Experiencing Thirteen International Business Cultures in 26 Days Part 9 — Lafayette International Business Consultants, LLC

International Round-the-World Business Trip – Part 9

This is Part 9 of my Round-the-World business trip.

Part 1 started with the USA and UK segments.

Part 2 was about Qatar and the UAE.

Part 3 covered Mumbai & New Delhi, India.

Part 4 took us throughThailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Part 5 discussed Laos, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Part 6 was dedicated to Shanghai

Part 7 took us to South Korea

Part 8 was spent in Japan

This week, my International Round the World Business Trip reaches its penultimate stage with a 3604 Mi (5860 Km) flight south from Narita to Cairns, Australia. My segment in Australia had me attending business meetings in Cairns, Perth, Brisbane, Sydney, Adelaide and Melbourne. This wonderfully diverse country has some amazing sites to take in and some interesting geographical differences.

Australia – Geography, Size and Population

The Commonwealth of Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world’s smallest continent. It is comprised of the main island, Tasmania and islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. To its’ north Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea, to the north-east are the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and New Caledonia and, of course, to its south-east is New Zealand, which is where we will be next week.

The continent country is divided into 6 states: New South Wales NSW), Victoria (VIC), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Western Australia (WA) and Tasmania (TAS) plus 2 territories; the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the Northern Territory (NT).

Cairns, known for its connection to the Great Barrier Reef and the Rainforests of the National Parks, is also an excellent gateway to the world famous Outback.

The vast majority of its’ 22 million plus population is concentrated primarily in the major coastal cities, all of which happen to be the capitals of their states and, apart from Darwin, the most populous cities in Australia. They are alphabetically:

Adelaide – The capital of SA and the country’s 5^th most populous city
Brisbane – The capital of QLD and the 3^rd most populous city
Darwin – The capital of NT and the 16^th most populous city
Melbourne – The capital of VIC and the 2^nd most populous city
Perth – The capital of WA and the 4^th most populous city
Sydney – The capital of NSW and the #1 most populous city in the country

The capital of Australia is Canberra, which is in the northern end of ACT. It is the country’s largest inland city and the 8^th most populous city in the country.

The capital of Tasmania is Hobart, which is the 11^th most populous city.

While I had many meetings in these cities, many more were outside the main city centers. These included Cairns (northern QLD), Caloundra (92km/57mi north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast QLD), East Sale (280km/174mi east of Melbourne VIC) and Jandakot, which is about 20km/12½mi south of Perth in Western Australia.

As with many countries, it has a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the USA.

To put things into perspective as far as its size compared to the USA, the land area of Australia is 2.97 million sq mls and the 48 contiguous states of the USA have a land mass of 2.98 million sq mls (add in the water area and it is 3.12 million sq mls) so Australia is the same size as the 48 contiguous states. The BIG difference is population, which is 308 million for the USA compare to 22.7 million for “OZ” and below shows the comparison in size.

A Short History:

The Aborigines are indigent to Australia and now account for about 1% of the population of 22.7 million. The land remained largely unknown until Captain James Cook mapped the east coast in 1770, named it New South Wales and claimed it for Great Britain. Later the original NSW was divided into other states.

It led the way for the establishment of a penal colony and on January 26, 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip led the First Fleet into Port Jackson, which is the natural harbor of Sydney, after deciding the original landing place of Botany Bay was unsuitable. January 26 eventually became Australia’s national day – Australia Day.

Of the 1,000 original people sent from England to “settle” the penal colony, 754 had been convicted of committing a crime. Over 200 British marines were sent to guard the inmates. From then until WWII most of the immigrant population came from The UK and Ireland.

Post WWII there was a large European immigration and until the mid-70’s, Australia had its White Australia Policy. Since then, there has been an influx of immigrants from non-European countries and modern day Australia is a true ethnical and culturally diverse nation. Now more than 200 languages are spoken in Australia.

After English, the most common languages spoken are Italian, Greek, Cantonese, Arabic and Mandarin. The government views Australia’s cultural diversity as a source of both social and economic wealth. I have taken the time to précis the history because it has an impact on the culture and etiquette of the country.

Business Culture & Etiquette:

Unlike many other cultures, Australian business people have a very direct way of communicating and do not need to form long-standing relationships before they do business. In general, Australians are very matter-of-fact when it comes to business negotiations and, if they don’t like something, they can be blunt in letting you know.

You may find that they will argue among themselves in front of you and use some “colorful” language. If they do, ride with it because it is part of how they communicate.

That being said, Australians have a great sense of humor and that can come out in business discussions as well. Somewhat like the British, their humor can be self-deprecating and they tend not to like people who brag so don’t over exaggerate or boast about your company’s abilities or products capabilities. On a personal level, remain modest about your own achievements, including academic ones.

One aspect to bear in mind when you are presenting in Australia is to make sure you have crossed all your T’s and dot all your I’s because they will expect you to make your case and stand by it. Negotiation is not the norm and your Australian hosts are likely to be turned off by aggressive sales techniques.

In general terms, if you have a legitimate business proposition and structure, the business culture and etiquette in Australia allows easy entry into its markets. There is nothing complicated about doing business in Australia and, in fact, it tends to be very easy to do business and the structure is well refined.

I leave you with my favorite place in Australia where I found and savored Australian wines for the first time many years ago and am now a big fan of Aussie wines from South Australia. Most of the finest wineries are about an hours drive from Adelaide.

Barossa Valley Wine District, VIC