Cultural differences exist between the various societies that are scattered all over the world and that determines the operations of these countries. There exist a lot of differences between the cultures of Saudi Arabia and the United States and in doing business, these differences influence how business is done and the cost of conducting business.
In Saudi Arabia, work is closely related to religion, unlike the United States where work and religion are independent entities. Saudi Arabia is a country that observes strict adherence to Islamic religion (Shelton 184), and business dealings are normally made on the basis of trust and mutual agreement. In the United States, on the other hand, business dealings are formally scheduled and no business deal is considered complete without commitment by signing of documents. The business environment in the United States is a bit liberal as compared to that of Saudi.
The Saudi culture is termed as less rigid when it comes to time management and doing business. Meetings can be loosely scheduled around religion and prayer times and that allows business people room to do business or strike deals from anywhere not necessarily in a formal setting. But in the United States, people keep time and adhere to strictly scheduled meetings. Failure to do so can lead to losses because Americans keep their word when it comes to time management. Scheduling meetings in a formal way can be costly and may raise the cost of starting or running a business.
Countries where business dealings are conducted on trust, the cost of business is usually lower than countries where rigid structures have to be followed (Kleypas & McDougall 197). Whereas business deals can be struck anywhere and at any time in Saudi Arabia, Americans would rather they adhere to a strictly followed program and necessary documentation be done and that turns out to be costlier. The levels of trust in these two countries are different.
Works Cited
Kleypas, Kathryn & McDougall, James I. The American- Style University at Large: Transplants, Outposts, and the Globalization of Higher Education. New York: Lexington Books, 2011. Print
Shelton, Claudia. Blind Spots: Achieve Success by Seeing What You Can’t See. Hoboken: John Willey & Sons, 2007. Print
