Samenvatting

Seemingly, there is a general belief that successful business deals are partly based on cultural awareness, sensitivity and understanding. Although the terms may imply similar definitions, they have slightly different meanings which seem to reflect distinct degrees of knowledge regarding cultural differences. The first statement revolves around the assumption that cultural awareness and successful businesses are closely linked to each other. The latter hypothesis is supported by both literature and interviewees, which clearly show that there are differences between cultures and since one's cultural background is reflected in one's behaviour, it may also influence the business behaviour. Consequently, since such differences and practices, ideas, standards, beliefs, principles are relevant to a business context, a potential lack of awareness may negatively impact a business deal. According to several authors, poor understanding of others' cultural heritage may lead to unexpected blunders which are subject to failures and losses in terms of finance, business relationships, contracts, projects, and so on. Therefore, a certain amount of knowledge, awareness and understanding is necessary in order to close business deals successfully.
Since both the interviews and the applied research have shown that there are indeed differences between cultures and that they influence business practices, it was necessary to underline again the fact that poor awareness of differences, unwillingness to understand them and a potential lack of sensitivity may prove challenging while doing business. Therefore, preparation is essential and this process starts with self-awareness, which basically facilitates the acknowledgement of differences and increases the likelihood to try and reconcile them. The latter should be followed by ten generally applicable other steps, present in the Recommendations section. They basically cover suggestions such as researching the country of interest, demanding customised training, preparing to deal with certain cultures through developing an 'eye for detail' in terms of body language, communication style, listening skills or even humour, showing interest in the country's culture, being relationship-oriented and ethical, getting local support for legal matters and not only, gaining people's trust, showing goodwill and being self-aware and flexible.