Recently the World Trade Association of Utah had a chance to chat with Simon Greathead, Associate Professor of International Business and Supply Chain Management at BYU Marriott School of Business, to discuss an important aspect of international business: culture and how it relates to effective cross border trade. 

As an expert on the topic, Greathead went into detail about his course at BYU “Culture as a Language of Business”.

“This primarily was for English language students who would like to learn about international business. As I started researching how I would build that class it came to me that culture in and of itself is a language of business and in many respects is considered more important than a second language,” said Greathead. 

“There’s great power in individuals who are able to use cultural understanding as well as individual relations to get business done.” 

The course is designed around the eight scales of culture defined in Erin Meyers best-selling book, "The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business." 

These eight scales are an important tool to understand the varying levels of communication styles in different regions. In America, communicating tends to be generally direct and upfront. This is also called "low context communication" according to Meyer. 

The U.S. is one of the lowest context cultures in the world, because it is a young country that has a culture born from many different, interacting languages. Early settlers had to use their lowest common communication methods to build the nation.

In other areas of the world, such as Japan, the origin of language and culture dates back four to five thousand years. A deep understanding of communication between individuals is rooted in those many years of development. The communication style in Japan is considered high context and more nuanced. 

This is commonly referred to as “kuuki wo yomu” in Japanese or “reading the air”. It is the idea of understanding what has not been said between individuals by considering other communication factors such as body language or context is key to effectively communicating in Japan. These subtleties may be lost on individuals coming from regions who practice lower context communication. 

“You can buy the skill of language, meaning you can hire a translator.” said Greathead. “But what you typically can’t hire so easily is a cultural expert. So, if you understand culture it can get you a lot further in international business than a second language can.” 

Understanding these levels of communication, or “context” as Meyers suggests, serves as the foundation for successful business relationships with individuals of other cultures. 

When building the course, Greathead also pulled from the work of Geert Hofstede who extensively researched understanding culture from a psychological standpoint. He described culture using the metaphor of a forest and a tree.

Greathead said, “You can describe culture using characteristics of a forest, but unfortunately you cannot describe the tree.” This means you can understand a culture as a whole, but this does not describe every individual belonging to that culture. 

Greathead describes this process of understanding culture as a journey - one that could take several years. “When I worked in Europe, I took my American wife with me. After two years, my wife, Brooke, understood well some of the nuances of British culture.” said Greathead. He explained that it takes approximately two years to confidently manage cultural nuances on a social and business level. 

There are many readily available resources to learn more about navigating international business. Some of these resources include GlobalRoadWarrior.com or The Economist. According to Greathead, the best way to learn these different communication styles between cultures is to interact with them directly and ask them plenty of questions.

“It is an art and a science. The science is knowing the formalized characteristics are for a given culture. The art is knowing when to apply that knowledge and when to consider an individualized approach to a relationship” said Greathead.