Yemen: Let's Make a Deal!
From ExecutivePlanet.com
What you should know before negotiating
Greetings and Negotiating Etiquette
The standard greeting is “As-salam alaikum,” [peace be upon you] to which the standard reply is “Wa alaikum as-salam,” [and upon you be peace]. On arrival at the reception room, the visitor should stand in the doorway and utter the former of these phrases. Only after receiving the reply is he entitled to enter. In the event of no reply, he may repeat the greeting but continued failure to reply means that he is not welcome.
If the room is carpeted, the visitor should remove his shoes and leave them outside to avoid bringing in impurities and thereby rendering the carpet ritually unclean for prayer. Once inside the room, he should shake hands with the most senior person first [usually but not invariably the host]. Then he should make his way around the room in an anti-clockwise direction, shaking hands with each person in turn before taking his seat and joining in the conversation.
The visitor should not change the subject of conversation except by logical opportunity or invitation. If there are more than fifty or so people in the room or if the seating is inconvenient, there may be consensus permission for him merely to shake hands with the host and wave a greeting to the others.
Once seated, crossing legs is perfectly acceptable, provided one does not direct the sole of the foot to an individual, which is a “go away” gesture.
Business Cards and Promotional Literature
Business cards are common but not essential in the Yemen. If used they should be in Arabic. Common practice is to have English and Arabic printed one on each side [neither is the reverse,thus implying equal status to both languages] of the same card. If one prefers the elegance of an engraved card, however, it is equally acceptable to have both languages on the same side or a separate card for each language.
Brochures and other promotional literature should always be printed in Arabic, either with or without an English translation.
Bargaining and Negotiating
Although basically warriors rather than merchants, the need for a warrior to ally with friends and manipulate enemies makes Yemenis very shrewd in business as well. They are masters at misleading to their own advantage, so the details of any agreement must be hammered out meticulously. A favourite ploy is changing the subject in a frequently successful effort to confuse. Once a deal has been struck, the average Yemeni will abide by his commitment. The problem is that his concept of that commitment may differ from yours. Such terms as “immediate”, “prompt”, “on demand” or “soon” are particularly susceptible to disputed interpretation.
Contacts
The Yemen is a land of distrust, which makes it difficult to build a network of contacts. Tribal warfare is still a daily occurrence. Not only do many tribes distrust their government, they distrust one another as well. The only practical aid to networking outside the cities is by way of the exiled princes and sultans, who command the direct loyalty of disparate individual tribes. They are even called upon to mediate tribal disputes at a distance.
Apart from that, one must resign himself to the laborious process of making contacts directly, one by one. Qat parties, however, can be useful. Submit a Comment on this Article
