Entrepreneur Bridges Cultural Divide for Global Companies, Expatriate Workers
Operating in a global business environment can be challenging enough without worrying about adhering to local customs and cultures. But knowing how professionals in other countries carry themselves in a business environment can mean the difference between revenue growth and contraction.
Radha Nath and her staff of professional trainers at Global Crosswalk Inc.make sure their clients have the tools and knowledge to better operate in a business environment globally. Nath (pictured) is president and CEO the Canton-based firm, which specializes in global workforce services with particular emphasis on cross-culture competency training and strategies, expatriate services and virtual project management.
The Indian-born Nath, who has lived in southeastern Michigan for over a decade, started business in January. Launching a new venture in the midst of a sluggish local economy was a risk, but it is paying off, Nath said. She expects to be profitable next year.
“Our focus is global and we work with some of the world’s largest employers,” said Nath, mentioning Nissan and Hewlett-Packard among her list of clients. “There is a strong need for this type of service.”
Those services include assisting corporations by providing cultural competency training to their employees who work in multicultural environments or are assigned overseas. Global Crosswalk also assists foreign-born workers coming to work in the United States to become better acquainted with social and business customs and barriers.
The firm can provide individual and specialized training courses for clients on a range of global workplace issues. As part of its services to expatriate employees, Global Crosswalk assigns cultural coaches to employees and their families to help them adjust to living in a new country. The cultural coaches help workers understand workplace practices and customs in the country where they are working. They also provide lifestyle transition support such as identifying schools for expatriate children, introducing them to banking systems and currency exchange, health care, and other needed assistance based on their needs.
“We can develop a cultural compatibility analysis which then leads to the creation of a roadmap for cultural assimilation,” Nath said.
Global Crosswalk currently employs seven trainers, four located in southeastern Michigan, who travel around the United States, two in India and one in China. The company also does some work with European-based countries. It expects to open an office in both India and China by the end of 2009.
“We offer a niche in leading-edge services and due diligence for our clients,” Nath said.
Some of the consulting work that Global Crosswalk provides can include the art of understanding and implementing Guanxi, a basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence, and a central concept in the Chinese business environment. The training courses also emphasize circumstances, verbal and non-verbal and communications skills pertaining to different cultures, with an emphasis on emerging business powers in Asia.
Understanding the educational systems, language and history of one or more countries is also helpful to clients Nath said. Having a solid grasp of such cultures can make the difference between a good and a severed working relationship.
Nath is hoping that Global Crosswalk will soon work with Indian-based Tata Motors, which has agreed to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Co.
“Those are the types of clients we are pursuing – we’re very (aggressive) in pursuing the largest global employers who send their employees to all parts of the world.”
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Operating in a global business environment can be challenging enough without worrying about adhering to local customs and cultures. But knowing how professionals in other countries carry themselves in a business environment can mean the difference between revenue growth and contraction.
