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I am honoured to be with you for 2 reasons.

First of all because, as my mentor told me, the great woman of female

entrepreneurship well-known here, La Signora Boschis: "Alone, we are

invisible; together, we are invincible."

The second reason : I felt in love with this theme: a cross-cultural

approach to business. Let me tell you why: I was born to a Torinese (not

just Italian) father and a Tunisian mother, I studied in Paris and I have

invested in a sector very much male and muscular, the sector of the

construction industry, in the production of floor and wall coverings,

veneer stone and, to complicate it a little bit more, in various countries as

diverse as Tunisia, Italy, Egypt, the Emirates.

That’s why I took the first flight here to share with you some of my

experiences and those of my female friends worldwide.

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Summary

I – knowlegde : sustainable

competitive advantage

II – act local & think global

III – woman, cross-cultural

quintessence

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I – Knowlegde : sustainable

competitive advantage

SAY anything to anyone, anywhere! :

Successful Cross-Cultural Communication

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Create Proactive Communication

Cross-Culturally

• It avoid Reactive Communication

• It permits us to be proactive in our cross-cultural communications. As many cultural diversity books state, if you aren't proactive in your interpersonal, phone, and email communication with different cultures, you will likely be reactive.

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Rapport Secret To Bridge The Cultural Gap

• It permits us to use simple rapport secrets to create trust, and

a common bond, with the cultures we visit or work with. It establishes a connection, trust, and ultimately leads to respect. Being in rapport with someone is the key element in successful relationships. Everyone knows how uncomfortable it is to be out of rapport with someone, regardless of their culture.

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Organize Productive Interaction Multi-Culturally

• It permits us to understand Cultural Sensitivities and Avoid Conflict

• It permits us to organize productive interactions, and know the factors to consider when organizing multi-cultural interactions. Time differences, and how different cultures relate to time. Communication approaches, and if we should take a direct or more indirect approach. Whether the interaction needs to be more relationship oriented or outcome oriented.

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Strategies For Cross-Cultural Relationship

• It permits us to develop interpersonal and virtual strategies that

build strong relationships. Understand the beliefs, values, and rules of the cultures we visit, work with, and socialize with. These drive the relationship strategies. Avoid cultural misunderstanding and conflict due to differences. Foster cooperation and respect with every culture.

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II – act local & think global

• The increasingly global business environment requires managers to

approach the negotiation process from the global business person's

point of view. This approach includes aspects which are usually

unimportant in domestic negotiations. Some of the components of a

cross cultural negotiation process are more complex and difficult, but

will increase our success in avoiding barriers and failures in the

international business arena.

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When doing business internationally, we need to consider (Salacuse, 1991):

• The negotiating environment

• Cultural and sub-cultural differences

• Ideological differences

• Political instability and economic changes

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• Considering the fact that culture also determines the way other

cultural contexts are perceived, leads us to the recommendation to

“think local, act global”.

Figure 1: culture as (gendered) organizational practice

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• “As organizational environments become more global, dynamic, and

competitive, contradictory demands intensify. To understand and

explain such tensions, academics and practitioners are increasingly

adopting a paradox lens.” (Smith and Lewis. 2011: 381). The

paradoxical approach enables us to advance the argument that there

can be both a divergence and a convergence of management

practices. “The coexistence of global and local into each other is at

the core of the Yin Yang approach to understanding culture,

marketing and international business in general in the age of

globalisation” (Fang, 2012:208). The paradoxical approach is an

umbrella for the embracive theories of both convergence and

divergence, both global and local, where national culture dynamic

takes place in the age of globalisation such as the glocalisation

theory.

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• When different cultures clash with each other, this collision or

friction can help motivate and encourage cultural process

learning on both sides (Fang, 2011). As Brannen and Salk (2000)

suggest, it will probably lead to the integration of both cultures

into a new hybrid ‘negotiated culture’. Therefore, when different

cultures meet, the potential for penetrating into each other exist

and coexist within each other. This cultural learning of value and

practices is a direct result of the cultural encounters and clashes

happening in the global marketplace and cyberspace of

globalisation, foreign direct investment and Internet (Bird and

Fang, 2009).

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• Chevrier (2009) explored the relevance of national culture to

management in a global feature blurring borders and boundaries. In

her view, the transfer of management practices in a globalized world

requires to understand behaviours and to design instruments that fit

and respect both the legal constraints and the political cultural

context.

• The standardization process is thus exposed to resistance and the

point is to identify the variables that resist the globalisation process.

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III–woman, cross-cultural quintessence

• Language, cultural identity, religion, culture, and customs are all rich with

knowledge and great tools for success. But they would not have the same

impact if one does not value women. Women bring diversity, a cross-cultural

approach to living, we are the essence of multi-culturalism or the "melting

pot".

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• How?

- We are mothers with all our love and protective instinct; we educate,

we teach our children with all our pedagogy and values;

- we are wives, lovers of our men with all of our sensuality and

femininity;

- we are at the same time men at work, with skills and intelligence,

- we make decisions every day in all areas at the same time in all these

roles that we have been given.

Let’s have some successful examples of leaders women

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• Hend Sabry

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• This woman is an example of cross-cultural success.

• Tunisian-born, she is a lawyer in one of the most important studios in

North Africa.

• But she has also followed a career which began with a passion and

today is her profession: film actress, she is one of the most famous

actresses in the Arab world.

• One of her successful tools was her multi-culturalism, her melting pot of

language and culture that allowed her to break through the

barriers and social issues related to the noble profession of lawyer and

granted her to live out her passion.

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When I called to ask her what she thought of our subject, her message was:

• " when I started acting In my country Tunisia, I was 14 and it wasn't

common to find young girls aspiring to an artistic career , mainly because

of the stigma related to being "an artist" in Arab countries.. Then I moved

to a gigantic "Cairo" at 21 and made a name in the Middle East with my

two biggest assets: parents who trusted and believed in me , and a

masters degree in law that made me gain respect faster.. And this is my

advice to every Arab girl: If you want to succeed in a hostile environment,

don't care too much about others' judgements or opinions, surround

yourself with positive and creative people, and get yourself a solid

education, even if it's not in the field you end up choosing. Education

always helps."

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• Diana Avgusta Stauer

• This woman is an example of cross-cultural success.

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• Of Russian citizenship, birth and upbringing, she is a highly successful

international supermodel.

• Her passion is art and her favourite country is Italy. He decided after 15

years of working all over the world to turn the page and give in to her

passion, which has now become her profession: she has art galleries in Italy

and France, and her paintings are exhibited around the world.

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• When I called her to tell her about our subject, I asked her, Diana,

how do you explain your success? She replied, firstly, I am a woman

and I choose to act as such, I have worked as a man works, but

more than that it is the cultural richness that life has given me that

has allowed me to break down doors and convey my passions.

• She added: "The power of the ladies is in their unity. Female energy

is much more powerful than anything else if it's combined together.

Key to success is to dream the impossible things that you want,

without the limits. If people tell you it's crazy it's ok. It means if you

succeed others will admire you! Because easy ways are trivial"

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“Look like a girl,

Act like a lady,

Think like a man,

Work like a Boss”

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