In Business The Devil Is In The Details And Matter Most, Except ….
November 8th, 2008
I am of the view that as a general rule in business, the deal and its details, and whether they make sense for both sides and the transaction is profitable, are the main drivers of success. Not the cultural differences and nuances. I.e, it is critical that you master your skills and coursework in OB, Econ, Stats, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, Operations, Strategy, MIS, Law, Negotiations, Ethics, etc. This international field study is not an excuse to minimize your performance in those areas.
When this rule is violated, or when people enter a deal and do not understand the core business issues and what they are agreeing to, chances are there will be big trouble and a monetary loss (not profit), lawyers retained and lawsuits filed.
This includes not just domestic but also global business and transactions in places like China and India.
This is not to say that the cultural understandings and sensitivities that surround any global business transaction are not important and/or that the many cultural insights you will take away from this field study are not important. They are.
However, I would caution you to not necessarily buy all the hype you may hear that your deal will die if you hand your business card over with one hand versus two, or that you will lose your potential Chinese client if you pass on their late night dinner and karaoke invite to return to your hotel for some sleep because you are jet lagged.
But for an excellent case study and example of a possible exception to the general rule and weighting scale I note above, see this excellent recent front-page Wall Street Journal article, Lenovo Goes Global, But Not Without Strife, on the cultural difference struggles at China-based Lenovo between American and Chinese management. Clearly, in this case, cultural differences and misunderstandings are jeopardizing success.
(As an aside, the last few years of our trip we visited Lenovo. An excellent host and an impressive firm.)
Others, including Dan Harris of the always good China Law Blog, have written similar posts on this topic. See, e.g., the CLB’s recent post, China: When Cultural Differences Matter. (I had hoped to make this post last week but Dan and others beat me to the punch.)
Late or not, check out the WSJ article. Good stuff. Your thoughts? Are you less or more stressed now about whether your business cards are perfectly translated into Mandarin?
Final point: In China my experience has been that it’s okay to make cultural mistakes and gaffes as long as the other person feels that you care about them, their culture and are making an sincere effort to understand and connect. It is not okay to not care or be a person who does everything right and by the book but your heart is not in it (the Chinese (and Indians) are not stupid; they can sense a faker and somebody only interested in making a buck a mile away).
Entry Filed under: Pre-Departure, Beijing, China
4 Comments Add your own
1. Jimmy Spann | November 9th, 2008 at 10:44 am
It is interesting that this comment would be put up today. Just last night Morgan and myself were having a conversation with his Mandarin language teacher, who is from Taiwan. We just so happened to be talking about the differences in Aisian cultures and American culture.
She said that the Asian cultures are more excepting of foreigners and do not expect foreigners to full speak the langugage, know everything about the culture, and almost expect foreigners to make mistakes. It is ok and almost expected that we will come across these problems.
It is different in America though. the general stereotype is that we want everyone else to learn English if they want to deal with us and we want them to assimilate into our culutre
2. Oscar Merlin | November 10th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
In the few travel opportunities that I have had I have found that it is important to show your host that you care enough about their culture and try to speak the language and follow their customs. But, when doing business abroad you should also keep in mind that your host has probably not had the opportunity to practice in the language that ‘you’ speak and they will probably be very anxious to practice it with you. So, if your guest starts talking in ‘your’ language, notice the cue. You should talk to them in your language if they are making the effort, because it is a learning opportunity for them as well. And by that point, you would have probably butchered enough words in their language that both of you know that it is probably more efficient to converse in the language ‘you’ speak.
One last thing I would like to comment on is that if you are in China and you look Chinese, they will hold you to a different set of expectations. That has happened to me when I have traveled outside of the US and into a country where everyone looks like me. Even though I was a foreigner as well, just the fact that I looked like the people around me, made them hold me to a different set of rules. Fortunately for me, I passed their tests.
3. Alex vanDalen | November 10th, 2008 at 8:08 pm
This advice would seem to be self evident. One is only as good as the sum of one’s skills… perhaps multiplied by a coefficient of inspiration in certain cases.
This being said I think that once a mastery of basic coursework is attained, one must be adaptable enough apply the theories learned across a broad spectrum of classes, colors, and cultures. Many of us privileged enough to have grown up in California have been exposed to a variety of cultures from an early age. These experiences have to some extent kept our perceptions fluid enough to be easily adapted outside our range of familiarity.
That is not to say that those who have been born into a more homogeneous situation do not have the ability to be or become malleable, however as with many things it is easier to start at an early age.
Solid advice for dealing with any new culture is to keep the mouth shut, and the eyes and ears and mind open.
There will always be those who will take offense when the opportunity presents, either to advance their own position or out of pure prejudice. However an attempt to empathize with the collective perspective of a different culture will usually cause one’s human counterparts to respond quite well across the barriers of language and etiquette. Care should also be taken to avoid personifying the stereotypes against one’s own culture; unless of course your aim is to make people laugh
4. Raquel Rusing | November 30th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I’ve only been back in San Luis for less than twelve hours and I’m already back to ranting about the people here. They’re nice. Don’t get me wrong. But they are culturally secluded. Ugh. And I’m so frustrated for finding myself continually sucked into that mentality.
What culture can I really be exposed to in San Luis Obispo? I remember in WoW that they tried to skirt the whole diversity issue with saying that there is diversity in things more than race and religion… and I see that to a point because I understand that everyone goes through their own trials and tribulations and that contributes to everyone’s unique worldview, which shapes who they are, etc. but what I don’t understand is this: San Luis Obispo attracts middle to upper-middle class white students who grow up in suburbs or agricultural areas that need little financial aid, are relatively intelligent, but more so privileged to attend school and are fairly liberal, but by college standards, pretty conservative. SLO has very little diversity. It’s difficult to grow and mature when you live in a town of groupthink. There are no protests or demonstrations. Cal Poly doesn’t encourage students to think for themselves because the city suppresses all “negative” behavior. This whole town is stuck in groupthink! Sure, Poly has “cultural” clubs, but those clubs exclude themselves from the dominant population because the majority of the dominant population isn’t interested in other cultural groups. They’re happy being on the top of their white world, spending mom and dad’s money without a care and taking as many years to graduate as necessary.
And furthermore, I have a huge complaint with the lack of political discussion that classrooms can engage in. Apparently teachers were not allowed to give any opinions or promote any discussion of the electoral race between Obama and McCain. I think that it is the privilege of the staff of a university to tell students that it’s okay to express your views and that they are allowed to express their own to promote discussion and knowledge. Every professor is an expert in something and they have experience in the world, can students not learn from that?? It is the right of the students to hear that information if they wish. It’s infuriating. We’re a state school in California, one of the most liberal states in our nation and the opinions of educators at a university level is STILL suppressed. It isn’t religion, there’s no breach of any amendment. Students didn’t learn anything about politics in high school because politics, government, blah blah is all so taboo… and the class is taught by a wrestling or football coach anyway. What do they really care? Except for the politics of passing unqualified athletes so that they can play the game next Friday… totally separate issue. I’m losing myself.
To get back on track.. look at the city, who lives in San Luis that aren’t students? White middle to upper-class people over the age of 40, stuck in their ways, closed off to the rest of the world enjoying their money and ignoring the fact that they are culturally inept. Okay, I’ll give it to them that they’ve probably traveled to every continent in the world because they’re retired and can afford to, but have they experienced culture??
This is my view on culture. It’s incredibly important. There’s nothing more important than something that challenges your worldview. We all live in such closed off boxes that without eye-opening conflict, what can we learn about ourselves? Putting yourself in someone’s shoes is most definitely the best way to grow as an individual. You learn not to tolerate people, but to accept the difference in views, our uniqueness as humans. Culture exists in foods, routines, social etiquette, the influence of religion on activities, sports, education, etc. I’ve only traveled outside of the United States a couple times and both were to nice places in Mexico. What have I experienced? Nothing. I want the opportunity to backpack through a foreign country, meeting the people, experiencing their daily life, expanding my worldview to be more accepting and ultimately more intelligent because right now… I’m a moron. And I only hope that people in China will forgive my ignorance and appreciate my attempts to breach the secluded world I live in.
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