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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2016
www.read-wca.comJörg Bör
CABX Cable Expert Dipl-Ing
Aachen
Germany
Tel
: +49 163 439 1964
:
info@cabx.deTo protect people’s health in case of fire it is widely
required to use halogen free, low smoke materials for
buildings including indoor cabling. This is mandatory in
public premises but also recommended in residential
areas.
5 Conclusions
Due to cultural differences the focus of fire protection in
America is to reduce the probability of fire, but in Europe
mainly the dimensions of possible health injuries and
material damages are to be controlled.
Due to these differences in fire protection strategies there
are wide differences in technical standards, requirements,
and specifications for cables as well as for other
construction components regarding fire performance.
The European approach follows the theory of diverse
redundancy. Even if the requirements to each single
parameter for cable fire performance are lower, there is a
much better protection with less effort in total.
Different fire protection strategies are related to
intercultural differences. To sell a product in a region it
is not only necessary to meet all specifications but to
understand the needs and fears of humans living there.
Just by addressing these aspects it is possible to convince
potential customers of the advantages a product offers.
Thus cultural relativity has to be taken into account in
worldwide business. Cross-cultural awareness is an
important skill in global product management.
6 Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Prof Dr Armin Wittmann from Trier
University of Applied Sciences for providing information
regarding risk management.
Nicolai Bör from GIZ (German Association for International
Cooperation) for giving an increased understanding of
intercultural differences and their effects on the B2B
business.
ICYE (International Christian Youth Exchange) and its
national sub-organisations whose activities intensified the
experience of cross-cultural awareness.
7 References
[1]
G Hofstede, “Management Scientists Are Human” University of
Limburg, The Netherlands Management Science, Vol 40, No 1, (Jan
1994)
[2]
C Chapman, S Ward, “Project Risk Management: Processes,
Techniques, and Insights”, 2
nd
Ed, John Wiley & Sons Ltd (2003)
[3]
Robin E McDermott, Raymond J Mikulak, Michael R Beauregard, “The
Basics of FMEA”, 2
nd
Ed, Taylor & Francis Group LLC (2009)
[4]
Society for Risk Analysis (SRA);
www.sra.org[5]
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia;
http://en.wikipedia.org[6]
European Commission: “Regulation (EU) No. 305/2011of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 9
th
March 2011 laying down
harmonised conditions for the marketing of construction products and
repealing Council Directive 89/106/EEC”; OJ L 88 of 4
th
April 2011
Paper courtesy of the 63
rd
IWCS Technical Symposium,
Providence, Rhode Island, USA, November 2014.