Is Brexit Distancing the UK from the Easiest Continent on Earth to Do Business?

The Business Culture Complexity Index™ Ranks Europe as Continent with Easiest Business Culture

A new index that ranks the top 50 economies of the world according to the complexity of their business cultures has found that Europe is by far the easiest continent on earth to do business, posing some challenging questions for the future of British business once the UK has left the European Union.

Commisceo Global, a consulting firm specializing in online cultural sensitivity training for global organisations, has launched The Business Culture Complexity Index™ to highlight potentially challenging business cultures around the world.

The index, presented in the form of a league table and world heat map, scores the top 50 economies of the world according to a specific algorithm the firm created in conjunction with a team of mathematicians.

The algorithm pulls on 14 different sources covering social, cultural and economic data from sources such as The UN and the World Bank as well as academic research into cultural differences.

According to the index, Denmark has the easiest business culture whereas Nigeria has the most difficult.

Every single country in the top 14 was European, making the continent easiest place to do business across the globe.

The authors point to the continent’s egalitarian-leaning societies, lack of complex social structures, relatively low religiosity, high standards of living, transparent commercial environments and respect for the rule of law as all contributing to European countries ranking at the top.

At the other end of the scale came Nigeria, followed by India and Pakistan, which were ranked potentially the most challenging of business cultures. Complex cultural make-ups, high religiosity, greater group orientation, corruption and red tape have all created sceptical and challenging commercial cultures.

“Culturally-speaking, the data highlights that European cultures are much more trusting of others and share common values such as transparency, equality and fairness. European business culture is therefore potentially much easier to navigate as it’s not so concerned about protecting group interests, hierarchy, face and etiquette. On the other hand, in the more challenging cultures they are much more group orientated and hierarchical. This translates into business cultures where who you know is incredibly important. In such cultures it’s also much more important to pay attention to things such as showing respect, giving gifts, building personal relationships and doing favours. As an outsider it’s a harder culture to crack,” explains Managing Director, Neil Payne.

In light of Brexit, and the UK’s imminent departure from the EU, the index raises serious questions over the country’s readiness to do business with the rest of the world and, in fact, if it should be focusing more on a trade deal with its closest neighbours and those it is culturally most comfortable doing business with.

“It’s well-documented that British businesses struggle with export due to deficiencies in areas such as business skills, language proficiency and cultural know-how. The index suggests that the country’s future success outside the EU is going to depend a lot more on development in these areas in order to truly benefit from any future trade deals,” adds Payne.

The Business Culture Complexity Index™ is available online for free online at https://www.commisceo-global.c...