Setting up a Business in the USA Part 3 - Understanding the Language!

Please note: This article is written for the benefit of British companies looking to work in America for the first time.

George Bernard Shaw once described the UK and USA as "Two countries separated by a common language" and even though communications across the pond have increased in frequency in the 50 years or so since he died it is still notable how different the two languages are. And that's largely a reflection of the demographic of the country - the American language is as much a melting pot as the country itself, taking words from Dutch, Italian, Hungarian, Yiddish, Spanish and Russian to name but a few of the influences.

As a Brit in the USA you should expect to understand more than you are understood, simply because (despite the relative success of BBC America) media traffic tends to move from there to here rather than the other way round. Whether it's through comedy or drama, film or politics the average Brit can list a lot more distinctive American words than our Atlantic cousins can manage in return. Chances are that you know that a pavement is a sidewalk and a nappy is a diaper, and you probably understand that putting gas into a car isn't a major health and safety issue - but tell your American colleague that you like chocolate on your biscuits and ketchup on your chips and you may find yourself face to face with a look of slight confusion.

While we're at it, here's a quick note about accents - you now have one. Even if you have a middle-England, educated-out-of-you, could-be-from-anywhere, un-accent, you will have to get used to people commenting on your accent. And if you have a strong regional accent, be prepared to slow down, repeat yourself and try to talk 'a bit more proper' than you normally would - in 1964 the Barbra Windsor film Sparrows Can't Fly was subtitled for its US distribution for fear that American Audiences simply wouldn't understand the Cockney being spoken!

Article copyright John Cave 2008

Part 1 - Understanding the Geography
Part 2 - Understanding the Culture

Meet me at the "Focus on Doing Business in the USA Event" 13th March 2008 in association with the British American Business Council

If you have any queries on freight to and from USA, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on +44(0)121 713 7250 or by email for advice or further information.

Setting up a Business in the USA 2 - Understanding the Culture

As I mentioned before, the USA is a big place and the culture on the east coast is quite different to the culture on the west coast or the deep south - that being said I'm going to make some sweeping generalisations and sum up the prevailing business culture in the USA in three words.

Respect, equality and success.

Time is money, so wasting it is not looked upon favourably. Punctuality shows respect, so turn up on time, or call ahead to say you are going to be late if you are delayed. Likewise, expect the people you are dealing with to have the same attitude and to be very task orientated - you'll find a lot less pointless 4 hour meetings with no real plan of action. Politeness is also paramount, use peoples titles and surnames until they have indicated that you may refer to them by their first name - they may well suggest that you do this almost as soon as you have been introduced, but it's still polite to wait.

Business is serious stuff in the US, and the sort of office humour, throw away comments and jokes that you may be used to could well be construed as deeply inappropriate - on the other hand when Americans do do 'funny' they do it, like everything else, big, bold and (some may say) brash. It's not true that Americans don't get irony and the British sense of humour, but you don't want to use the negotiating stage to find out whether your new business partner does or not.

Americans are proud of their culture of success - the American Dream is alive and kicking, and those who can work their way from the post room to the board room are highly regarded. America loves winners (which probably also partially explains why they do so well at the Olympics). Caution, self depreciating wit and a hint of cynicism may be the order of the day in the UK but may convey a much more negative impression than you intend in the US.

Article copyright John Cave 2008

Part 1 - Understanding the Geography

Meet me at the "Focus on Doing Business in the USA Event" 13th March 2008 in association with the British American Business Council

If you have any queries on freight to and from USA, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on +44(0)121 713 7250 or by email for advice or further information.

Setting up a Business in the USA 1 - Understanding the Geography

The USA is, as we all know, fairly big. To be more precise the USA covers nearly 4million sq miles, which makes it 40 times larger than the UK (or 473 times the size of Wales...!). In fact 11 of the 50 states are bigger than the UK in terms of area - which gives you a lot of ground to cover. And there are a lot of people in the USA too - 300 million of them, making it the 3rd largest population in the world, after China and India.

But the thing to bear in mind, when considering setting up in the USA is while there are a lot of people in a lot of land, there is an awful lot of space. Even when you take into consideration that there is enough land in Alaska for each of its residents to have a square mile each, the USA is a relatively empty place, made up of areas of high density with huge distances between them. This in turn means that ,while there are federal laws and governance in place, in reality a lot of the administrative and legislative functions are handled state by state.

So what does this mean for you if you are considering setting up a business to distribute in the USA? Well, it means that you might be better off thinking of the USA more like a collection of small (and not so small) countries (a bit like the EU) rather than a single homogenous country. You can get away with having a central hub in Lyon if you want to cover all of France, but if you want your reach to extend to Turkey, Norway, Portugal and Poland, you might need to think again. Likewise a base on the West Coast of the USA is great… for covering the West Coast, but less useful if you want to reach those in the Central Time Zone and almost useless if you want to get to the East Coast - The distance between New York and LA is only 2/3 of the distance between New York and London.

And speaking of time zones - there are 4 of them on 'mainland' USA, not including Alaska and the various islands. So when it's midday in New York it's still 8am in California (and 5pm in the UK) which means if you want to deal with people all across the country, you might need to get a few extra clocks for the wall - and be prepared to work later or earlier than normal.

So, my top tip when understanding the geography of the USA is to focus on the 'United States' part first and 'of America' next. And remember, you're not in Kansas anymore, Toto....

Article copyright John Cave 2008

Meet me at the "Focus on Doing Business in the USA Event" 13th March 2008 in association with the British American Business Council

If you have any queries on freight to and from USA, please do not hesitate to contact one of our team on +44(0)121 713 7250 or by email for advice or further information.

Maps from: Map of the USA - Visit us for more maps of the USA including all the states.