The Essential Guide to Going Global

Chapter 7. All Global Business Is Personal

E-mail and teleconferences are poor substitutes for the real relationship building that can only come with face-to-face contact. In global business, that means travel, lots of it. The farther apart you are geographically and culturally from your offshore counterpart, the more important it is to meet face-to-face. Familiarity breeds good business relationships and fosters trust and mutual reliance that will spell success. When operating from your home base, be sure to make yourself available to your overseas associates at any time of the day or night. International business is not a 9-to-5 undertaking.

Globe-Trotting and Relationship Building

A few years ago, I found myself scheduled for a two-week trip that taxed even my high tolerance for frenetic business travel. But taking the time and trouble to show up for clients, business associates, and colleagues is critical to success in international business.

First, I flew from my home base of Miami to New York to meet with officials from the Israeli and Egyptian governments. The purpose of this meeting was to discuss the facilitation of a new trade program that had been created under the auspices of the Israel-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. The Egyptian Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) program encourages business cooperation between Israeli and Egyptian manufacturers. The idea is that areas are established within Egypt where Israeli-provided materials are made into finished products (e.g., apparel ...