These are the situations of conflict.

A conflict between the participants of business communication can both instigate the loss of interest and desire for cooperation and lead to the aggravation of the already existing ones. In order to help the businessmen and negotiators avoid the most common awkward situations, Elena Ignatieva strongly encourages them to study the specificity of their potential partners' lifestyle and carefully distinguish between the "national character" and "national manner of behavior". Both of the concepts are given equal attention in the author's book on international business etiquette.

In its introduction, one can find the history of etiquette, including its business aspects. The first chapter is dedicated to the general rules of business communication, including such seemingly common and yet still equivocal topics as the forms of address and proper greeting manner, the design of business cards, letters exchange and telephone communication, rules of conduct on the Internet, face-to-face negotiations and even the image of their participants.

The second chapter is used to illustrate the aforementioned moments with the concrete example taken from the author's personal experience of interactions with the nationals of the USA, Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Japan, Thailand, China, Hongkong, and India.

Who should be the one to introduce themselves first? How to choose an appropriate official present? How to distribute car seats among the members of a delegation? The answers to these and other questions may be of considerable use to those who – by their line of work or studies – have to deal with the establishment of comfortable relations with guests and partners.