What is the main goal of a company? Reducing cost and improve the quality of their products. Today, companies don’t have to stuck in to one country. They can order raw materials or hire cheap labor from China or India and reduce their cost and also improve the quality of their goods. This opportunity makes business world unique. Nowadays, there is no place for local companies in the business world. Small grocery stores, shops can not survive against international companies.
This is not only because of cost or quality. Individuals like to try new and authentic things. Milk from Portugal beats Polish Milk in customers eyes. Because, it is new, fresh and has to be good if it came all the way from Portugal to Poland. Maybe it is not better or fresh enough but it is authentic and new. Therefore, I strongly believe that International Business is the key element of the successful business today.
However, when you are dealing with different companies from different countries most probably their culture will affect your negotiations greatly. In this essay, I would like to show you Turkish Business Culture and How It Can Affect Your Business Negotiation?
First of all, Business is completely personal for Turks. They do business with who they can trust. Therefore, If you are negotiating with Turkish people, you have to be patient. They do not like pressure and If you insist on making a deal at the first meeting, most probably you will get a negative result. Because for Turkish People, building a relationship is much more important than a contract. Mostly, they like to talk about families, football etc. to learn more about their partners and their partners’ interests. So, first meeting is more social than a business. Because Firstly, they have to trust and then like and then respect their partners. So, I can easily say that it is a long-term process.
Furthermore, usually If Turkish people like a person, then at the next meetings, they want to see the same person not a `stranger`. Because, they do not trust companies, they trust people. So, people who want to make a business in Turkey should select their key personal carefully.
What is more, most of the Turkish people believe that they are stronger If their partners or friends are strong. Therefore, business deals are most probably two-sided deals. At the end, each side of the deal wins. As I mentioned above, Turkish people see their partners as their friends. Therefore, this is more than just a partnership. At the very first meeting, Turkish people can be formal but after they accept someone as their partner, conversations can become informal. But of course, It depends on people and a person who they are dealing with.
What is interesting for me is When they are the host of the negotiation they kind a like to keep things slow as I mentioned before. They would like to build a relationship, trust etc. But, when they are guests, they do not like waiting so much. In Turkey, long waiting time means No. Moreover, Turkish people are hot-blood like Greeks. So, I can say that they can be impatient sometimes.
I believe that Turks’ time sensitivity is low. But I think, this depends on the people also. I see a lot of people who are very careful about their time but as a Turkish, I can not say I’m one of them. Nevertheless, It is not a secret that Turkish people are emotional. Basically, they can not control or hide their emotions. For example; If you will do business in Turkey, I believe that you should avoid talking about politics, historical issues such as Armenia or Cyprus. Because, It can go wrong and even though, you have very nice deal, you can lose them easily. Because again business is completely personal in Turkey.
About contract, Turks don’t like surprises. So, they will try their best to be specific about everything. They care about their relationship with their partners and they don’t want to be disappointed with the contract or They don’t want to disappoint their partners. So, firstly they will put all their wishes to the contract and then talk about it. Moreover, they usually want the same thing from their partners also. Because, they would like to understand what other-side wants.
When you go business meeting, You will just see most probably 2-3 negotiators. And usually, that small team has a leader who makes the last decision. Turks do not like big groups like Chinese. Because, they do not like conflicts inside of the firm. Also, I strongly believe that historical background of Turks make them believe that One Leader can be more effective than Group Consensus. Because, democracy is a new thing for Turks and you can see that in business environment also. Usually, Seniors make all the decisions. Of course, it has positive and negative sides. After negotiations are done, If business didn’t go so well, there will be only one guilty guy and most probably all the negative consequences of this deals will be on that person. So, If we look at the deals in this perspective, every deal is a risky in Turkey.
In conclusion, I try to show `How Turkish Culture Can Affect Business` but of course, I just express my feelings and my research. You can not generalize Turkish people because there are all kinds of them. If you go to East of Turkey, you can see completely different culture than what I mentioned or vice versa. I think Turkish Culture is a mixed of Asian, European and Muslim Culture. Therefore, for individuals, some cultural aspects can be stronger than others. But, I believe that, Turkish people work hard and longer hours and they expect their partners to do the same. Respect is the key element of their business style and They deal with people not companies.
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