American business is often criticized for its lack of concern for the families of its overseas employees. Many executives are assigned overseas for short periods, usually two years, which is simply not enough time to learn the language and integrate into the society- Additionally, since they expect to be leaving m two years, they may feel the effort of learning the language would be wasted, another example of how the American short-term time orientation adversely affects business performance.

Spouses of American executives overseas bear the brunt of adjusting to the local culture since they must cope with housing, schools, shopping, repairs, health care, and social life- They need not only language training but orientation to the culture as well. Quite often American-espouses are unable to obtain work permits. With their husbands or wives working long hours or traveling extensively and the children at school, the spouses are left alone with no means of communication--with predictable results. The rate of marital difficulties, divorce, and alcoholism among American families abroad is high and reflects a lack of understanding and intelligent planning by American business. Recently, however, some American business firms have become slightly more realistic and are now willing to make longer assignments overseas, permitting employee and spouse to become fluent in both language and culture.

American overseas business personnel today are much better educated and informed than their predecessors of thirty years ago and more competent and adaptable. For many years American business was not cognizant of the crucial importance of proper selection and training of overseas personnel. As a result they lost millions of dollars. In the past there was an unfortunate tendency to transfer problem employees abroad, and even today there are many Americans working overseas who should never have left the United States. You can usually spot them in restaurants and bars of clubs or international hotels, loudly voicing their frustrations with locals, arrogant and impatient. Despite these unfortunate errors in selection, there has been a noticeable improvement in the quality of American business representation overseas. An executive who has been successful in the U. S. often has difficulty when transferred abroad because of her or his expectations of continued success. When those expectations are not met (because the techniques that were successful in the U. S. do not always work in foreign cultures), the result can be a devastating sense of failure. The ability to cope with failure is therefore a prime qualification for cross-cultural effectiveness, but is unfortunately not a quality highly prized in American business.

It is our strong recommendation that only the best and most adaptable people be sent overseas and that their training in both language and cross-cultural effectiveness be extensive. A recent study for the Southern Governors' Association concluded, "We have yet to learn a critical lesson: the language of trade is the language of the customer. " We would add that the language of the customer includes not only the spoken language but also the language of behavior, that is, the culture.

Once the company has invested the time and money in training, it should leave the employees in the country long enough to reap the benefits (a minimum of five years). Several executives agreed with the highly experienced general manager of a German subsidiary, who said, "American companies make a big mistake by rotating their managers too often. "

Companies should also develop long-term plans for utilizing the expertise of overseas employees once they return to headquarters. All too often their knowledge and experience is ignored and lost. Even worse, their overseas experience may be a handicap to career advancement in the United States since they may be perceived as having been out of the mainstream.

In our interviews overseas, almost all the directors of American compan ies overseas ranked the home office as their number one problem. Americans have a world-wide reputation for oversupervising their foreign operations. One top manager (a Swiss) with many years of experience working for American companies abroad had this to say: "American companies tend to keep you on a short leash. There are constant demands for reports and financial data. At headquarters you are smothered with staff who 'know better' about everything. Overseas you are alone but you are closely watched; whenever there's a blip, you hear from headquarters and they hover and hover. "

It is difficult for headquarters to understand what is happening i in a foreign operation. The people who are most likely to know f are those on the spot who are cognizant of the cultural differences involved. Thus, the best policy for the executives at the home office is to assign good people to foreign posts and then, listen to what they say.

VII. Key Points for Foreigners to Keep in Mind

There are several characteristics that flow from the massive size of the United States as well as from the great variety of cultural antecedents that distinguish American culture from all others.

In spite of the numerous and visible inequities in the American system, there is still no society in the world that provides both the freedom and the opportunity to become a success for anyone who has brains or talent and is willing to apply her- or himself. America is still the land of opportunity.

Because of the way in which American business and marketing systems are organized, and possibly because of reinforcement from the extensive and ubiquitous television commercial, the tempo of American business interactions is unusually fast. Everything is faster and bigger in the United States. Keep this in mind: Americans tend to "tailgate" other people.

In the U. S., there is no defined class system. People are constantly moving up and down in the social system because of variations in their financial and educational status. Americans are very status-conscious and place great emphasis on status symbols such as money, celebrity, power, image, possessions, and institutional affiliations.

In over a quarter of a century of working with, talking to, interviewing, and being friends with people from other parts of the world, there is one point that is made consistently: American friendship patterns are of the temporary sort and often do not go very deep. The reasons behind this are many and varied and relate to the unusual mobility of most Americans, especially those in business.

As a consequence of their extreme individualism, American loyalties are for the most part linked to careers and no/ to the organization. Loyalty to organizations is discouraged by the narrow, bottom-line, cost-cutting philosophy of many American business firms.

a. When Working with American Business

1. Remember that American business works in a short time frame. Its executives and managers want immediate results and are not as interested in building long-term relationships as Europeans are.

2. In general, when you employ Americans, check their education and previous employment references carefully. Do not assume everyone is honest. In our research, we heard many complaints about falsified records.

3. Be very careful in choosing an American manager. Spend the necessary time and money to investigate the backgrounds of those you consider good candidates. Encourage the person you select to make friends and build networks at your home office.

4. Americans arrive at meetings with an agenda they wish to follow. If you want something discussed, be sure it is placed on the agenda ahead of time. Bring a short written statement to circulate.

5. Be prepared for the problems of compartmentalization in American business. Do not assume information will be shared.

b. When Working with Individual Americans

1. Because the United States is a mix of many ethnic groups, you must determine whether the person you are dealing with is monochrome or polychrome so that you can then adjust your strategy accordingly. Most Americans are monochrome: they do one thing at a time, they don't like interruptions/ and they have a strong need to finish whatever they are working on. They also compartmentalize information and do not share it freely. Even members of minority ethnic groups tend to adopt the monochronic behaviors of the majority culture in their business dealings.

2. Americans are individually oriented and concerned with their own careers. Their loyalty is first to themselves and then to their employer or organization.

3. Americans want to be liked and accepted. They prefer people who don't make waves and are good team players.

4. Equality and egalitarianism are important to Americans. They resent people who pull rank or seem to consider themselves superior,

5. Most Americans are open, friendly, casual, and informal in their manners. They do not mean to insult you if they call you by your first name.

6. Americans like to come right to the point. They are uncomfortable with indirection and subtlety.

7. Learn all about the Americans you work with: their background, education, and hobbies.

8. Keep in mind that appearances are important to Americans.

9. Be open to diversity.

10. When dealing with American employees, give specific (preferably written) instructions, avoid vagueness and indirection, be lavish with praise and recognition, and do not discriminate against or disparage anyone, especially women and minorities. If you need to correct an American employee, first seek guidance from your American staff. To be effective, correction of a subordinate must be based on knowledge of that person.

VIII. Public Relations, Corporate Image, and Advertising

In the United States there is a difference between a person's facade and her or his image- Facade is what people present as their public exterior; it's composed of their personality and their Personification of cultural values. Image is artificial and imposed and is, in business, the product of public relations and advertising. The image can be a product image, a corporate image, or the image of the company's top official. Many American companies are closely identified in the public mind with the person who runs the company, such as Lee lacocca with Chrysler and Mary Kay Ash with Mary Kay Cosmetics. The product, the corporation, and the CEO should all project a consistent image, and this is the job of the company's advertising agency.

Americans are very image-conscious. They think in terms of how their actions wil! affect their own personal image, the image of their product, or the image of their company. When Americans have to make a decision, they consider how the decision will make them or their company look. The American preoccupation with image leads some foreigners to decry the shallowness of Americans.

Corporate reputation can be the determining factor in public acceptance of a product if the product is similar in quality and price to a competitor's. Dependability, performance, quality, and price are all part of a company's image. Sales in a competitive market are directly affected by how well a company communicates its image of dependability and high quality to the public at large.

The American communication style is like a newspaper headline: short and to the point. Americans prefer digests to long articles and detailed reports. They often announce at the beginning of oral presentations what they are going to talk about and when the discourse will end. Short, punchy presentations with humor are preferred (except, perhaps, for technical, scientific, or academic papers). In the U. S., starting a speech with a joke is common, but it would be a major mistake in West Germany. Conversely, beginning a speech with a presentation of the historical background of an issue--which is done frequently by German speakers--would bore an American audience to tears-Because many Americans have a narrow professional focus, they are not interested in general or background information, but just in what they need to know right then. Germans want lots of background information, historical context, and examples. The French, of course, prefer elegant, elaborate presentations that display wit and savoir-faire.

As we discussed in parts 2 and 3, the function of German advertising is to transmit information white French advertising works to release a positive emotional response. The function of American advertising is to hype the product.

As we have noted Americans often exaggerate in both their written and their oral communication. This is particularly true in advertising, which is based on hyperbole, or "hype. " Although ads in the United States may contain information, it is seldom detailed and is usually a bolster for the claims of product superiority. Exaggerated claims that a product is the best, newest, most fashionable, or finest are effective in the U. S. but would be both offensive and illegal in West Germany and would win no awards in France.

Most of the money spent on advertising in the United States goes to print ads. Local advertisers all over the country spend millions for newspaper ads in their own areas, from very small ones in weekly hometown newspapers to full-page ads in the New York Times. Because of the complexity of the American market, a lot of money is spentannually to analyze and conduct market surveys so that advertisers can target their ads for a specific group. In the U. S. the CEO often takes a personal interest in a company's image and advertising; American ad agencies are thus accustomed to working with the CEO and do not feel secure unless the CEO is involved. This is not true in Europe, where the advertising department of a company is usually the only group handling advertisements.

Americans like idealized images. The women in them are usually young, healthy, and beautiful, and the men are young, strong, and handsome. Children are clean and smiling. Even ads directed toward older population groups show young-looking though gray-haired people.

U. S. markets are segmented not only by age, gender, and Ticome but also by region and ethnicity. There are fast-growing ethnic groups who will exert a tremendous economic influence in the future, such as the American Hispanic population (there are now over 250, 000 Spanish-owned businesses).

The importance of getting to know local and regional customs and buying habits in the United Slates was emphasized to us by a European advertising executive: "Marketing, selling, distributing, and advertising have to be in the hands of local people. You can't just come in and say, 'Do it my way. '" Another advertising executive addressed the same point: "You must be very French in France, very German in Germany, and very American in America. "

IX. Characteristics of Successful American Business Executives

The kinds of people who succeed in business in the United States are goal-oriented, concerned with individual achievement, and interested in the development of their own careers. They also tend to be pragmatic, assertive, and relatively egalitarian; at the same time they need constant feedback, evaluations, praise, and rewards--something they would not get in German or French business. Unlike business in France or West Germany, there are powerful American executives who are very young; Europeans favor older, more seasoned top executives. Women are found at top levels in some American businesses but are rare in Western Europe.

Decision making in American business is usually "top-down"-- which means American executives often make decisions without consulting subordinates. The result is that decisions a re often made without crucial input from various levels within the organization. In a compartmentalized business organization it is very difficult to get vital information to the decision makers. This is certainly true in Germany and to a lesser degree in the U. S.

Many American businesspeople are driven to compete for promotion and will sometimes sacrifice social and family life to work, a situation rare in West Germany and France, where weekends and holidays are sacred and work is not always the dominant force in one's daily life.

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