Cultural assimilator

Zhuravleva Maria
 Dutch businessman in Russia (for Dutch
trainees)

 The CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the famous Dutch brewery company, “Heineken
International”, Mr. fon Vaalsten came to the business meeting with team of the Russian brewery
company “Baltika” in order to discuss the process of introduction of a new product to the Russian
market. After Mr. fon Vaalsten and Andrey Petrov, the general manager of the Russian company,
shook hands, the meeting began. Petrov, who was the head of this company only for two weeks,
took the floor first. He said some introductory words about the importance of the deal for both sides.
Mr. fon Vaalsten was listening cautiously and asked several questions. When Petrov finished his
speech, the Dutch CEO commented on some issues and then proceeded talking with the
marketing specialist, Ivan Leonov, on some strategies of advertising the new type of beer at the
Russian market. Even though Ivan seemed very nervous, the Dutch CEO was pleased with the
information he`d got. The negotiations went very well, the both sides agreed on all important
positions. Mr. fon Vaalsten flight back to the Amsterdam, confident that he had made a perfect
deal. However, after several days he was confused to know that the deal was cancelled by the
Russian side.
Why the deal was cancelled by the
Russian side?

1. The Russian side didn’t agree with some positions of an agreement

2. A deal didn’t correspond to the Russians future plans
3. The Russian manager was offended by the Dutch CEO`s behavior
4. The Russian chief was not experienced enough to make the deal
 Incorrect! Try once more!

1. The Russian side didn’t agree with some positions of an

agreement
This variant is incorrect, because the Russian side indeed
had some disagreements with the Dutch CEO, but on
unimportant supplementary issues, which could not
influence the overall decision of the Russian`s about the
deal.
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 Incorrect! Try once more!

2. A deal didn’t correspond to the Russians future plans

This variant is incorrect, because the general manager of
the Russian company indeed came to the meeting aiming
at making a deal, this deal was very important for the
Russian company.

Back to options
 Correct! Good job! Back to options

3. The Russian manager was offended by the Dutch CEO`s behavior

This variant is indeed correct, because the general manager of the Russian company was
offended by the Dutch CEO`s behavior. According to the Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner
seven dimensions of culture, the Netherlands is an achievement-oriented culture and much
more universalistic than Russian culture. Russia tends to be more ascriptive and
communitarian. Moreover, according to the Hofstede the Netherlands has a low power
distance score, while Russia has the highest score of that value. The ancestry, age and
status of the person are very important in Russia, apart from personal achievements. Mr. fon
Vaalsten, instead of discussing matters with the highest-ranking member of the Russian
negotiating team, Andrey Petrov, approached a lower ranking member, Ivan Leonov, and
started to discuss things with him. The Dutch CEO didn’t realized that he offended the
Russian company`s manager. This situation was also painful for Ivan, because he is a lower
rank person who was approached as an equal.
 Incorrect! Try once more!

4. The Russian chief was not experienced enough to make

the deal
This variant is incorrect because the general manager was
not experienced enough in some practical issues, but was
absolutely aware of the politics of the company and the
usefulness of the deal for the business as a whole.

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 Russian businessmen in UK(for Russian
trainees)

At the 15th of January 2018 the representative team of the Russian industrial enterprise “PromStroyMash” came to London
to hold a meeting with the CEO of VECTRA ELECTRICAL CO. LIMITED, British company, producing ventilation systems, and
his team. The Russian side was extremely interested in import of ventilation systems from Britain to Russia on the preferential
conditions. When both sides gathered at the conference hall, the CEO of the British company, Michael Woods, presented
the chairman of the meeting, who was supposed to facilitate the process. Russian manager, Ivan Morozov, noticed that
the agenda of the meeting had been announced up front and everyone was highly prepared. After some time, it turned
out that the negotiations were going hard. The British side were not going for the preferential import conditions.
Showing many graphs and tables with economic analysis, Marley Jackson, the British company economist, was arguing:
“As our machines have the highest quality, we do not sell for any of our partners on the preferential regime, we have to
return our costs”.
Despite that arguments, Russian team economist, Jury Nesterov, furiously insisted: “PromStroyMash” performs in the
unstable political situation in Russia, which can strongly influence the business environment any minute, but still we are
eager to buy your ventilation systems”.
He and his team members were trying to be convincing by depicturing the misfortunes of Russian political system, Russian
historical background and rigid mindset of Russian people. At the end of the meeting the chairman called the both sides
to overcome the obstacles together and reach the consensus at the next meeting. After the negotiations had been over,
the members of the British company invited the Russian team to the bar. The “PromStroyMash” manager had apologized
and withdrew from the party. After several days he was informed that the British side had cancelled the next meeting
unexpectedly without transfer to the other time.
Why did The British side cancel the
meeting unexpectedly?

1. Russian team members have got drunk in a bar and spoiled the impression
2. The British company`s CEO decided that this deal is not beneficial for them
3. The British didn`t like the denial of the Russian manager to go to a party with them
4. The British side concluded that the Russian company is unreliable business partner
 Incorrect! Try once more!

1. Russian team members have got drunk in a bar and

spoiled the impression
This is incorrect answer because people in the UK are more
inclined to separate working relationships from the private
sphere. This characteristic displays the more specific
orientation of the British. So, it is unlikely that British collegues
took this issue into consideration.
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 Incorrect! Try once more!

2. The British company`s CEO decided that this deal is not

beneficial for them
Of course, as the British people are very rational and rely
mostly on facts and statistics as the basis for taking
decisions, it might the possible outcome, but still, it was only
a first meeting, it was impossible to take that decision so
abruptly.
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 Incorrect! Try once more!

3. The British didn`t like the denial of the Russian manager to

go to a party with them
This is incorrect answer because again the private sphere of
people in the UK is separated from the business relations. It is
unlikely that the CEO would decide to cancel the meeting
on the basis of some private informal relationships.
Back to options
 Correct! Good job! Back to options

4. The British side concluded that the Russian company is unreliable business partner
This is a correct answer. British negotiators are likely to be fairly internally controlling personalities,
according to internal-external control culture dimension of Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner. As
Russians were depicting their business situation through political circumstances in Russia beyond
their control, the British side viewed that as making excuses. They regarded such behavior as
irresponsible and unreliable and chose not to deal with this Russian company again. They also
were completely astonished by Russians not backing up their negotiations with plans to show how
they are going to manage and control the negotiation process and the import of ventilation
systems they were going to undertake. Moreover, as neutral culture, British obviously, were
confused by some affective behavior of Russians, which could be regarded as unreliable and
suspicious. Also being universalistic culture, British people treated Russian partners as equals and
were ready to give them the same rules, as for other their partners. Still, Russians, according to their
particularism and high score on Hofstede`s uncertainty avoidance dimension of culture, wanted to
get some exclusive preferential conditions, as they are more influenced by situational issues than
the British.