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Top 10 mistakes made in offshore manufacturing
With international offshoring numbers impossible to count, we know only that the trend of offshore production is increasing, with no end in sight.
Though thousands of companies begin an offshoring program every [...]

learn enough of the local language to apologise for NOT speaking it

In the USA “yes” means “I agree with you.” However, in Asia, “yes” may mean “I’ve heard you.”

” Just because your engineer is Chinese doesn’t mean he should negotiate deals in China for you”
This is this week’s one liner, posted by our Road Scholar.
Technorati Tags: today’s tip, one liner, international tip, international advice, business tip, business tips, business quotes, translating, [...]

If you’re going to do business with foreign people, you must understand them. All too often, we don’t understand who we’re dealing with.
When we bring our own mindsets, perceptions, attitudes, values and belief systems to foreign business dealings, we often forget their values and systems are different. Additionally, our foreign counterparts may not be [...]

Let’s face it; Americans have a terrible reputation abroad.
We have controversial foreign policies. Time after time we have elected monolingual presidents (our Congress is mostly monolingual as well). We live with huge domestic problems such as homelessness, lack of health insurance, violent street crime and high school graduates who can’t read.
Europeans laugh at [...]

What is the best springboard to Asia? Many companies don’t bother to debate this question. This is one of the biggest strategic decisions a firm can make, and it’s often made quickly, blindly and influenced entirely by emotion. Firms often choose countries on the basis of these variables:

Someone in the company may have experience [...]

So, how do you pick a translator?
Think back to all of the operator’s manuals that came with goods built in Asia, with incorrect translation. Remember laughing at poorly translated fortune cookies?
Our translated brochures, Web sites, operator’s manuals, memos or business proposals may be the only way we can reach many of our prospects. [...]