Home topics small-business-resources growth-import-export Growing Growth | Import | Export Growing Australia and America aren’t that different, right? Guest Author September 7, 2011 Just because two countries might seem culturally similar on the surface, doesn’t necessarily mean they approach business in the same way. Anthropologist James Downs defined culture as “a mental map which guides us in our relations to our surroundings and to other people.” Variations in our mental maps are obvious when we think about business cultures in countries like Japan or China, where we also attribute many differences in behavioral customs and etiquette to culture. They are less pronounced in countries where outward similarities appear to prevail over the differences; physical features, language and common heritage are example of such superficial similarities. An important aspect of creating successful business opportunities abroad is to learn to recognise cultural differences – even when they are scarce on the surface. As this article demonstrates with the example of Australia and the United States, even countries that share many economic, political and cultural alliances can be exceedingly different upon deeper investigation. Common heritage, common provenance Outwardly, Australian culture and American culture appear quite similar. Both are predominantly of Caucasian/Anglo-Saxon ancestry and share English heritage and language. They are relatively young cultures that grew through liberal immigration policies during their early political formation, and follow well known and understood legal traditions and governance systems. Both Australia and the United States were conceived as British colonies; the United States for its economic/trade value