NORTH AMERICAN SALES TEAM LEARNS TO WORK WITH THEIR SWISS COUNTERPARTS

This Basel based company manufactured chemical additives for food processing. The sales team in the US and Canada were learning that business is not conducted the same way all over the world. They chafed at the headquarters’ leadership style and business processes, not to mention, the rhythms of the business day, holidays, and work schedules.

Although the familiar complaint of ‘why is it we who have to change?’ was heard, the sales team did buckle down to learn that cultural differences around relationships caused the tensions. Following Trompenaars’ cultural dimensions, the sales staff began to appreciate why differences exist and how they could change the way they were interacting with Basel. The result was that customers in the US and Canada were overall better served by the company.