B2B Salespeople’s cultural souveniers : finns meeting Japanese

Abstract

Culture is an exciting, yet abstract and a tricky concept. As salespeople, we bring our culture as a mental souvenier into interactions with buyers coming from other cultures. In fact, culture is a discreet and taken-for-granted mental companion for both sellers and buyers representing their own cultural backgrounds in shared business meetings. Genuine curiosity and appreciation for things Japanese as well as awareness of one’s Finnish roots will help the Finnish salesperson to succeed with Japanese business professionals.