Dutch manager: Well, I need the paperwork to make a good report to decide if we will invest or not.
South African Manager: But why paperwork is needed? I told you all about the factory by myself... YOU DO NOT TRUST ME?Dutch manager thinks: Well, actually, YES, I do NOT trust you! Why should I?
South African manager thinks: He asks too much!
Dutch manager: No, of course I trust you, but I need to see official documents and papers to find out where the money is applied for, that are our rules which I have to deal with….
4 comments:
Trust is very important for us when doing business. If we do not trust our counterpart, we will never do business with them.
And asking "you do not trust me?" in such a direct way sounds very impolite! I would feel very offended if I was that Dutch businessman!
You should never ask this directly in our culture, indeed very impolite!
Why would this be offending? If they are asking that much information which is not necessary to have and which has already been told to him the day before, why should we not be allowed to ask this question? It is just a normal question isn't it?
Indeed, for South Africans this is a very normal question. But they do not take in account that in other cultures this can be very impolite.
Every time I go to South Africa they ask me this question in situations where they do not feel comfortable themselves. By asking this they would like to achieve that you get confused by this question. So be aware!
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