Comparing the Business Cultures of Brazil and France

In October 2024, the Minister of Development and Industry of Brazil, Márcio Elias Rosa, met with Sophie Primas, the Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Immigration of France. While there, they discussed issues of interest between the two countries.

And in the words of Mr. Elias Rosa, “Brazil and France have a historic partnership, a relationship of collaboration from an economic and political point of view”. We couldn’t have put it better ourselves.

Most recently, France has expressed a particular interest in business opportunities with Brazil in four key areas: French investments in renewable energy in the Northeast, collaboration with a Brazilian artificial intelligence laboratory, acquisition of helicopters for Brazilian civil and air defense, and collaboration in the health industrial complex with the production of vaccines.

But before getting caught up in the excitement of potential ventures between both countries, we should note that understanding the business culture differences between France and Brazil is crucial for successful cross-cultural interactions and collaborations.

Business Culture in France

Our research shows French business people to be very logical and technical thinkers. In all French business proceedings, logic is expected and respected. Any lack of discernible logic could be interpreted as sloppy thinking or lack of intelligence (or both). And when presenting any written communication, it is important that it is produced in a grammatically correct format.

There is a formality to the French way of doing business. When interacting with their colleagues, first names are often used amongst peers (especially amongst the younger generation), although surnames are often used in more formal situations or when dealing with superiors. As well as this, long-term planning has been a central tenet of the French approach for many decades and leads to detailed forward planning by companies.

French Internal Working Dynamics

Some nuances of the internal working dynamic within French companies are also worth noting. The CEO (or PDG) of a French company is usually a highly charismatic leader who guides the general direction of the company in an authoritative manner.

Typically, the management style is often directive with instructions being given to subordinates in information style meetings. If there are any critiques of superiors, any such comments or disagreements will be aired in pre-meeting lobbying sessions, rather than in open, formal meetings. As well as this, peer-group competitiveness can sometimes make cross functional project teams difficult to manage, which might explain why some of these more stringent methods are required.

Differences to Business Culture in Brazil

Overall, we have found that firms in Brazil tend to be less formal than those in France. For example, punctuality is a variable commodity in Brazil. Meetings often start and finish late. It can be difficult to schedule more than one or two meetings per day. These meetings usually start and finish with quite a lot of small talk – this is an important section of the meeting and should not be rushed. When it comes to agendas, they’re not always used and if present, may be ignored by everybody except you.

Your relationship between you and the people you work with also appears to be more crucial in Brazil than in France. Relationships come first, second and third in Brazil. Therefore time spent working on the development of long-term friendly relations is never a waste of time. Repeated interaction between colleagues also seems to be a key method of confirming information which was already communicated. For instance, you should not simply rely on emails to give information. Follow things up with a phone call or a meeting to discuss the matter. And where possible, make sure you are dealing with the decision-maker rather than an influencer of the decision-maker.

Similarities between Business Culture in Brazil and France

The business cultures of Brazil and France are not entirely different from each other. For example, one thing they both share is the role of hierarchy. French companies tend towards rigid hierarchies with clear upward reporting and decision-making lines. And in Brazil, companies are usually organized along strictly hierarchical lines (although this may vary if dealing with the subsidiary of a multinational).

If done well, some cultural awareness training on Brazil and France can have a massively positive impact on your business performance. The skill of delivering a good programme is in being able to relate the relevant cultural points to the strategic and tactical objectives of the business.

If you are looking to develop your cultural understanding of Brazil and France and improve your effectiveness as a result, please contact us for an initial discussion.