Globally Speaking: Face-to-Face

In Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Icelandic feature film Cold Fever (VL-5/97), a young Japanese businessman is pressured by his associates to perform in a karaoke bar in Japan. Although Cold Fever is a fictional story, North American business people would be well-advised to hum a few bars of favorite songs in preparation for serious business, especially since much of the important business in Japan is transacted not during formal meetings, but rather at social functions. Face-to-Face might not please Michael Crichton (whose Rising Sun was a thinly-veiled attack on Japanese business practices in America), but this opening volume in a 6-video series on skills and strategies for business success with Asian companies, offers a good introduction to specific cultural differences which translate into widely different business practices. Combining dramatic skits and interviews with business leaders, the video emphasizes the importance of building relationships and offers a number of concrete suggestions for sharing information, giving appropriate feedback and learning to "hear" between the lines (since direct negative criticism is neither given nor welcomed in many Asian corporate cultures). The other titles in the Globally Speaking series are: Communicating Across Technology, Team Formation, Team Meetings, Team Systems, and Transforming Leadership (series price: $1,995 for public and college libraries; $3,200 for corporate libraries). While the price and subject puts this well outside the range of most general collections, this is definitely recommended for those libraries buying cross-cultural business videos. Two other series are also available: Working With China and Working With Japan. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)