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Vietnamese Personal Relationship Essay

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How that U.S.-Vietnamese diplomatic ties have been restored, many American businesses are hoping to be in on the development opportunities offered by what some analysts consider to be Asia's newest economic "tiger." Structural problems do abound in Vietnam. Its underdeveloped economic infrastructure, a ponderous and pervasive government bureaucracy, and an embryonic legal system are but a few of them. But the country's dynamism lies in its principle asset--its people.
The population of Vietnam is young: 80 percent of its 73 million people are under the age of 40. They are also well educated, with an overall literacy rate approaching 90 percent. In addition, despite two decades of communist "socialism," Vietnamese have retained a strong …show more content…

Patience remains the ultimate Confucian virtue in personal life as well as in business.
Personal Relationships
In Vietnam, propriety and courtesy play a major role in personal relationships. Vietnamese are generally more interpersonally formal than are Americans. This formality decreases the uncertainty surrounding interpersonal contacts in Vietnamese society and is carried over into the business realm for the same reasons. During initial meetings with Vietnamese officials, you can expect little real business to be accomplished. The Vietnamese will concentrate on getting to know you--your background, your expertise, your character. In their high-context communication culture, they will depend heavily on non-verbal clues to assess meaning. By becoming acquainted and establishing a personal relationship with you, they are merely trying to understand you better.
Vietnamese society is comprised of an interconnected network of personal relationships, all of which carry obligations on both sides. These mutual obligations are the underpinnings of social order in Vietnam, so they are taken very seriously. Americans need to understand and be sensitive to the serious nature of what may seem to them to be casual business relations. Failure to do so could easily result in a loss of trust or credibility, with obvious implications for

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