Politeness and formality and consideration are things which we used to have to a much greater extent in Britain until, I don't know, 20 years ago. And now we've become much more informal and much more Americanised with much more cutting corners on personal relationships. But in most countries in Europe this is not the case, and it's simply a question of learning what their conventions are.

The French value food and drink much more than we do. So first of all, lunch is an important part of the day for them, but that's not the real reason why lunch is so important in a business environment. In a northern European country you can go into the office of a complete stranger, hand over your card and start to talk business. If you try and do this in a Mediterranean country, they'll wonder what you're doing there because before you can start to do business, you have to develop a personal relationship.

And how do you develop a personal relationship? By socialising, by meals, by lunch. So, what is going on at lunch, in a French context, is the building of the personal relationships, a finding out about each other as people as much as discussing business.

• Learn what the French conventions are: spend more effort on formalities.
• It's quite important to take a formal approach and to wait until the situation warms up.
• Never use first names at first meetings.
• Take time for lunch breaks and use them to meet your business partner on a more personal level.