Danish Business Tips

Tip 1
The drive for egalitarianism is strong in Danish business circles. This leads Danes to be consensus-oriented in many situations

Tip 2
In common with other Scandinavians, Danes seek consensus through detailed discussion and the search for a negotiated agreement.

Tip 3
Denmark has few truly multi-national companies but boasts hundreds of highly respected players in niche-markets.

Tip 4
Danish success has been largely built on high levels of design, creativity and technical excellence.

Tip 5
Employees have, traditionally, tended to stay with one company for much of their careers and job-hopping has been somewhat rare.

Tip 6
Structures tend to be much flatter than in many other countries with wage differentials reflecting this.

Tip 7
Managers are expected to be primus inter pares (or first amongst equals) rather than figures of authority who give direct instructions to subordinates.

Tip 8
Promotion tends to be determined through achievement rather than through relationships or networks.

Tip 9
People are expected to be well prepared for meetings and to be able to argue their own point of view convincingly.

Tip 10
Pre-meeting lobbying could be viewed as mischievous and underhand.

Tip 11
Meetings can be long and are certainly plentiful – due in no large measure to the consensus-seeking process.

Tip 12
Debate is often very direct and this is seen as a positive style of communication. Overly diplomatic or coded-language will be viewed with suspicion

Tip 13
Danes make good team players – so long as they understand and approve of the team rules.

Tip 14
Communication across functional lines tends to be very open and leads to an expectation of being kept constantly in the loop. To be suddenly denied access to information would cause concern.

Tip 15
Levels of foreign language speaking are very high with many people speaking two or three non-native languages.

Tip 16
Humour is an oft-used communication tool in Denmark and is seen as one of the key tools in creating a feeling of hygge (cosiness or snugness).

Tip 17
Body language can be somewhat limited which makes the interpretation of responses difficult for people from more expressive cultures.

Tip 18
A high percentage of women work in Denmark and many more reach the highest levels of organisations than in many other countries.

Tip 19
Danes tend to work contractual hours and make a strong separation between work and private life. This can sometimes be frustrating for people from cultures with a more flexible approach to working hours.

Tip 20
Dress codes tend to be reasonably informal in Denmark although this can vary across industrial sectors.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture.  Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Australia only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.

Author

This country-specific business culture profile was written by Keith Warburton who is the founder of the cultural awareness training consultancy Global Business Culture. 

Global Business culture is a leading training provider in the fields of cross-cultural communication and global virtual team working.  We provide training to global corporations in live classroom-based formats, through webinars and also through our cultural awareness digital learning hub, Global Business Compass.

This World Business Culture profile is designed as an introduction to business culture in Denmark only and a more detailed understanding needs a more in-depth exploration which we can provide through our training and consultancy services.