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Cross-Cultural Communication Paper
Arab World v/s Bulgaria

MBA 501 – Business Communications and Research Methods
Cross-Cultural Communication Paper
December 5, 2011

Arab World is rather heterogeneous group of nations and tribes who live in 22 states, counts more than 350 million people spread on bigger than Europe territory with very long distances - 7800 km. from East to West (United Nation Website, 2008). However based on common religion, origin and cultural roots many authors talk for "Arabs" making assumptions and conclusions. On the other hand different historical paths, isolation between remote groups and stage of development are the most probable reason for discrepancies and controversies found in the sources when the same topics are discussed. That is why this paper focuses on group of Arabic nations usually called Middle East and "Arabs" means Middle-East-Arabs in this paper. By contrast, Bulgarians are small nation situated in South-Eastern Europe what some authors and international authorities consider as Central Europe. Living in country in transition period and the will of younger generation to move towards Western stile are reasons for occurrence of somewhat of mixed business practices. The younger the staff is and the bigger the company is - the more western oriented the practices are, especially in the local branches of big multinational corporations.
Even though geographically close situated and shared common history, for several centuries these two cultures differ and in this paper the differences and similarities of business practices of Bulgaria and Arab World will be compared.

Basic cultural values and practices:
The main cultural values for the Arabs are collectivism, hospitality and honor. In one way or another they are valid for Bulgarians as well, but with some variations. Collectivism in both cultures is due to the

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