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Business Culture in Italy

Find out about business culture, protocol, customs and business etiquette in italy. Learn about doing successful business in italy, marketing, corporate structure, negotiating, establishing connections and finding your partner. Receive latest information on italy business organization, manners, building relationship, correspondence and traditions. Get practical tips on meeting protocol, business entertainment, communication, social customs and much more.

Doing Business in Italy

When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do. Let's say your Roman counterpart shows up half an hour late for a major meeting, offering a big smile but no excuse. Should you match his casual attitude towards punctuality at your next get-together? Certainly not, especially if you are the seller. All over the world today the customer is king If you come from a clock-worshipping culture such as North America, turning up late would show disrespect for your prospective buyer. And Italians tend to be very sensitive to issues of rispetto and honore. Instead, the appropriate reaction to tardiness is to open your briefcase and tackle some of that paperwork that's been piling up on you. Convert waiting time to working time. Your Roman business associate almost certainly meant no offense by showing up a little late. It's just that time seems to take on a different meaning as you move south in Europe. ... » » » MORE

Very strong differences in style exist between the industrialized North and the more relaxed and traditional South. Adjust your behavior accordingly. Business is not done over breakfast, although at lunch it is acceptable. Lunch is the main meal of the day, starting at 1 p.m. and often lasting two or three hours. Dinner is usually from 8 to 10 p.m., possibly earlier in smaller towns. Conducting business at dinner is acceptable only if spouses are not present and if the host instigates it. Entertaining is done primarily in fine restaurants except at the highest levels when the host has a residence and household staff suitable to business entertaining. Spouses are usually included when invited to a home. Otherwise, they are included only if the guest of honor is traveling with his or her spouse. ... » » » MORE

Business Customs and Protocol in Italy

There are other instances where it is safer to just take note of the local customs while sticking to your own rules of behavior. One good example is what scholars call conversational overlap. A business discussion in Rome or Naples frequently evolves into what appears to be a verbal free-for-all. Italians are exuberant, enthusiastic talkers. They are also quick thinkers who can figure out what you are going to say long before you have finished saying it. So they often jump in with their response while you are still talking. In Italy, when chairing a meeting between locals and northern Europeans or North Americans I sometimes had to restrain my Italian colleagues, because many northerners find it rude to be interrupted in mid-sentence. If you were to respond by trying to outshout the locals, things quickly get out of hand. So in this case we should stay with the behavior we have been taught is polite, namely conversational turn-taking. ... » » » MORE

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