Take your time
Everyone in business appreciates that ‘time is money’, but in the Arab world you will find that other considerations may have priority.
Your Arab counterpart will always want to give sufficient time to getting to know you personally. Even if he is an MBA and used to thinking of mega-corporations, he (or possibly she) will always want to focus on the individual they are dealing with.
When talking with your Arab counterpart, it is well not to rush in with opinions on local matters and criticism of the government, etc. A tactful line is always to say that you have come to learn (from your counterpart) about the local situation. As your relationship develops, you may well find that he or she will be happy to discuss local matters freely.
Do not even think of rushing in straight from the airport to conclude the deal and fly off again. Huge contracts have been lost because the Arab partner has felt insulted by the lack of time the visitor has felt can be devoted to the personal side of doing business.
In the Arab world a man’s sons can be expected to be part of the scene: it is the norm for an entrepreneur to be training his son(s) to run a business. Time spent meeting, say, an 18-year old will not be wasted as he/she could be a tycoon within 5 years.
Thank you for visiting ArabicOnline.Eu. Our award winning interactive courses of Modern Standard Arabic have been developed for anyone with a genuine interest in Arabic, whether for private, educational or professional reasons and are specially designed for self-study. Our website and our language courses are free from advertisements and we don't share any personal details of our visitors or registered members with third parties. Nor do we sell data for targeted advertising. We believe passionately that learning should be free from commercial distractions. For this reason we rely on subscriptions to fund the development of our products. Click here to find out more about our Beginner to Intermediate Arabic courses.
