06.Aug.2011 A German in Switzerland – one year recap
Since I am now a little over one year in Switzerland it’s time for some reminiscing. When I got to know that Credit Suisse wanted me as their employee I was very excited. An international marketing department, global marketing projects and a diverse team, made out of Swiss, Indian, Russian, Italien and other culturally interesting [...]
21.Sep.2009 culture differences in web design – 2: power distance
Power distance is a concept introduced by Geert Hofstede, formerly professor of organisational anthropology and international management at the University of Limburg in the Netherlands. He was an employee at different companies including IBM and has brought about a paradigm change in intercultural studies with his book Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Behaviors, [...]
28.Aug.2009 culture differences in web design – 1: high/low context
It took me a while to apply the inter-cultural knowledge I have to the web. It was that difficult, because I had to wrap my head around a very obvious contradiction. But to explain what my problem was I need to give you some background knowledge first. low-context vs. high-context These are terms first used [...]
28.Jul.2009 culture differences in web design
Every time I view a Chinese website or a website using Chinese characters (traditional or simplified) I am overwhelmed by the amount of information depicted. To demonstrate what I mean and analyze it I picked out the website of yahoo for Taiwan and the USA. You can clearly see that the page of Yahoo USA [...]
16.Jul.2009 What is creativity?
Yesterday I went to a Young professionals event organized by the German Trade Office in Taipei. There would be a presentation on creativity. So beforehand I thought about what I consider creativity. When I was a child I was the kind who drew a lot and whose parents would always be very impressed with their [...]
30.May.2009 Intercultural competences are essential for international success
Lately I got back in touch with Prof. Peter Franklin of my university, for whom I was working from 2007-2008. He was able to give me an update of his work on Intercultural studies. His book ‘The Mindful International Manager‘, which he wrote in cooperation with his friend and founder of York Associates has been [...]
