2.  Scenario
 Key Issues
 Causes
 Solutions
 Recommendations

3.  Mr. Michael Sokolow is the Director of
Foreign Sales of a clothing manufacturer
and worldwide distributor based in New
York.
 Mr. Norio Tokunaka is the Vice President of
Merchandising of a large retail clothes store
in Japan.

4.  Language Barriers
 Non Verbal Communication
 Social Conventions
› Direct/indirect communication
› Importance of personal relationships
 Limited display of emotions
 Future relations

5.  Time pressure on Michael to get new contracts
 Long Term versus short term orientation(Dejanz)
 Uncertainty avoidance(hofsteed)
 Cultural differences
› Dominating attitude
› Different approaches when handling
conflicts(website)
 Verbal/ Nonverbal communication(dejanz)

6.  Understand the other persons cultural
background
 Be sensitive towards people who are not
comfortable in communicating in English
 Pay attention to body language
 Train employees on managing cross culture
differences
 Better Time scheduling of senior staff

7. Short Term
 Bring Mr. Roger back for further correspondence with Mr. Norio
 Provide training to develop Michaels cross cultural skills
Long Term
 Develop a framework for Managing cross-cultural differences
› Select a more culturally oriented person to handle sales with
other regions( i.e Japan)
› Free up time to facilitate more relationship building with future
international clients

8. “No culture can live if
it attempts to be
exclusive”
Mahatma Gandhi