A U.S. executive was working with a convention booth builder in England. The English were not working on the booth and would not give a date of completion for the booth or a shipping date to the United States. For six consecutive weeks, the U.S. executive called to inquire about the state of the booth. One day, the executive was called and was given the usual litany of excuses, so he gave the English an ultimatum.

The next week, the English had not acted on the ultimatum, so the U.S. executive informed the company he would have a trucking company pick up and ship the booth to the United States.

Twice the trucking company went to pick up the booth and was told by the English company that they were not authorized to pick up the booth.

The U.S. executive finally had to hire the advertising firm in England that had originally hired the booth manufacturer to intervene and get the booth shipped. When the booth arrived in the United States, it had not been packed properly and required additional work. What cultural differences were involved in this situation? How could the executive have handled the situation differently?