UK DK Business Culture Differences

When Danish businesses establish themselves in London, what are their cultural challenges? What are the differences between Danish business culture and British business culture, specifically London business culture?
I recently visited London with a business group and I met several Danes doing business in London. A few cultural themes surfaced again and again.
First of all, London residents spend less time in their homes than Danes do, which has big implications for leisure and food service.
If Londoners live within the city, their flats are often small and many people live outside the city with a long commute.
This means customers seek out a pleasant place to sit during the day.
One food business executive said takeout was a much lower percentage of sales in London than in Denmark.
In London, people wanted a place to spend time and meet friends, and they were having to redesign some locations to reflect that.
Secondly, the role of the boss is different in British society, which to a large extent has retained its class system even as it becomes more multicultural.
There's no natural trust between manager and employee.
A boss is seen as a creature from another level, deserving of an unspoken antagonism.
One Danish restaurant owner said his UK team couldn't believe it when he wanted to work the floor with them in order to better understand customers.
Managers or owners in London generally don't do that.
Third, Danish bluntness sometimes runs head on into British politeness, which occasionally becomes so extreme as to disguise passive-aggressiveness.
A couple of Danish managers indicated that their British team would try to skate around unwelcome messages in a very witty way and that it could be difficult to get authentic information out of them concerning things that
weren't going well on the job.
Looking for more information on Danish business culture or doing business in Denmark? Book Kay Xander Mellish for a workshop at events.howtoliveindenmark.com.