Ever since details of Marco Polo’s adventures in Medieval China began to reach Western shores, China’s image grew in the imagination of early Europeans as a land of riches and opportunities awaiting whoever was courageous enough to make the long journey there.

Now, in the twentieth century, things are not too different. Since the communist regime in China opened the country’s borders to trade, Western companies have gone to great lengths to establish business ties there.

Results, however, have been mixed, and what was often idealised as a goldmine revealed itself to be a cultural minefield. While there are of course a number of cases where Western businesses have performed successfully in China,  there are others where organisations have encountered many challenges doing business in China, ranging from logistical to linguistic or cultural.

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When China first opened its economy to international trade and business in the 1980s, much of the debate in the West centred on the most effective way of gaining a stronghold in what was a new and unknown market. The majority of international companies doing business in China opted for Joint Ventures (JVs) with Chinese counterparts which ended in mixed results.

The different experiences of Western companies doing business in China shows success and failure factors vary greatly, from purely technical reasons such as low quality and uncompetitive products, to serious cultural misunderstandings as to how to work with Chinese colleagues and potential Chinese partners.

Maytag’s case in particular is one example of Western-style management gone wrong. Once the third largest manufacturer of large home appliances in the US and a company that prided itself on the use of modern management methods, Maytag entered the Chinese market through a JV with the Rongshida Group.

This had developed from a small, collectively owned enterprise and had a corporate ethic of ‘harmonious business’, so when Maytag decided to launch a restructuring programme in the face of increasing competition by other Western companies, the relationship between the JV partners eventually collapsed leading Maytag to eventually withdraw from China.

However dynamic and increasingly modern, China remains a heavily traditional society where relations – whether in business or in everyday life – are heavily dependant on a system of ‘face’ and ‘guanxi’, a term which can be translated as “relationships” or “connection”. A principle that binds friends and associates in relationships promoting trust and cooperation, ‘guanxi’ commits a friend to do what he can for another friend when called upon and violating this implies a loss of face and reputation.

Despite the many challenges of doing business in China, many companies have discovered ways of not only dealing with Chinese cultural differences but harnessing them to create very successful business ventures and opportunities in China. One of the most effective is to pre-empt any issues related to business practices and customs by providing international staff and management with cross cultural training programmes such as Communicaid’s Doing Business in China.

Maytag Case Study Source: China & World Economy (67-79, Vol. 12, No. 5, 2004)

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2010

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Post tags: Benefits of Doing Business in China, Challenges of doing business in China, China, Chinese business culture, Cross-cultural training for business and management, Doing Business in China, intercultural training, Joint ventures in China, Managing business in China, Maytag, Western business ventures in China, Working in China

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Effectively interviewing and recruiting candidates with optimal talent is essential to any organisation’s global capability, strategic planning and direct and indirect costs. As employment continues to rise and the number of job applicants multiplies at an enhanced rate, organisations hiring new employees are faced with an increasingly large pool of cross-cultural candidates from around the world.

Conducting effective interviews of candidates from your own country is not always as simple as it may seem. Interviewing candidates from another culture is even more challenging as the number of things that need to be considered and correctly evaluated increases significantly.

When interviewing someone from another culture it is important to remember that your own cultural values and expectations can have a huge influence on how you interpret that person’s skills and experience. There are many stories of cross-cultural interviews where the opportunity to hire an excellent candidate was missed due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding of cultural differences.

To avoid missing a great candidate, you must be aware of how both verbal and non-verbal communication can vary dramatically from one culture to another. Cross-cultural training can increase your understanding and awareness of the following cultural variables that affect cross-cultural job interviews:

• Eye contact
• Tone of voice
• Facial expressions
• Gestures
• Greetings
• Pauses and silence
• Context
• Hierarchy

Examples of failing to correctly interpret cross-cultural values and behaviours can be both simple and complex. For example, many candidates from countries where respect for hierarchy is high such as China or Vietnam will avoid making direct eye contact with the interviewer. In a country like the UK or US, eye contact is really important and serves to not only build trust but create confidence in the candidate’s abilities and skills. Candidates from China and Vietnam are therefore often considered shy and lacking self-assurance.

A more complex example revolves around how candidates deal with context. A candidate from a low context culture such as Germany or the US will provide a lot more detail when asked a question than someone from a high context culture who might give a much shorter and indirect answer. This can often be interpreted as either talking too much or not having enough experience when it’s really more of a question of communication style preference.

Understanding these and other cross-cultural variables and the impact they have on your evaluation of a candidate’s skills, experience and personality is fundamental to successful recruitment. Cross-cultural training programmes for Human Resources such as Conducting Cross-Cultural Interviews can help ensure you avoid making judgements based on cultural stereotypes or erroneous interpretations.

Understanding these differences through cross-cultural training will enable you to overcome the obstacles cultural differences create and help you select the best person for the job.

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Post tags: China, Cross Cultural Training, Cross-cultural interviews, cultural misunderstanding, cultural stereotypes, Germany, high and low context, Human Resources, UK, US, Vietnam

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Culture shock is a natural state of psychological and physical disorientation that can occur upon encountering a new environment and culture. Loss of social support networks, independence, and the ability to communicate combined with the differences and challenges of entering a new culture are all factors that contribute to feelings of culture shock.

Culture shock occurs at different times and to different extents for different people. Some symptoms of culture shock which cross-cultural training helps international assignees understand include:

• Depression, fatigue, insomnia
• Loss of self-confidence
• Anxiety, confusion, frustration
• Fear and insecurity
• Grief – mourning for old life
• Loneliness and isolation
• Annoyance and over-sensitivity
• Impatience

Numerous studies have been conducted on the phases of adaptation during international assignments and the impact of culture shock. Traditionally, culture shock and the emotional adjustment phases have been described as a U or W-Curve and have been divided into distinct phases starting with the ‘Honeymoon Phase’ during which people are really happy and excited about their new cultural experience.

While an increasing number of scholars doubt the validity and exactness of these culture shock models due to their simplicity and lack of empirical support, many international assignees say that they help them understand what they might go through during their adjustment to another culture.

The impact of culture shock, which everyone experiences differently, can be quite serious if not recognised and dealt with accordingly. Country-specific cross-cultural training such as Living and Working in China can help you understand the impact of culture shock and develop strategies for dealing with it during an international assignment in China.

© Communicaid Group Ltd. 2009

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Post tags: challenge of international assignments, China, Cross Cultural Training, culture shock, international assignees, U curve, W curve

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