Becoming Aware of Cultural Differences.
Some of the more interesting and amusing aspects of global business are the unexpected confrontations that people have with cultural differences, “the way they do things over there.” Wall Street Journal columnist Geoffrey Fowler wrote of an incident in Hong Kong where a Chinese colleague casually observed that he had gained weight. Uttered in the United States, such comments would be considered rude. Fowler indicates that in China, where people openly talk about people’s weight, body shapes, and salaries, such comments are probably just friendliness. So what does Fowler say when his friendly Chinese colleagues tell him he’s fat?, “There’s so much good food here.”