Essay Sample on Chile Business Culture

Chile is a beautiful country located in Latin America with a good cultural business environment. Most businesses are situated along with major trading urban centers and cities. The family remains a crucial institution highly protected and valued in the business world. Chile citizens are comfortable to work for six days in a week and up to 12 hours per day (Roraff & Camacho, 2011). Chilean people value hierarchical decision making, and middle managers would love it to adopt decisions made by the top leadership. When contacting business observance of that hierarchy remains critical, meaning one needs to use the CEO as the first line of contact in business. One should always show etiquette while dealing with the company officials and greetings with little contact, such as shaking hands. If one is quite familiar with the company representatives, a hug is acceptable as first greetings (Spillan & Rahman, 2018). Chileans prefer face to face meetings in business transactions than online or depersonalized engagements.

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The Chileans will prefer physical meetings as opposed to email or telephone in business transactions. They love holiday summer, and many business meetings may not take place during the period. Chileans love to put titles before their names, and therefore, one is expected to observe such rules in a meeting. It is normal for Informal conversations to precede a formal one. Usually, such discussions are aimed at catching up with fellow members. Shaking each person's hand is expected in a group meeting, and address people by their surname, and one may leave out other names if they wish. Chileans expect formal dress code usually a suit and a tie for a formal meeting. Most ladies also wear a suit when engaged in formal meetings (Spillan & Rahman, 2019).

Expect Chileans to come a little late after the meeting time. It is normal too late by like 10 minutes sometimes due to traffic snarl-up or unavoidable circumstances. When one enters a meeting later than scheduled, you are expected to seek an apology afterward for the lateness but not intervene in the middle when the meeting is ongoing. One should always show respect to fellow members in business engagement value in society. It is natural to give respect to the elderly, preferably give them way in a congested pathway within a business or public places. Business cards or any writing or reading materials are issued before the meeting starts. Chileans will interrupt in between the meeting conversation but not as assign of disrespect instead only if there is a pint of clarification (Albuja & Merino, 2017).

Business Ethical and cultural issues between U.S and Chile

Ethical issues that may conflict with that of the United States include lack of adherence to strict time management. Americans value every second and coming late for business meeting appear unethical or lack of seriousness. The Americans may also value decentralized management, where managers at every level have the independence of making decisions as long as they strictly adhere to the culture and goals of the organization (Mukherjee & Ramos, 2014). The Americans may feel that the Chelan's is too dependent on the senior management consulting in each step of decision making, which is not natural. It means that misunderstandings may arise about decentralized business leadership. Americans prefer communicating through email or phone, even on critical business-related deals. Chileans may feel uncomfortable or read non-commitment when essential business communication gets done through the mail. Ethical issues may arise when Americans prefer virtue meetings, email, or phone to communicate on business matters (Adekola & Sergi, 2016).

References

Adekola, A., & Sergi, B. S. (2016). Global business management: A cross-cultural perspective. Routledge.

Albuja, J. A., & MERINO, L. J. (2017). Analysis of the Competitive Factors of Businesses in Chile. Espacios, 38(29), 11.

Mukherjee, S., & Ramos-Salazar, L. (2014). "Excuse Us, Your Manners Are Missing!" The Role of Business Etiquette in Today's Era of Cross-Cultural Communication. TSM Business Review, 2(1), 18.

Roraff, S., & Camacho, L. (2011). CultureShock! Chile: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette. Marshall Cavendish International Asia Pte Ltd.

Spillan, J. E., & Rahman, M. N. (2018). Doing Business in Chile and Peru. Springer Books.

Spillan, J. E., & Rahman, M. N. (2019). Cultural Issues Affecting Business Activity in Chile and Peru. In Doing Business in Chile and Peru (pp. 47-65). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.