Cultural Challenges with the Indian Culture in Relation to Business in Kenya

Table of contents

1.0 Thesis statement

1.1 Case study

1.2 Introduction

1.3 Meeting and greeting Kenya Culture

1.4 Business Meetings in Kenya Culture

1.5 Disrespect

1.6 Timeliness

1.7 Friendliness

1.8 Language Barrier

1.9 Written Communication

2.0 Office Dynamics

2.1 Cultural Signals

2.2 Religion

2.3 Conception of Authority

2.4 Non-Verbal behaviour

2.5 Trust

2.6 Conclusion

2.7 Recommendation

2.8 References

1.0 Thesis statement

I am going to discuss about the cultural challenges with the Indian culture in relation to business in Kenya. In this write-up, I am also going to talk about the Kenyan culture with regard to business and how the Indian and Kenyan cultures conflict. I will also discuss what can be done so that the cultural differences can be overcome and allow the two cultures to carry out business smoothly.

1.1 Case study

With a population of about 42 Million People in Kenya, the Indian community is estimated at over 100,000 people. The Indians have been in Kenya since around the 1920's. A majority of these Indians own large organizations and factories that employ several workers with a majority of these workers being Kenyan. This means that the Indians play a major role in creating employment in Kenya thus allowing people to earn a wage and live a comfortable life.

However, many Indians tend to speak in their mother tongue and English. Only a minority of the population are able to speak fluent Swahili which is the dominant language in Kenya. This tends to be a major barrier when it comes to conducting business as many locals can only speak Swahili and their mother tongue languages. The reason as to why this could be a barrier is that one may tend to prefer a business to customer relation and whe...

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...you heard. It is reasonable to assume that people who live and work in different cultural environments often interpret the same events differently. In our era of globalization, it is also true that there are more things in common in terms of person to person what to expect . Do not ignore your intuition and do not mind your manners.

2.7 Recommendation

It is very important to overcome the cultural differences between organizations and themselves in order that companies can take place smoothly without any problems.

Most professionals recognize when they need legal or technical expertise to perform a large number of decisions of interaction. In addition , intercultural negotiators should realize that you may well need help gauge the situation in advance, and the interpretation of signs and rules that could make or break a negotiation in an intercultural context .