New technologies have further facilitated international business relationships and exchanges. New skills are therefore needed.

International and intra-European trade requires a “cultural shift” that takes into account communication between business worlds governed by different habits, values, cognitive and behavioural maps.

This module provides you with the basic knowledge and skills to successfully interact with stakeholders from other countries who, therefore, have different cultural backgrounds.
In this regard, it is important to start by becoming aware of one’s own culture because we unconsciously tend to share its main elements. This means that we might well neglect our interlocutors’ culture and background.
Critical issues in interactions lurk precisely where we think there is a “common sense”; shared by everyone!
You will learn to recognize the elements to be taken into consideration in order to communicate effectively across national and cultural boundaries, and to prepare optimally for communications with interlocutors from other cultures. Effective and successful cross-cultural communication goes far beyond linguistic proficiency in English or other languages.

Your objective is to

• Gain awareness and become sensitive to cultural differences.
• Interact successfully with people from different countries.
• Avoid cultural mistakes.

You will learn how to

• To recognize your own cultural imprinting. 
• To recognize cultural differences.
• To prepare for intercultural business meetings or negotiations.
• To communicate in a respectful though effective way across cultures.