A Finnish company placed an order for clothing from Italy but failed to meet strict deadlines for ordering and delivery. Two employees were responsible for the order but no goods arrived. They were reprimanded by the Finnish manager who then contacted the Italian suppliers. A meeting with the Italians went poorly as they were disrespectful and failed to stay on topic. The Finnish manager lacked intercultural skills to understand differences in business practices between the two cultures. Communication issues worsened until a new manager was hired who improved cross-cultural understanding between the Finnish and Italian employees.

1. Summary: The Finnish company placed an order for clothing from Italy, according to strict
deadlines for ordering and delivery. The management directed two employees to place the order,
and clients were guaranteed that the items would arrive by the delivery date; however, no goods
arrived from Italy. The two employees were reprimanded by the Finnish manager, who then
contacted the Italians. When the Italians requested dinner, the manager wanted to discuss the orders
and found the Italians to be quite disrespectful, cramming meetings and failing to remain on
subject, so they wanted to keep the meeting going. The situation was tumultuous, and the Finnish
manager was exhausted. He was only familiar with doing business in Finland and had no concept
how dissimilar doing business in two nations with vastly different cultures could be. Furthermore,
since the manager refused to change his ways, the issue worsened, and he resigned. Then, a new
manager was hired, and cross-cultural communication between the employees in Italy and Finland
began to improve.
Issue: The Finnish Company's boss and staff lack intercultural education, understanding,
adaptation, and communication. Finland's time management is systematic, and everything must be
completed on time. Being late or failing to complete a task on time, like the Italians did, is
considered disrespectful and impolite.
Recommendation: The Finnish Company's manager and employees should receive intercultural
training so that they can recognize the similarities and contrasts among people from various
cultural backgrounds from across the world. Following training, the next step should be to
understand how to treat individuals from other cultures with respect, civility, and tolerance, which
are the business etiquettes that must be demonstrated. Furthermore, the manager and staff must be
aware of the various methods of doing work and not rely solely on one. The concept of time in
Italy is different, therefore, the management should tell the employees to order the goods three
weeks ahead of time to avoid being late, ensuring that the same mistake does not occur again. If
face-to-face communication is not working out, communicating through email or through other
people who are multiculturally aware would be a better choice. Furthermore, the manager and
employees should always double-check that they are on the same page, and the manager should
remind the employees to repeat the task that has been assigned to them. Additionally, the manager
should inform the employees to try to notify the Italians ahead of time that the clothes must arrive
in Finland by the deadline. A written confirmation of the deal through email would be an excellent

2. backup, however, the communication was poor at all levels of the Finnish Company until they
hired a new manager who recognized the multicultural issues and took steps to address the
intercultural management problem with his intercultural skills in order to enhance the intercultural
communication of the company.