Abstract
There has been significant growth in international companies during the latter half of the 20th century. Before the Second World War, the number of firms involved in international trade and foreign investment was small. Some of them operated overseas but the main focus was the domestic market. In the second half of the last century, international activities were accelerating; the European Community, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the rapid growth of Japanese multinational corporations, the awakening of China, and the transition of Eastern and Central European countries to free market economy increasingly turn the business towards globalization. Globalization and the demand for deployment of managers around the world continue nowadays, and the necessity to take cultural differences in account has increased. While Americans tend to view business in terms of present reality, Germans often make decisions based on their historical past. Also codes and customs change from a country to another, for example physical contact such as a pat on the back, a handshake or even a kiss on the cheek are fine in many European business, yet is totally unacceptable in Asia.
