Global Negotiation Resources

Greeks Living in a Different Country

It is generally estimated that there are about 10 million Greeks living abroad versus the 11 million that live in Greece. This means that many of the business people you will come in contact with have lived in a different country for a period of time which is many times significant. I have observed that depending on where they have lived they have different cultural attitudes. So for example Greek Americans on average don’t share the same cultural attitudes with the general american population, but their attitudes are definitely skewed towards the american views with respect to the average greek population. The same for Greeks that have lived in Germany or in France or in England. Actually I can almost tell what the immigrant background is of a diaspora Greek from his or her behavior. So in negotiations it is a usefull fact to know what the international background is (if any). However unfortunately I have also observed that not all cultural traits are absorbed in the same degree. So a greek from the US seems to have a much lower power distance index, but still exhibits a high degree of collectivism. It would be an interesting study to see how immigrant populations change depending on what country they lived in and how their cultural attitudes are affected by their host country.