Seminar paper from the year 2006 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,3, http: //www.uni-jena.de/ (Philosphische Fakultät - Lehrstuhl Interkulturelle Wirtschaftskommunikation), course: Interkulturseminar USA-Deutschland, 15 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Globalization has led to remarkable changes in the way we conduct the world's business. International Mergers and acquisitions are en vogue today. The advantages quoted by managers include advantages of scale, increased shareholder value, access to new markets, lower overheads and so on. The number of international mergers and acquisitions between German and American companies increased a lot during the last years, as well. At the beginning there are high hopes and elation connected with the deal. But the long-term reality, however, is much the opposite. At least 50 percent of all international mergers and acquisition activity fails, no matter how the success is measured. There are also lots of companies who failed, who are therefore not able to benefit from some positive synergy effects like cost reductions. Why did that happen? A survey tried to analyze the reasons for this. The surprising result was that just 30% of the failures were attributed to the "hard factors" of business, like planning, finance or technology. For the rest, the reason lay in the so-called "soft factors", which contain cultural and organizational behaviour. Somewhat less acknowledged, although hardly disputed, is the positive and negative impact of cultural aspects on the success of M&A activity. The following work reveals the differences between American and German business culture and also analyzes its historical and social background. Thereby, the main goal is to disprove that American and German business styles are almost similar. Furthermore, at the end the reader should know more about the existing differences between t

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,3, Pforzheim University, language: English, abstract: This paper gives a brief overview about essential differences between the German and American business culture. Nowadays business is run globally and does not know any barriers. Trade and access to new markets are expanding, international mergers and acquisitions or joint ventures are increasing, business relations are getting strongly interconnected worldwide. Therefore, managers have to take into account national and international regulations. Employees of multinational companies work in various countries for a certain period, students go abroad as interns in order to gain work and intercultural experiences. Countries all over the world are involved in business issues, includ-ing the differences regarding cultures, societies, and the way of doing business, that creates not only opportunities but represents challenges as well. Through globalization business faces many workplace related cultural differences.

'Why they are complaining?' 'Why do they treat me this way?' 'Why are they offending my team?'Intercultural misunderstandings are a pain. Fact-oriented cultures and relationship-oriented cultures clash. They have different styles of communication, different views on the same things, and contrary core values. The Germans are fact-oriented. Their habits make doing business with them a challenge. This book educates managers and professionals on how best to work with Germans and helps them avoid intercultural misunderstandings. It reveals the three key characteristics for consideration to make business with Germans a success: directness — adherence — commitment.

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, , language: English, abstract: This seminar paper deals with Sweden and Germany as negotiation partners from a German perspective. Although one would assume quite various similarities between these countries due to geographical proximity and same origin of language, they are indeed quite different – an issue also investigated by Eoro Vaara. The aim of this paper is to show that even slight or subtle differences in cultural patterns should be considered. Therefore only who can communicate without cultural misunderstandings can experience successful cross-cultural negotiations. Sweden has been chosen since there is a lot of research about cultural differences between American, Asian and Arab countries, but hardly any regarding inter-European. Another reason is also because of personal experiences in Sweden and with Swedish friends. It was challenging to investigate in a country, which does not seem to be culturally much apart from Germany. After a short introduction, the second chapter gives the reader a definition for culture and an overview of Hofstede’s model of dimensions. This chapter also presents the different kind of cultures from a German and Swedish perspective. Therefore the third chapter deals with negotiations between Germans and Swedes while doing business. This paper ends with the chapter “conclusion”.

Many business leaders, when they begin to work overseas or interact professionally with teams abroad, are surprised by how much they thought they knew about the other culture, but how little it counts for on the ground. The reality is that communication is multi-dimensional, and simply knowing a foreign language doesn't mean one automatically understands the culture that goes with it. Idiom, psychological factors and cultural nuance all come into play. To grasp a culture, and communicate meaningfully to it, you need familiarity with language, of course, but also with non-verbal communication, customs, perceived values, and concepts of time and space. "Melissa Lamson," with years of experience in creating and nurturing high-performing global teams, understands how "It's not enough to know the language!" In her book, " No Such Thing as Small Talk," she focuses on Germany, a major business partner for the United States, and the country in which she has lived and worked for over a decade. Business leaders today expect to face cultural differences when they do business with, for example, China or Brazil. But with a Western, industrialized country like Germany, one that displays a business etiquette and work ethic similar to the United States, it is easy to overlook the differences simply because so much appears, on the surface, to be the same. The differences are not in your face but subtle. And these small, yet critical, differences are exactly what Melissa's book will help you identify, respect and bridge. Melissa succinctly presents what she calls seven keys, or principles, to unlocking the German business mind. Her principles, whether they relate to process, punctuality, discipline or email communication, are insightful, personal and compelling. Not only does she clearly lay out the differences, but she also offers a cultural perspective that is rich with personal narrative. If you plan to be in any way professionally engaged with Germany--whether you wish to participate in trade fairs, carry out negotiations with partners or colleagues, discuss schedules or terms with customers, or even apply for a job in Germany--the appropriate cultural understanding, as this book describes, will create mutual trust and will quite likely be the key to your business success.