Comparative Analysis of German and Anglo-Saxon Business Culture

Two premises built the starting point for following study: that cultural background, cultural conditioning have a considerable influence upon business area at one hand and at the other hand that nations having common origins are likely to present similar cultural conditioning. The first hypothesis found proving in the works of theoreticians and practitioners like E.T. Hall, Geert Hofstede, Richard Gesteland and others dealing with the problem of people’s “mental programming” called culture and with cultural differences around the world. For the second premise we wanted to analyze three cultures having common Germanic roots namely the German, British (focusing on the English component of it) and American cultures through the prism of their concept of time, relation to business, working and communicational style, structure of management, attitude towards hierarchy and interpersonal distance including physical contact.

As the results of our comparative analysis showed above mentioned business cultures had very much in common regarding attitude to time, business and interpersonal distance but in the other segments they presented considerable differences as well.

Taking all aspects into consideration the similarities deriving from their common Germanic origin offer the three cultures in question some advantages in business relations but the essential differences they present should be minded, too to avoid failure in deal making.