Country Assignment- Cobalt Cola

You have an opportunity to introduce your products for the first time into the market in India. There have been strong indications that the market might be ready for your drinks and you have the chance to work with bottling facilities already existing in that country. You are about to travel to India to meet with them about a possible deal to produce, bottle and distribute your products all over the Indian subcontinent and possibly even beyond.

This week each team will be responsible for learning some important cultural facts that will impact your ability to do business in another country. You should assume that each of your businesses has an important opportunity to work closely with product suppliers in your assigned country. You should assume that your company has never worked with this country before but you are very interested in doing business with this product supplier as you believe it may have significant benefit for your company in the years ahead.
You should research the following questions for the specific country assigned to your team below. You will find a description of your team's cross-cultural situation immediately after the questions. Remember that, as always, your responses should be typed up and uploaded to ACE. Simply go to the "Assignments" tab and click on this assignment (which is called Cross-Cultural Challenge). If you have any questions, please feel free to call text or email me.

Questions each team should research:

1. What is your assigned country, what language(s) do they speak and should you expect to need a translator or will they be likely to speak English during business dealings? Are there government issues or unrest of which you should be aware?

2. What are some important items of business etiquette that you should keep in mind when working with and/or visiting your assigned country?

3. Are there religious concerns or traditions that might impact your dealings with this country? What are they?

4. What holidays, religious celebrations or other events should you be aware of that might impact the schedules of those from your assigned country? What is the time difference in this country and how might that impact scheduling as you do business with this company?

5. Should you take gifts with you when you visit this country for business dealings? If so what would be appropriate to take?

Attachment:- Cobalt Cola.rar