Networking cultures

What’s the first thing you do when you return to the office after a holiday? Look at your emails? Talk to your boss? I normally try to chat with a few colleagues to find out what was going on when I was away. There are one or two key players in this informal network who always seem to know what was really happening.

As a British person who enjoyed an elite education, I am all too familiar with the institution of the "Old Boy Network". Many of my friends from private school went on to study at Oxford or Cambridge and then got jobs in the financial sector in the City of London. This network provides them with an invaluable resource for exchanging information, doing business and getting jobs.

I discovered further cultural implications of networking on my recent trip to France, where I had a fascinating discussion with the founders of a French online dating service. I asked them how people from different cultures reacted to the service. Apparently some Indian users were getting mediators to use the site to find partners for their friends and family. According to those who run it, the French site attempts to create a party atmosphere. German sites often take a more scientific approach, with a detailed questionnaire about your personality; maybe this is not surprising in a country where people like to buy toothpaste from Dr. Best and baking powder from Dr. Oetker.

When I asked if the site was being promoted in China, I was told that although China is a market with great potential, the server would most likely be overloaded by the volume of traffic. This is because of the large number of single men in China, which is a result of the size of the population and the one-child policy. Another factor is that despite limitations by the authorities, the internet is very popular in China.

By the way, if you want to find out more, have a look at the latest issue of Business Spotlight, in which networking is the main feature.