French and Russian business culture: cross cultural dialogue

Abstract

This study sets out to compare Russian and French business cultures on the basis of different taxonomic approaches for describing national culture to analyzing cross-cultural communication (Trompenaars, Hofstede, Hall). The results of this comparison point to specific character of French and Russian business cultures. Both France and Russia cannot be related to any cultural cluster of countries which share similar values for cross-cultural management. However use of these taxonomic approaches leads to the discovery of several common characteristics between these cultures which means the similarity of some communicative strategies in cultural management. This finding allows discussing practical implications for cross-cultural communication for Russian and French managers working together. Such cultural characteristics as individualism/ collectivism or linear-activity/ multi-activity which vary for French and Russian business cultures in different approaches need a further research.