Nordic Culture and Scandinavian

Nordic Culture, Scandinavian, and Swedish Culture. [6-mins] Is this One Region? Americans crossing the Atlantic often say they’re going to “Europe”, thinking in terms of a region. But of course, Europe is a continent and not one country. Europe is in...

How to Shake Hands in Other Cultures

How to Shake Hands in Other Cultures; To Kiss Bow or Shake Hands [3-mins] How often do you kiss if that’s the way you greet each other? In Belgium, it is once. In the Netherlands, it is three times. In the USA you air-kiss (kissing when only the cheeks touch if...

Democracy and Cultural Diversity

Democracy and Cultural Diversity [4-min read] This writing is an attempt to explain, from a cultural point of view, why Democracy is not a World Universal “thing”. Democratic elections in Pakistan, Russia, Afghanistan, and Burma? The list is far from...

Humor in Different Countries

In a previous post on Humor in Different Countries (2012), I tried to make a point about humor not being culturally neutral. (Click here to read it). I don’t think there are many people who will disagree with the above point. In order to illustrate the...

The Good Assumption in International Business

The term ‘economics’ comes from the Ancient Greek oikos, which means ‘house’, and nomos, which stand for ‘custom’ or ‘law’. In other words, economics is really a social science about the ‘rules of the house’. Macroeconomics, microeconomics, business economics,...