Although modern technology has made international communication very easy, many businesspeople still travel long distances for business meetings. Do the benefits of face-to-face meetings outweigh the disadvantages?
Many businesspeople still choose to have face to face meetings for the business while the technology made things the communication more efficient. In my opinion, face to face interactions would provide more assurance when closing major business deals and it have an advantage over modern way of communication.
On the one hand, in person meetings give more confidence to the people when signing a new contract with someone they do not know and it is more convenient to sign the documents on the same day. Moreover, face to face interaction helps people to evaluate the credibility of their partners and aids negotiation. For example, Birla is a famous businessperson stated the chance of being cheated while conducting business meetings in person is minimal. Therefore, people can invest more money into the business rather than thinking twice to invest because of the trust issues with online meetings.
On the other hand, environmental pollution caused by the long distance travel is a major draw back of in person meeting. Moreover, International trips are expensive due to the air tickets and accommodation which makes it difficult for new entrepreneurs and increases the risk of losing major partnerships. For instance, Madhav is an entrepreneur has lost a major deal with a big company due to the long distance travel.
In conclusion, I believe that the benefits of face to face meetings such as increased clarity and confidence when making large investments outweigh the disadvantages of expense and inconvenience.