$1.$ What went wrong in this cross$-$cultural business situation?

$2.$ Using information from the course $($i$.$e$.$ Hofstede dimensions$),$ explain why things went

wrong.

$3.$ What could have been done differently to make the situation work?

$1.$ Fred Wagner

A large Baltimore manufacturer of cabinet hardware had been working for months to

locate a suitable distributor for its products in Europe. Finally invited to present a

demonstration to a reputable distributing company in Frankfurt, it sent one of its most

promising young executives, Fred Wagner, to make the presentation. Fred not only spoke

fluent German but also felt a special interest in this assignment because his paternal

grandparents had immigrated to the United States from the Frankfurt area during the

$1920$s$.$ When Fred arrived at the conference room where he would be making his

presentation, he shook hands firmly, greeted everyone with a friendly guten tag, and even

remembered to bow the head slightly as is the German custom. Fred, an effective speaker

and past president of the Baltimore Toastmasters Club, prefaced his presentation with a

few humorous anecdotes to set a relaxed and receptive atmosphere. However, he felt that

his presentation was not well received by the company executives. In fact, his instincts

were correct, for the German company chose not to distribute Fred$$s hardware products.

What went wrong?

$2.$ Bill Nugent

Bill Nugent, an international real estate developer from Dallas, had made a $2$:$30$ P$.$M$.$

appointment with Mr$.$ Abdullah, a high$-$ranking government official in Riyadh, Saudi

Arabia. From the beginning, things did not go well for Bill. First, he was kept waiting

until nearly $3$:$45$ P$.$M$.$ before he was ushered into Mr$.$ Abdullah$$s office. When he finally

did get in$,$ several other men were also in the room. Even though Bill felt that he wanted

to get down to business with Mr$.$ Abdullah, he was reluctant to get too specific because

he considered much of what they needed to discuss sensitive and private. To add to Bill$$s

sense of frustration, Mr$.$ Abdullah seemed more interested in engaging in meaningless

small talk than in dealing with the substantive issues concerning their business. How

might you help Bill deal with his frustration?