Germany is putting pressure on General Motors to figure out what they are doing with Opel as soon as possible. Opel, a German automaker headquartered in the city of Russelsheim, was acquired by General Motors in 1929.
After going through bankruptcy, General Motors has promised to narrow its focus. In doing so, they have decided to sell Opel. The two leading bidders are Magna International Inc., a Canadian company, and RHJ International SA, a Belgium company.
While the government in Germany has gone on record to say that they hope that Magna International Inc. ends up getting Opel, General Motors is hesitant …read more

My mother is one of those people who likes to chat on airplanes. I am not, so those of you who sit down next to me on a long-haul flight are likely to be disappointed.
In any event, my mother has spoken with all sorts of people on airplanes, from Joey Bishop to the manager of a then-unknown Australian band named INXS. One of her most interesting chats, though, was with an exporter of sand. More peculiar, the gentleman in question was exporting sand to Saudi Arabia. It would seem to me that there’s more than enough sand in Saudi …read more

Germany is on track to keep the top spot as the country with the most exports. German sales abroad are expected to rise 5 percent and exceed Euro 1 trillion (or $1.6 trillion). China is number two on the exporters list.
Source: BGA exporters lobby.

Holidays like Valentine’s Day last week make excellent case studies about international business. Some creative (often American) marketeer came up with a way to increase flower and chocolate sales and in the meantime it has spread around the world like a pandemic.
Valentine’s Day is not a big deal in Germany where I live. School children do not pass out cards to everyone in their class. Spouses do not get irate if they don’t receive any flowers. So I had to smile when I heard one of (German) colleagues say that he usually doesn’t buy flowers for his wife on February …read more

It’s always interesting to see the impact of domestic laws on people from other countries. I’ve experienced some of those laws myself, in Germany and the Czech Republic. I’ve also experienced them through my clients in my work doing employment-based immigration.
Notwithstanding all of that, it’s still kind of surreal to see it intrude upon your otherwise daily activities. In my case, that means watching the return of The Daily Show to the Comedy Channel, in particular John Oliver’s bit on the writer’s strike.

See what I mean?

Having just touted the merits of not being LinkedIn, and having received no feedback on my plaintive cry for help, I’ve decided to go ahead and work with LinkedIn for a while and see what happens. So last night, in front of the TV, I moused and buttoned my way across the LinkedIn universe and asked for some LinkedIn love – surprisingly enough, this morning I got it, in the form of a number of accepted invitations to be connections.
Now, I can’t help thinking this is kind of a Facebook for adults, but I have to say that, at first …read more

In a previous post, Jean used the phrase “If you work for [a company] involved in any kind of international business,” which reminds me of a client visit I made last week. As I got out of my car I saw a van for Thyssen-Krupp pulling aware, who had obviously been there to repair the elevators. On the way in the door I passed a van for DHL, and waved at the man making his deliveries (hey, I was in a good mood).
In any case, both of these companies are German-owned, one rather obviously and the other not so much. …read more

If you ever had one or two years of Spanish, French or German in high school, you may recall that these languages have two ways to say “you” – one formal way for people you do not know well and one informal way for friends, family and children. While speaking English in Europe you may never realize that this distinction exists, but it is important to understand the concept nonetheless.
Indeed the general concept applies also to Asia where, for example, whole sentences in Japanese will be different, depending on what level of politeness you need to use. Remember that old …read more