I studied International Business Administration and majored in marketing while doing my undergraduate. We did Intercultural communication and despite enjoying the class, at the time I wasn't sure where we would apply the lessons learned.
Here I am many years later and really appreciating what was taught. Do you recall learning how different cultures/countries have major differences in their attitudes towards time, business, communication i.e. like some may want to be so close while talking to you, while others prefer to be given space, for others business meetings are punctual while some they are delayed etc.
Anyways, last month we had taken baby girl for surgery in India and just before we left, I got a chance to do some shopping for our kids shop. I was lucky to have a taxi guy take me around and even help translate for me where need be.One store agreed to keep the luggage for us on the basis that someone would collect the boxes and send them to Mumbai on my behalf.
Before we left for India, I had contacted a freight company and they said they would be able to transport our goods via air to Kenya once I had purchased the things. While in India, before doing the shopping, I contacted the same company and they said they were based in Mumbai and we were in Chennai ( its like Mombasa and Nairobi) and hence it would take two days for the goods to be transported by a local transporter from Chennai to Mumbai. It all sounded quite practical. So that Monday morning I did my shopping confidently and assured the store that the local transporter would pick the things on Thursday after the Diwali holiday. We were leaving on Thursday for Kenya and I requested the freight company to follow up with the transporter . I was advised at the time the goods would arrive a week later which sounded reasonable.
To cut long story short, its been a month now and I havent received my things. For the past 4 weeks I have been told different stories. Firstly I was cheated that the goods have been collected and are in Mumbai. 2 weeks later my goods had not arrived in Kenya. I called the store and the guy said the goods were still in his shop. So I called the freight guys and was told the local transporters were not willing to collect the goods from the shop and needed them to be delivered to them before they send them to Mumbai. My contact at the shop said he had been called severally and instructed to send the goods but as we had agreed his role was just to store for us. We tried hooking the freight guys with the taxi guy who had taken me around but think communication was a big issue and it ended up in anger and the guy would not pick up their calls. It was so dramatic, the past week, I have been making frantic calls and even asked a friend of mine from India to help out. Thank God for Airtel for real. Its cheaper to call than send a text message.
The good news is that exactly a month after we left Chennai,yesterday the goods were collected from the shop and hopefully will be delivered to Mumbai and hopefully arrive here on Saturday. At this stage it is wait and see. I kept saying if the same scenario was in Kenya, am not sure anyone would have refused to collect the goods because all you needed to do is charge extra for collection. I would almost guarantee that those goods would have been sent earlier but hey different cultures value business differently and I am learning the hard way. A few years from now I will be smarter I bet and not assume everyone thinks like me.
Here I am many years later and really appreciating what was taught. Do you recall learning how different cultures/countries have major differences in their attitudes towards time, business, communication i.e. like some may want to be so close while talking to you, while others prefer to be given space, for others business meetings are punctual while some they are delayed etc.
Anyways, last month we had taken baby girl for surgery in India and just before we left, I got a chance to do some shopping for our kids shop. I was lucky to have a taxi guy take me around and even help translate for me where need be.One store agreed to keep the luggage for us on the basis that someone would collect the boxes and send them to Mumbai on my behalf.
Before we left for India, I had contacted a freight company and they said they would be able to transport our goods via air to Kenya once I had purchased the things. While in India, before doing the shopping, I contacted the same company and they said they were based in Mumbai and we were in Chennai ( its like Mombasa and Nairobi) and hence it would take two days for the goods to be transported by a local transporter from Chennai to Mumbai. It all sounded quite practical. So that Monday morning I did my shopping confidently and assured the store that the local transporter would pick the things on Thursday after the Diwali holiday. We were leaving on Thursday for Kenya and I requested the freight company to follow up with the transporter . I was advised at the time the goods would arrive a week later which sounded reasonable.
To cut long story short, its been a month now and I havent received my things. For the past 4 weeks I have been told different stories. Firstly I was cheated that the goods have been collected and are in Mumbai. 2 weeks later my goods had not arrived in Kenya. I called the store and the guy said the goods were still in his shop. So I called the freight guys and was told the local transporters were not willing to collect the goods from the shop and needed them to be delivered to them before they send them to Mumbai. My contact at the shop said he had been called severally and instructed to send the goods but as we had agreed his role was just to store for us. We tried hooking the freight guys with the taxi guy who had taken me around but think communication was a big issue and it ended up in anger and the guy would not pick up their calls. It was so dramatic, the past week, I have been making frantic calls and even asked a friend of mine from India to help out. Thank God for Airtel for real. Its cheaper to call than send a text message.
The good news is that exactly a month after we left Chennai,yesterday the goods were collected from the shop and hopefully will be delivered to Mumbai and hopefully arrive here on Saturday. At this stage it is wait and see. I kept saying if the same scenario was in Kenya, am not sure anyone would have refused to collect the goods because all you needed to do is charge extra for collection. I would almost guarantee that those goods would have been sent earlier but hey different cultures value business differently and I am learning the hard way. A few years from now I will be smarter I bet and not assume everyone thinks like me.
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