Driving American and European business people up the walls
What time is it anyway or why is everybody always late?
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The perception of time and the concept of punctuality are very different in Brazil: it has nothing to do with Brazilians being lazy, just take a look at the crew working at around the clock at places like the National Synchrotron Light Laboratory in the state of São Paulo or the people who put together those spectacular carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro. It takes an enormous amount of effort, dedication, and extraordinary long hours to do that, and the logistics are frightening. That said…
- In general, when scheduling meetings and such, allow for some degree of tardiness. In the Europe and U.S., people are accustomed to rigid schedules and appointments that must be kept on time, and usually things work better and faster. In Brazil, people often deal with several people and different problems at the same time, and face an incredible bureaucracy to boot. Add to that the fact that Brazilians, as a rule, ?waste time? on socializing wherever and whenever, and you?ll have a scenario made to drive American/European business people up the walls.
Source:UHY International Ltd
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Richard Meijer
What I am doing: Besides running a privately hold real estate business I am blogging om MasterclassBrazil.com. MasterClass Brazil was set up to provide a one-stop source of deep-knowledge for the growing foreign business community in Brazil.
Why: Having been in Brazil for around 20 years, I have seen many big companies, expats and individuals failing miserably. I have burned myself once in Brazil, setting up ProgressOil, a company focused on the supply of Brazilian castor oil. I am now running a privately hold real estate business in Brazil.
From all these experiences I have learned a lot. Despite the fact that I speak the language reasonable well, have a strong network and understand the do's and don'ts better, I am absolutely not saying I am an expert or specialist. Everyday I am learning new things and I believe Brazil is changing in such a rapid pace that the only way to survive in Brazil is to generously absorb and understand the information available to you.
From my experience I have learned that there is a lot of information, facts and data about Brazil. I have set up MasterClassBrazil to structure this information so you can turn it in true knowledge, enabling you to be successful in your endeavors.
There is nothing in the world so rewarding as sharing expertise and knowledge.
Richard Meijer
