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International Business Minute Project
http://www.internationalbusinessminute.com/free.html
This website is from a professional consulting group that specializes in helping businesses
successfully marketing internationally, adapting their product, services, and marketing for local
culture, competition, and needs/wants. Please use back of these sheets if you need more space.
Video 1: 3 Mistakes Offshoring
1. What are the three mistakes identified in this video and WHY are they create problems.
Video 2: Food is Culture
2. Why does the food a country enjoys say something about a country's culture?
3. What happens when marketing people visit another country and violate a common norm or
expectation at the dinner table?
Video 3: 3 Tips for Market Entry
4. If knowing how people eat is an important first-step towards understanding a different culture,
what THREE things does this video recommend to begin the process of learning & understanding
a new international market?
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Video 4: Polish Secretary
5. Even if a business has an outstanding employ that speaks a foreign language and has lived in that
culture, why does this video suggest that we cannot assume just any employee should be our “lead”
person when marketing in a new country.
6. Whether we like it or not, some countries have norms/cultures with beliefs that some Americans
may even find offensive. For example, in some parts of the world, women have defined, limited,
and traditional roles. What to marketers need to do when they run across international markets
with that have norms and cultures that we do not agree with WHY?
7. What might happen if I do not work within the norms and expectations of another country?
Video 5: 3 Myths
8. Identify the three myths that are discussed in this video that are not always true.
A.
B.
C.
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Video 6: American Slang
9. While English is generally considered the “language of international business”, even when working
with English speaking people in another country, we have to carefully choose our words. Why?
10. What is an example of a “figure of speech” or colloquialism that can create misunderstandings in
another country even when we are working with people fluent in English?
11. We commonly communicate with people with analogies using one common situation to
illustrate what we want to say about another situation. Why does this create problems in
international business?
12. Most students have been told that the word “ain’t” is not good English. Why is this important to
consider when talking to English-speaking people in Europe?