Business etiquette in Albania

Before you do any business in Albania and even after you have done it and even if you are not thinking of business, but thinking of better understanding of what and why and how it is in Albania, read a little Xenophobe's guide to the Albanians (A frank and funny look at what makes the Albanians Albanian). You may find it in the Adrion book shop in Tirana.

Business ethics in albania!!??
Easy peasy.  Show the money and we are friends for life. There are no written rules.
Albanians do business very differently then Europeans. We are still in communism when it comes to understanding "" Business ethics"
In few words. They are not ethics at all. Albanians are focused on quick money profits. They don't care about long term client relationship. They do not understand it maybe. Everything is Now..they don't care about future because they lack vision and ethics.
You can buy anything in albania if you have money. Corruption is everywhere..in the goverment and business is the greatest. Most items are monopoly in albania. If you want to start a business in albania and you want to make it big then be ready to pay a lot of low life people in order for you to keep your business going and having peace.
I can speak valumes here about the ethics or the lack of it but is not worth it. Because none is willing to listen to people like me and none is willing to change things..they are happy living in a corrupted society .

blusky2015 wrote:

Business ethics in albania!!??
Easy peasy.  Show the money and we are friends for life. There are no written rules.
Albanians do business very differently then Europeans. We are still in communism when it comes to understanding "" Business ethics"
In few words. They are not ethics at all. Albanians are focused on quick money profits. They don't care about long term client relationship. They do not understand it maybe. Everything is Now..they don't care about future because they lack vision and ethics.
You can buy anything in albania if you have money. Corruption is everywhere..in the goverment and business is the greatest. Most items are monopoly in albania. If you want to start a business in albania and you want to make it big then be ready to pay a lot of low life people in order for you to keep your business going and having peace.
I can speak valumes here about the ethics or the lack of it but is not worth it. Because none is willing to listen to people like me and none is willing to change things..they are happy living in a corrupted society .

Well said!!! There's no business ethics at all...most of so called businesses are built on a shady/suspicious/questionable origin of finance...and they cannot plan for long term...they want return on investment within a year if that was possible...In Albania the boss knows everything from Taxing, HR, Finance, PR etc....because it's "his business" and he can literally anything with it. In Western Europe, USA etc idea comes first and then it can be financed in different ways...in Albania, money comes first (don't ask where from) and then you can have a business you like, regardless whether you know the market, competition, finance, tax etc. General idea of a "businessman" in Albania is buy very low and sell at very high price because that will cover: bad management, bribing the tax authorities, market ignorance etc.

I can help you.
Depended what you are going to do in Albania.
Which region you are going to cover?
You can contact me: *

@Nertil > to whom are you addressing your message? Please note that the subject of this thread is on "Business etiquette in Albania". Do you have any useful information to share with us?

Thank you,
Christine
Expat.com

Agree with the Albs here. No ethics, very little morals, dodgy dealings all the way.
Too much corruption.
Be careful and don't trust any of them.
If they can make money from you they will!
Not much different to most people I guess but in Albania no one wants to hear about it.
So - they get away with it.

I agree that in business, Albanians tend to see business as a short term expedient, negotiations as a win-lose situation and feel that it is good business to 'get one over on the other'.

However, to say that people have no morals, is a rather crass generalisation. While it is difficult to do business in Albania, it is not impossible. It may seem, at least in the short term, the benefits do not justify  the effort to understand people and situations and the setbacks you encounter, and it takes a long time to understand that. There are some honest and sincere people when it comes to business. Also, people treat foreigners with respect although some think us naive and see us as easy pickings.

In the end, it's a case of understanding the rules and the ways around them. It is not a country for the faint-hearted.

I manufacture shave soaps [link moderated]
I currently have a fairly good hold on the American Market for this product
In order to put my products on the EU market I would have to make some slight changes to packaging and some other boring stuff... the biggest issue is that to legally export to EU countries I would have to pretty much change the formula or manufacture in a country with EU status (over regulation concerning exports from the US with animal byproducts by the EU is the problem here). I do know that most of the People who shave in Albania do use traditional shaving methods I.e. Soap/cream and brush.... my question is do you think there would be enough demand for an American brand of shaving soaps.... i wouldn't be expecting to have quite the same margins in Albania as I do in the US, but I would still need to make enough to cover expenses and hopefully hire a few people....

I still think the big money would be the EU market... there maybe a possibility of claiming the manufacturing occurs in Italy or something though... lets face it, this topic is about Albanian business ethics....

The only reason I ask is because my wife misses her country and she would like for us to move back for a few years, but business is good here in the states and I don't want to jeopardize losing my already profitable business that took me many years to build.