4:00 AM
Chaney and Jeanette S. Martin, an associate professor at the University of Mississippi business school, are the authors of Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International Communication and Customs (Praeger Publishers). Some more “Don’ts”:
Don't do like the businesswoman from Texas who showed up at a conference in Antwerp in a bright-green jacket. (Black would have been more appropriate.) And don't do like the man who made the mistake of wearing a tan suit in the dark-suited company of his Tokyo associates. And definitely don't give a striped tie as a gift to an Englishman. It may just represent a British regiment other than his own!
Lessons learned: Mind your manners. Don't look dumb. According to Jeanette Martin, if you're doing business abroad and you have poor etiquette, "it doesn't matter how intelligent you are. You are going to be viewed as stupid."
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