Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands (The Bestselling Guide to Doing Business in More than 60 Countries)

• Australia: The "thumbs-up" sign, which in the U.S. indicates "O.K." is considered rude.
  
• Brazil: The colors of the Brazilian flag are green and yellow, so avoid wearing this combination in any fashion.
  
• China: Avoid making exaggerated gestures or using dramatic facial expressions. The Chinese do not generally use their hands when speaking, and become distracted by a speaker who does.
  
• Indonesia: Since it is impolite to disagree with someone, Indonesians rarely say "no"...a clear way to indicate "no" is to suck in air through the teeth.

The authors are very aware that no generalizations apply to all residents of a nation, and are careful not to stereotype or judge. Highly recommended to any business traveler--or any student of the diversity of human cultures.

(Note: a great companion volume for this book is Gestures, which is devoted entirely to explaining the varieties of hand gestures in 82 countries!)

Product Description
More than a decade after establishing itself as the number-one book on international business etiquette, Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands has been fully revised to reflect the profound global transformation that has occurred since its debut. In this new edition, author Terri Morrison McCarthy-the leading expert in this field-has included:

So, it's a good thing there are books like this to help relieve our gauche-ness and keep the egg off our faces whether traveling or putting our businesses out on the Internet.

An alphabetical listing from Argentina through Venezuela, each country section has a small line map with the name of the capital city located inside.

They all begin with a short cultural note, followed by:

=> Country Background: Short history; Type of government; Language; Religion; Demographics.

=> Cultural Orientation: Cognitive styles; Negotiation style; Value Systems.

=> Business Practices: Appointments; Negotiating; Business entertainment; Time (in relation to Greenwich Mean Time).

=> Protocol: Greetings; Titles/forms of address; Gestures; Dress; Gifts.

Things you might not know include:

=> more than 14 major languages are spoken in India

=> in Ecuador, make appointments about 2 weeks in advance

=> literacy is almost 100% in Russia

=> Danes tend to get down to business right away, with a minimum of small talk

=> in Malaysia, one who expresses anger in public has shamefully lost face

=> nearly all Egyptians speak Arabic. Most business people who deal with foreigners speak English, French, or both

The appendix contains interesting & valuable information, too. I especially liked the pictures of phone, electrical, & ground adaptors. There's an entire page of metric equivalents for those who don't use them daily. Morrison includes a page about travel medical insurance, too.

What's missing? Information about African countries is nearly non-existent. Other than Egypt, no other country is covered, not even South Africa.

And, if you're looking for in-depth information about online courtesies, you'll have to dig deep to find them. There are few.


Misleading and imprecise   October 22, 2001
 19 out of 28 found this review helpful

When I bought this book, I wished to have a concise and reliable guide for "do's" and "don'ts" around the world. Well, at least I got a concise one.
I've been in some 20 countries and for most of them, the suggestions of this book would range from useless to misleading. Data about religion, for instance, seem to have been collected from old books, when the Latin America people could be classified as 97% Catholic.
Suggestions about dressing is also outated, with recommendations like 3-piece suites.
The greetings are also outdated: despite not being American, I know that currently, in USA, women (especially the 30-something and under) use to kiss each other in informal occasions, but this is not even mentioned.
And, as a Brazilian, I became marvelled to know that some people in Brazil speak "various Amerindian languages". The book only fails to tell me where ...
An advice: instead of buying this book, ask some friends: is costless and far more trustable.


Full of mistakes - Swedish example   March 2, 2005
 18 out of 19 found this review helpful

This book is a complete joke. It was recently ridiculed in a Swedish business weekly for its description of Sweden. According to the book's authors:

1. The indigenous population in the north of the country are called lapps. The expression sami is somewhat derogatory. In fact it's the opposite! This is as if a European guide book on doing business in the US suggested their readers use the word "negro" instead of "african-american." Also, the Sami number some 20,000 persons, not really vital information if you are visiting a country of 9 million people. Moreover, comparing them to American indians or Australian aborigines is somewhat misleading, the non-sami population groups began to settle what is today Sweden sometime 2000 BC.

2. According to the book English is spoken in the major cities but if they plan to do business outside of the urban centres, they should speak German! This may have been true fifty years ago. A visiting US business person would should definately stick to English, German (with a US accent as well, I presume) will not get you very far.

In short, this book seems as if it's been written based on what the authors could find from a quick scan on the internet.

2. Most people in Sweden speak English.


It should include more countries and be updated   October 4, 2001
 16 out of 17 found this review helpful

I compared the information in this book about my own country and the one I'm living and it is almost correct; at least, if you follow what it says, you would not have problems when dealing with people from those places.

I have met people from several countries and so I know much of the information in the book is right and useful, as well.

In 4 to 10 pages per country, you'll learn the basis of history, language, people's way to handle information, and so on. It's a very good starting point. Moreover, I liked very much the political correctness of this book: The style is very respectful of cultures and people (in most cases).

Two problems: 1) It should include more countries. It would be a nice resource of data about the places the people you meet come from. 2) The information should be updated, let's say, in a web page, since the world changes continuosly.

However, you'll get a very nice picture about the places and people described in the book.


Well-intentioned but unreliable.....   December 7, 2000
 11 out of 23 found this review helpful

I am a technical translator and localization project manager, and recently purchased "Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands" as a reference. When I received the book, my first instinct was to turn to see the section on the UK to see what was written about the customs and traditions of my native country. The problem was, I couldn't find it. First, I searched under "United Kingdom". Then I tried "Great Britain", and in desperation, "Britain". I was dismayed (to say the least) when I eventually found it under "England". As a very small Cultural Note on the third page of the section explains, "England" is but one country in a group of three that make up Great Britain, one of four that comprise the United Kingdom, and one of five that form the British Isles.

I have no objection to descriptions of the customs, traditions, and history of England. My objection is to the fact that the terms England, the UK, and Great Britain are used interchangeably on the first three pages of this section, before the aforementioned note explains that this is not accurate. Referring to "England's" educational and belief systems when those of the UK are meant, and "the English" when "the British" are meant is completely erroneous - and even offensive. It is tantamount to confusing the USA and Canada, a mistake that very few people would make.

Having lived in the USA for some time, I have come to realize that there is a common misconception in America that England and the UK are one and the same country. As it is clear to me from the Cultural Note that the authors of this book are fully aware of the difference, I am disappointed that a book aimed at promoting cultural awareness does nothing to clear up this misconception. The fact that the Cultural Note explaining this difference does not occur until the middle of the section even suggests that it is unimportant......

The inaccuracy of the information in the UK section of this book would lead me to doubt the accuracy of the information in the other sections. I am seriously reconsidering the suitability of the entire book as a work of reference for our project.