Peter Fuller, an executive from Great Plains Foods, traveled to Buenos Aires to negotiate a potential strategic alliance between his company and Comidas Gaucho, an Argentine beef processor. However, the negotiations faced difficulties due to cultural disparities between Americans and Argentines that Peter failed to adequately prepare for or understand. These included differences in views of negotiation goals, personal styles, communication styles, attitudes towards time, and gift-giving norms. Had Peter researched Argentine culture and business practices more beforehand, he could have avoided missteps and better facilitated the negotiations.

1. An American Gaucho in Argentina. Case Analysis by Celestin Ntemngwa
A Great Plains Foods of Iowa Executive, Peter Fuller, takes a business trip to
Buenos Aires to study the possibility of establishing a strategic alliance with Comidas
Gaucho, an Argentine beef processor. While the potential gains from the alliance appear
to be great for both companies, difficulties emerge during the business trip that caused
Peter to reexamine the potential relationship. He faced difficulties because of the cultural
disparity between the USA and Argentina and his failure to study and understand the
basic cross- cultural differences between Americans and Argentines prior to the visit.
Culture is an important factor in international business deals because it affects or
influence how people communicate, think and behave, the way they negotiate
transactions. Shaul (2012) argues that disparity of cultural practices increase the
challenges that individuals participating in a negotiation faced. There are many cross-
cultural issues that Peter failed to study and understand before taking this important
business trip. This failure to understand the cultural difference between US and Argentina
impeded his business deal with Comidas Gaucho. The main ones that emerged from this
case included the fact that Peter did not understand that Americans and Argentines view
negotiation goal differently. When it comes to business negotiation, Peter failed t o
understand how the Argentines view the purpose of negotiation. The next cross-cultural
issue that Peter faced was personal style, which also plays a significant role in

2. Ntemngwa Case Study #1 -An American Gaucho in Argentina
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international business negotiation. Personal style here according to Salacuse (2006) has to
do with the way potential business partner talks to others, dresses, speaks, uses titles and
interact with other people. Argentines have a more formal style than Americans. Dress is
very important for making a good impression in Argentina (International Business
Center, 2015). Business dress is conservative: dark suits and ties for men; white blouses
and dark suit or skirts for women, which Peter obviously failed to understand before
travelling. He appeared so casual to the Argentines’ liking. Argentines don’t like when
people adopt any native costumes, which is exactly what Peter did during the dinner and
his host and potential business partner alienated him.
The communication style is another cultural difference between Americans and
Argentines and which Peter also failed to master. The methods of communication vary
among different cultures. In Argentina, titles, especially among the elderly, are very
important. They prefer to address a person directly by using his or her title only. From the
case, it was obvious that Peter did not understand this about Argentines because he was
surprise when the title “senor” was used to address the Comidas Gaucho boss. Argentines
also like conversation topics such as soccer, history, culture, home and children. Peter did
not like to talk soccer with the driver who picked him up at the airport. Rather he brought
up the Falkland Island conflict, which is a conversation topic, that Argentines dislike and
seldom talk about. Then there is sensitivity to time issue, which is another important
cross-cultural issue that business managers should strive to understand. Different cultures
have different attitudes toward time. Latinos for example are always late while
Americans are quick to make a deal as a result they try to reduce formalities to a
minimum and get down to business immediately, Argentines are the opposite. Peter again

3. Ntemngwa Case Study #1 -An American Gaucho in Argentina
3
failed to master this different attitude toward time and almost freaked out when his driver
arrived late. Argentine behavior is also differs from Americans’ in various aspects, for
example, Argentines don’t like the following as gifts: personal items such as ties and
shirts, leather, and knives (International Business Center, 2015). Peter offered knives as
gifts and obviously they didn’t appreciate them. All of these blunders that Peter made
probably contributed to his a unsuccessful mission and total disappointment.
However, there are some things that Peter could have done prior to the visit to get
himself better prepared. The first thing would have been to use the Internet to search for
information about Argentina’s culture, particularly the difference between them and the
Americans. Peter could have also sought advice from people who understand Argentina
‘s way of ding business. Another way was for Peter to get advice from the US Embassy
in Argentina’s website (http://argentina.usembassy.gov/travel_info.html). Ma (2010)
contends that it also important for business negotiators to understand the differences in
what is considered ethically appropriate. Still in the area of preparing for international
business negotiations, Hamburg (2010) proposes that understanding a potential partner’s
cultural background is helpful in foreseeing the latter’s reactions and hence avoiding
capital mistakes which could hamper a business deal. Conclusively, Peter’s mistakes
would have been minimized if he had taken some time to study the Argentina culture and
way of doing of business before making the trip.

4. Ntemngwa Case Study #1 -An American Gaucho in Argentina
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References
Embassy of the United States Buenos Aires (n.d). U.S. Citizen Services. Retrieved on
January 14, 2015 from http://argentina.usembassy.gov/travel_info.html
Ma, Z. (2010). The SINS in Business Negotiations: Explore the Cross-Cultural
Differences in Business Ethics Between Canada and China. Journal of Business
Ethics, 91123-135. doi:10.1007/s10551-010-0571-5
International Business Center (2015). Argentina Business Etiquette and Culture.
Retrieved on January 14, 2015 from
http://www.cyborlink.com/besite/argentina.htm
Salacuse, J. W. (2006). Leading leaders : how to manage smart, talented, rich, and
powerful people. New York : AMACOM, c2006.
Shaul, I. (2012). International Negotiation. Proceedings Of The International Conference
Marketing - From Information To Decision, 5455-461.