Introduction:

The most challenging problems of our world – poverty, global warming, HIV, terrorism, among others – can only be solved through international cooperation. But when talking to each other, do we really understand what the other person is saying? Even on a smaller scale, when entering a new market or investing in a foreign country, firms are often confronted with an environment they initially do not understand. Having an established and proven process of facilitating learning about foreign culture is crucial for globally operating firms. In this article, we propose the use of the dialogue process method as a structured method for facilitating and institutionalizing intercultural learning processes. For the theoretical foundations on our inter- or transcultural dialogue approach the reader is referred to this volume’s chapter “Dialogue process as communication training for multicultural organizations” by Kazuma Matoba.