Spain: Prosperous Entertaining - Part 1
From ExecutivePlanet.com
Entertaining for business success
It is quite acceptable to conduct business over meals in Spain. Indeed, going out (for coffee, lunch, tapas, dinner...) is a vital ingredient in all successful negotiations. It is not, however, the time for doing business in itself (financial matters have no place at table) but for establishing the personal relationships - based in mutual trust and community of interest - that are essential to achieving your goal.
However, because of the peculiar timetable of the Spanish way of life, you may need to acclimatise and/or get to know your counterpart's habits before extending or accepting any invitation. Breakfast meetings are not popular. Then, outside the bigger cities, you may find that your Spanish colleagues are reluctant to go out for lunch as they often go home to their families at this time for their main meal of the day. Equally, the freshly arrived visitor to Spain may not be accustomed, or feel inclined, to go out for dinner late in the evening. Indeed, dinner is rarely eaten before 9:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. and often lasts way beyond midnight. Even on an average weeknight, many madrileños, barceloneses, valencianos and citizens of the other major cities, are often not in bed before 1:00 a.m. and, at weekends, revelries frequently extend until churros con chocolate for an early breakfast.
Ideally, you should talk shop at table only if your Spanish companions initiate it and, in any case, protocol requires that you wait until coffee is served at the end of the meal to bring up the subject of business. Latenight dining and lingering over coffee and drinks into the early hours may, therefore, be the perfect way of prosperous socialising for those with sufficient stamina [or a willingness to adapt to the rhythms of Spanish life].
If compromise indeed proves necessary, however, then you will probably find that, in the main commercial centres, lunch is usually the best time for a 'business' meal. It usually starts between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. and, depending on the circumstances, could either be a quick, casual meal at a local café or bar or last for several hours in a fine restaurant. Colleagues regularly lunch together (increasingly in the staff canteen) but ranks do not mix and the boss usually makes the point of eating out with peers from other companies. Alternatively, you might join your colleagues in socialising over drinks and snacks at the end of the day's work.
Your Spanish counterparts may be happy to eat in small cafes or bars close to the office where they are regulars on first-name terms with the owner and his or her staff. This is often the best way to dine in Spain in any circumstances but the new visitor does not have the requisite local knowledge for this to be an immediate success; nor would your native colleagues be too impressed at being entertained in their habitual haunts. It is, therefore, best to make your mark by choosing an excellent restaurant when you first arrange to entertain in this country where there is an intense appreciation of fine food and wine.
Spanish men are usually willing to accept a lunch or dinner invitation from a businesswoman although she must take care to remain strictly professional in her demeanour and behaviour at all times.
As in most countries, the person who extends the invitation pays the bill. If you have been invited out, you should reciprocate at a later date, being careful not to give the impression that you are simply 'repaying' your earlier hosts.
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