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| Entente cordiale: is it workable? |
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| Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | |
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Hazel Marie Francis attends the latest Franco-British Business Assocation’s debate on professional relations between the French and the Brits Bordeaux’s top-league business school INSEEC hosted a conference on the subject of cordial business relations between the French and the English: a topic clearly poignant in Bordeaux, which has always had many expatriates. Edgard Girard, the director of INSEEC, welcomed Anglophone entrepreneurs, expats and French locals into the school to take part in the round-table discussion organised by Bordeaux’s Franco-British Business Association (FBBA). Speakers included Girard himself, director of AngloInfo Aquitaine Martin Swanson, successful restauranteur Colum Stuart, Luc Rodié, who has 30 years of experience as a commercial attaché for the French Embassy, and Emmanuel Bossard, President of the FBBA. “Few countries have fought as much as England and France and I’ve yet to find a battle that France won,” quipped Bossard as he opened the debate. Joking aside, given the animated history of conflict and the difference in attitudes, it might seem unlikely that business between the two could ever work. However, Colum Stuart was positive about his whole experience of doing business with the French: “It definitely can be cordial, certainly in the Aquitaine, but it may be harder in other regions of France. Speaking the language obviously makes things a lot easier.” Stuart, who owns several popular restaurants in Bordeaux including the Café Japonais and Bar de l’Utopia, suggested that the region had a stronger relationship with England than neighbouring Spain. “It’s been easier being British and doing business in the Aquitaine than it would be in Britain itself,” he added. One very helpful factor in Franco-British relations is the number of English residing in the area. In the Dordogne (or ‘Dordogne-shire’ as it has been nicknamed) alone, there are around 20,000 British expats. For South African-born Martin Swanson too, the Aquitaine feels surprisingly like home. Swanson, who has been running the online directory AngloInfo Aquitaine for two and a half years, said that in his experience some French companies preferred to work with the British as they liked their direct approach to business. Of course, there are differences in work ethics between the two countries. The debate – conducted mostly in English – covered problems typically associated with working in France – the 35-hour week, strikes, slow organisation, difficulties in motivating people, no working on Sundays and the infamous long lunches which are all so different to the fast-paced, money-orientated English attitude to work. “France is behind England, Japan and America in capitalism,” said Girard. But this is not necessarily a negative attribute. “I’m happy that business lunches exist,” confessed Stuart, and many in the audience agreed, saying that it is important in French business, and a part of the French identity. “The quality of life and family-orientated environment is important in France and that is why so many British people want to live here,” added Swanson. He and Rodié both agreed that the French would do well to keep Sunday as a day of rest. Despite some major differences between the two countries, the five men at the round table have each proved in their own career that cordiality between the two nations can be achieved with hard work, general tolerance and understanding. |
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