The Chinese Company Adapting to the Islamic Culture and Customs Company H is a large company and its products are among the best of the same line in China. They have already extended their business into several regions overseas. However, the Middle East remains blank, as they have no experience in doing business with Arabs. One day, a delegation from Dubai-the most populous city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates(UAE)-visited company H. Mr. L, the chief representative of the company, received them. As the delegation was interested in the Company's products, both sides sat down for a negotiation on the products. As the negotiation went on, Mr. L felt confused and bored because the Arabs asked for a break every hour. Then they went to the toilet to wash their hands and faces. When they came back, they knelt down to pray. As there was no towel in the toilet, the Arabs prayed with wet hands and fac e s. Mr. L f ou nd himself in a dilem m a ,because he did n ot know whether he should withdraw from the scene or not. When it was time for lunch, the Arabs were treated to a rich dinner. When everyone was seated, the waitress started introducing the di f ferent dishes in English to the Arabic visitors. They all looked surprised and pleased at the variety. But this did not last long. When the waitres s mentioned some specially cooked pork, the smiles disappeared from all those visitors' faces and all of them looked blue-no one said a word. Quickly they stood up and left the dinner table without bidding farewell to anyone, though there were some important Chinese local guests present. The same day, this Dubai delegation left the city without notifying Company H. A few days later, the bad news reached Mr. L-his Dubai delegation had signed a contract with their competitor-Company C, and the contract was the very one which was being negotiated between Company H and that Dubai delegation. Mr. L got a strong blame from his boss for losing the opportunity to their rival's hand. Three days later, Mr. L took the following actions: 1)Start a training prog ram for all wai t res s and persons involved in communicating with Middle East business people, and invi t e some profes s ors to give lectures on the Islamic culture and customs. 2)Invite some Arabic teachers to teach the waitresses simple Arabic to communicate with the Arabic. 3)Set up a separate dining room with special set of dinner dishes for the Arabic. 4 ) Set up a special room close to the meeting room. This room would be used only for praying by those Middle Easte rn business persons. In addition, he also put some compass and small carpets in the room. 5)Prepare some small towels in the toilet for the Arabs to dry their hands on before praying. Half a year later, Company H had five customers in Middle East. All of them had visited Company H and were impressed by their understanding and respect for the Islamic culture and habits. Company H has been expanding their market share in the Middle East ever since. (Adapted from Cultural Conflicts in International Business Negotiation) Questions for Case-analysis: 1.What was the reason Company H didn't get the contract from the Dubai Delegation? 2.What actions did company H take following the failure of the negotiation? Were they effective? 3.Make a list of cultural dif f erences involved in the case.