Best Practices in Cross-Cultural Business Communication
What every foreign company should know about doing business in the United States


September 23, 2009, 6-8:30pm
Network Meeting Center
5201 Great America Parkway
Santa Clara, CA 95054

When setting up a business outside of one's home country, issues such as real estate, legal, and human resources can be difficult to manage - and managing the different cultural approaches to these aspects of business can be even more challenging.

We invite you to hear the journeys of international companies who have set up operations in the United States and continue to operate successfully here. They will share how they overcame obstacles and learned to communicate effectively across cultures. Additionally, three experts specializing in European and Asian communication patterns will discuss the theory behind these cultural differences and provide tips on how to improve cross-cultural business communication.

Participants will learn:

1. How to successfully recruit, interview, and hire US staff/employees
2. How to negotiate with vendors/suppliers
3. Relationship-building with American customers and how to win them over
4. How to convince, criticize, or reach agreement with US business partners

Moderator:  Omar Mencin, CEO, US Market Access Center

Panelists:

Peter Bostelmann, PMP, Program Delivery Manager, SAP
Diana Ross, Director, Human Resources, NAMCO BANDAI Games America
Melissa Lamson, President, Lamson Consulting, Global Diversity Management
Rochelle Kopp, Managing Principal, Japan Intercultural Consulting
Matthew A. Goodin, Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
Sean DeBruine, Partner, Alston & Bird LLP

Who should attend:  Employees or manager from foreign countries who need to make decisions about setting up operations in the United States.
                    Trade commissioners and business development representatives from international agencies in the Bay Area.

                    Tech entrepreneurs who are looking to break into the US market with a product or an idea.    

Format:   6pm-7pm: Registration and networking
               7pm-8pm: Panel discussion
               8-8:30pm: Networking

Cost: $30.00

Please join us for this enlightening event on communication best practices across cultures!

Event sponsors: Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. and Alston + Bird LLP

Partners: Economic Development Agency (EDA), The San Jose Redevelopment Agency (SJRDA), JETRO / The US - Japan Innovation Center, The San Jose State University Research Foundation (SJSURF), Lamson Consulting

Speaker Bios:

Diana Ross, Senior Director of Human Resources, NAMCO BANDAI Games America

Diana is responsible for NBGA's staffing, benefits and compensation, employee relations, communication, organization and leadership development, rewards and recognition.  NBGA is known for its diverse video gaming product line.  A few of the titles are PacMan, Soul Calibur, Tekken, Afro Samurai and We Ski and Snowboard.

Prior to joining NBGA in 2007,  Ms. Ross served as Director of Human Resources at Digital Impact for six years. Prior to that, she spent several years with Oracle. Her portfolio has included a wide range of HR assignments including multiple M&A activities.  Diana received her bachelor of science degree from the University of Missouri, Columbia.

Melissa Lamson, President, Lamson Consulting, Global Diversity Management

Having recently returned to the U.S. after a ten-year stint of consulting in Europe, Melissa Lamson has been a pioneer in Global Diversity and Intercultural Management and has run projects in over 30 countries. She works with governments, non-profits, SMEs, large multinationals, foreign investors, and C-level executives across all industries. Melissa’s clients include; 3M, Blackberry, MTV, OMV, Porsche, and SAP and her work consists of Global Diversity Programs, Leadership Development, Global Talent Management, Intercultural Training, and Post Merger & Acquisition Integration. Her most recent ventures have been to advise foreign investors who want to set-up operations in the Silicon Valley.

Rochelle Kopp, Managing Principal of Japan Intercultural Consulting

Rochelle provides cross-cultural training and human resource management consulting to Japanese-affiliated companies and joint ventures, as well as working with American firms that have Japanese customers and suppliers.  She is also a frequent speaker on cross-cultural topics, and is a contributor to various Japanese publications.

Rochelle is a graduate of Yale University, where she majored in History and began her study of Japanese, which she reads, writes, and speaks fluently. Rochelle also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. In addition to working with two American international consulting firms, she worked at the Tokyo headquarters of a major Japanese bank, where she experienced Japanese corporate culture from the inside. During graduate school she began the research that grew into her book The Rice-Paper Ceiling: Breaking Through Japanese Corporate Culture.  She has also published twenty books in Japanese, including Kore de Amerikajin to Shigoto ga Dekiru (Working with Americans).