Across the business world culture clearly affects the way in which business is conducted and as such if you are thinking of moving your business into the international arena and the global marketplace then you need to start making sure that you and your staff have a sufficient amount of intercultural understanding.
Intercultural understanding can truly only be gained through experiencing foreign cultures first hand and through this people will then start to get a real feel for what makes people from other parts of the world tick and give them a deeper understanding about the different types of business practises around the world.
When you are learning about new cultures you have to be careful not to just scratch the surface and take things at face value. True intercultural understanding comes about from knowing an area of the world very well and understanding the key differences between that area of the globe compared to other places.
Whilst going on training courses and reading books about other cultures can hold a certain amount of value nothing will ever replace the true knowledge that comes from having been to a place and having lived and breathed the culture first hand.
Whilst cross cultural training is a great idea for employees that are about to embark on business within a new country it should only really be looked upon as the first stage in learning about the new culture.
Businesses who give a high value to intercultural understanding usually fair a lot better on the international stage than those who do not feel that it holds very much importance in the business world.

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