The Cultural Implications of Negotiation with Italian Enterprises: A Humanistic Education of Elites

In this paper, we propose a reflection on the fundamental differences in the behavior ofFrench and Italian entrepreneurs. The paper focuses on the typically humanistic education ofItalian elites who go through a conventional school where the teaching of Latin, Greek, philosophyand art history usually is crucial. On the contrary, in France, the best students are the ones who gothrough a mainly scientific education in highschool. It has to be observed that school educationbased on classical studies has intercultural consequences on the economic behavior and, inparticular, in the field of trade negotiations.