Top Ten CultureClues for Doing Business in East Asia.

East/West, Yin/Yang: How to Manage the Cultural Differences in Complicated and Vibrant East Asia.

Working abroad is different. The food is different. People dress differently. People behave and even think differently. So why shouldn’t the way they do business in different cultures also be different? In many ways, it is, and you need to know before you go. Especially true if your competition knows the cultural rules, and you don’t. In the new “global world”, crossing borders is easy; crossing cultures is hard. So here are some important top ten CultureClues to successful work in the very complex, very large, and very different (at least in relation to the West) cultures of East Asia:

#10: The number 4 in Mandarin sounds very similar to the word for “death”, so it has, over time, superstitiously become a symbol for bad luck. There are few, for example, “fourth” floors in hotels…