“Business experience and deep knowledge, flexible and easy to work with”
Meet the experts at the heart of InCultures delivering measurable real-life business outcomes for hundreds of companies.
You probably clicked on this page because you want to understand if InCultures is a good fit for what you’re looking for and what kind of experience we have.
Here are some numbers and facts to put our experience into context:
• We have extensive cross-cultural sales and business experience, over 20 years each
• Over the last 10 years, we have worked with 200+ companies
• Our experience comes from a variety of industries such as cosmetics, food, IT, machinery, medicine, PPE, electronics and industrial products
• As Associate Partners of Hofstede Insights, a highly selective member network of nearly 200 consultants operating in 60 countries, we use recognized models and strategies and can join forces with multicultural expert teams to solve cultural challenges
• We have held workshops for hundreds of managers to improve their leadership…
• …and for teams to improve sales, customer service and team performance in different cultures
We do our best work in partnership with people and organizations who recognize the potential of cultural competence in international business: more cohesive teams, culturally intelligent leaders, the right culture for your strategy and cultural competence as the approach that is key to solving the unique challenges that arise from cultural issues.
For us, every day is about how we can help people realize international opportunities and create business success through understanding each other and cooperating better.
As the founder of InCultures, I’m on a mission to help managers and leaders to become culturally competent so they can improve their success rate in global business.
Nowadays, I have mastered the scientific base for cultural intelligence and combine it with my experience in the field to help clients. But if you currently face challenges with cultural issues, I want you to know they can be measured and solved with a strategic approach and that I know exactly how you feel, because it all started with no deals at all…
In my first permanent job after graduating with an MBA and MSc, I was responsible for a Finnish company’s mobile device business in Russia and the former Soviet countries. Having studied my MBA in London, and as I already had some previous international work experience, I thought I knew the best practices in international sales and marketing that would make me successful. I was in for a surprise.
When I had meetings with the Russian distributors and many other people from the industry, I realized that the best practices from my country or the Western business schools had nothing to do with how the people in my market area worked and behaved!
If only I had known the models and strategies I know today, I could have coped better with the requirements of the hierarchical way of doing business.
Working on larger assignments in multicultural associate partner teams for the Hofstede Insights network and learning to master models such as the 7 Mental Images of National Clusters has played a key role in developing the strategies that InCultures uses. You can benefit from them too. We keep learning from other experts and applying the latest research in our work.
The fact that someone has been doing international business for years doesn’t automatically guarantee success. The world is full of people who have worked in the field for decades but have no real understanding of different cultures or any ability to adapt when needed.
Even back then, me and my export team took a different approach that wasn’t logical in the Western markets: meeting partners frequently and supporting all their requests that were not related to deals rather than pushing to make a deal happen. Orders rolled in, and the market area became the largest, measured in euros, of the whole company. Now the teams working in the Western market couldn’t understand our success.
You can be one of the exceptions and learn to adapt too. It will significantly increase your levels of success in the business world.
Pia Kähärä
Pia Kähärä
InCultures founder, CEO, consultant and speaker
“People usually contact me when they feel that despite their international experience, they do not understand the rules of the game in a new market or when people in partnerships or teams are disconnected.
It’s all about trust. Relating to shared and different values, understanding what they are, and paying attention to relationships helps you adapt and create the right conditions for cooperation. I get hired to connect people and help them cooperate without friction to improve their success rate in business.”
Pia (a native Finn) with an MBA and an MSc in Russian translation and interpretation, is an expert in intercultural management and organizational culture transformation connected to multicultural environments and change.
She has over 25 years of experience working in many countries, especially Russia and Russian-speaking countries. Her extensive experience in developing and managing sales and distribution channel cooperation and in business consulting has led her to realize that the lack of cultural competence is often the major deal-breaker.
Pia is a co-editor of Huib Wursten’s book “The 7 Mental Images of National Culture: Leading and Managing in a Globalized World” (2019).
Pia’s talks, training, and workshops are insightful and provide a lot of value:
“Pia was one of the invited speakers at our seminar on Russian-Finnish business culture. It’s an important topic as Russian companies are the key partners of a major investment project in Finnish energy market. Localization and understanding cultural differences are crucial to successful project implementation and fruitful business. Pia presented with confidence based on research and her broad experience in a refreshing manner. We knew that 1 hour was too short for the topic but she gave us a good start/recap as agreed.”
Megumi A.
Quality and Development FinNuclear
“People of the world should attend Pia’s brilliant and professional training on national cultures. When you come to her lecture with an open mind, you get so much! Strong recommendation.”
Sanna Jylänki
Small Business Advisor, Redesan Oy
Marina Karpina
Expert in sales and promotion specializing in helping foreign SMEs in Russia and the former USSR market
“I tend to get called when European companies need help developing and managing sales and distribution channel cooperation for their export business in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus.
Several challenges in international communication come up frequently, and they are all connected with cultural differences. That’s why a systematic view of culture as a key feature in international business is important.”
Marina (a native Russian originally from St. Petersburg) with a Master’s degree in Mechanics and a business school graduate, is an expert in developing and managing sales and distribution channel cooperation of exporting companies.
She has over 20 years of experience in sales and 10+ years in the promotion of foreign SMEs in Russia and the former USSR market. Having worked in over 100 projects, Marina has experience in partner/customer search and assessment, including searching for potential customers and supporting the first stage of the business relationship.
Marina has been responsible for communication, marketing events, and market studies to assess the starting point, where companies can enter the market.
The issues she has helped solve in international communication led her to combine the practical knowledge with the theoretical base on intercultural issues to gain a more systematic view of international business.
Vadym Kovalchuk
Expert in international B2B trade and marketing specializing in establishing global business relationships
“Companies contact me when they need support for the process of researching, planning, negotiating, and implementing international business contracts.
Supporting companies in establishing these global relationships has made me acutely aware of the nuances between the business cultures of different countries and their impact on negotiations.”
Vadym (a native Ukrainian originally from Kiev) with a Master’s degree in International trade management and a university diploma in international studies, is a B2B trade and marketing expert.
He has over 20 years of international business experience and has worked in the foreign trade ministry, supported companies from emerging countries in their international activities, and promoted Western SMEs in developing markets. Research, planning, and organization of export and import deals are his key competencies. With such extensive experience, Vadym can help businesses at any stage, from marketing issues to contracts and their implementation.
Vadym has been in charge of dozens of cases that included spotting suitable Finnish partners for companies from developing countries worldwide and matchmaking as part of Finnish partner organizations’ assignments. He is fond of international cooperation, and supporting the process of establishing global business relationships has made him acutely aware of the nuances between the business cultures of the countries he has worked with from Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
According to the Global DISC terminology, Vadym is a clear C-type who likes very accurate and analytical ways of doing business. Still, due to his cultural background, he is naturally easy-going and talkative when it comes in handy.
We partner with recognized professional organizations like Hofstede Insights’ network of 140 consultants in 60 countries and are certified in using tools like Global Disc by ICQ Global. Together with our partners, we provide you with the best strategies, tools and value in cultural intelligence:
Navkaran Singh, PMP, Intercultural Management Consultant
PMP, Intercultural Management Consultant
“I worked with Pia in a project team that was contracted to deliver a 3 phase training for a big Aviation company in Germany. Pia was one of the 3 trainers who delivered the workshops. Pia has vast experience working with different cultures especially Finland & Russia. She used that experience well during the Analysis phase for the Russia counterparts. She received very positive feedback for all her sessions. It would be a pleasure to work with Pia again! Highly recommended for Intercultural Management work.”
Learn more about going beyond best practices in managing international teams and exporting globally.
In this free guide, we walk you through some of our experiences about the importance of adaptation when you want to succeed in international business.
We show you how to look at best practices when you’re working with a new market or even when you’re applying them within your organization, so you know if they are applicable. You’ll learn why language skills and common sense alone are not enough for success in international business and what you need instead.
