Global Business Cultural Analysis: China
LaTasha Baker
GRST 500/501
Abstract
Since the beginning of time when Adam and Eve left the garden, people have been increasing the geographic realm of their economics, political, social and ethnicity contacts. People begin connecting with other nationalities all of the world. This relationship provide wealth and progress along with adverse disputes within the relationship of countries (MacEwan, 2001). There are many reasons why companies covet to develop their business to other countries. There are many difficulties and a wide-range of benefits when a company expands globally outside of their cultural. When a company conduct business outside of their zone; research is required, patients, and a learning process. China and the United States has learned how to work international with business over the past years. The alliance between organizations, partnerships and private sectors has been the reason for the growth between the two countries. While concentrating on the customs, culture, language, anti-corruption and economic implications. You will explore the Chinese culture and its impact on local business structures. The comparison of China and the United States in regards to its cultural analysis will be provided, along with the implications for the United States businesses that wish to conduct business in China.

Major Elements and Dimensions of Culture in China
China Business Ethics Business ethics is the principal and standard that guides a company, it is very complex and the resolution are rarely black and white (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013). According to Business Ethics in China it states, that business ethics in China has emerge and developed to the response of economic reforms. It is a combination of the soci-political system; its philosophical ideologies, specifically in Guanxi and Confucianism, and the strategies the Chinese employ during business negotiations (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013). Unfortunately, China has no system or formal culture for business ethics for private enterprise (Xiaohe, 1997). In China there were certain types of ethics, they were social ethic and ethics in business, business ethics result from economic reforms (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013). However, business ethics are dependent upon a country’s culture. When the United States began to market into other countries, business ethics can cause ethical problems when building a relationship. Before the United States decided to market in China which is consider the market “giant”, in global business. When smaller business that are interested into entering China to develop a business partnership, it is important to understand the business cultural, ethics and behaviors of China and their expectations. This will help reduce the increase of conflicts need to have knowledge of the nature, and history of China to gain understanding of the ethical system. It is important that they understand these subjects in order to be successful in cross- culture business. All business operations are affected by ethics and the expectation within the cultural.
Corresponding to Emerging Dimensions of Business Ethics in China expresses that, “With China’s emergence as an important business destination, and understanding of the ethical viewpoints is relevant. Much is to be desired in the understanding the country’s ethical landscape. Ethical behavior study in China is a challenging research arena with several underlying issues (Habib, 2001). It is important to understand the country’s cultural background and how it can potentially shape ethical conduct. The Chinese tend to work alongside of distinct set of values and ideas (Ferrell, 1988). Many business practices in the county have been built upon its long history and remain anchored on its culture (Su, 2001). According to, Dimensionality of business ethics in China, “Aside from culture in general, religion and other belief systems specifically can shape business ethics (Whitcomb, 1998). For example, Chinese ethical actions can also be shape by inherent Confucian virtues such as benevolence (Wangdao, 1997).
Social Responsibilities Corporate social responsibilities are one of the most important issues that global businesses professionals may face. Nothing will cause more problems between a business relationships than if the country or even the community in which you are forming a relationship with gets the perception the company is operating in a way that may be harmful to the country. In recent years, several accidents has happen causing a numerous amount of deaths, which has generated special attention from the Chinese Central Government. In September of 2008, several large milk and formula companies in China were involved in a scandal involving the quality of milk, which was known as the “Milk Powder Scandal” or the” Infant Formula Scandal.” Several babies became sick, hospitalized and even died because of the contamination with melamine, which is an industry chemical that causes kidney stones and complications to infants (Chen, 2011). Reports have been stated that there have been social problems with physical abuse among workers, dangerous working conditions, unfair wages, and industrial pollution (Chen, 2011). China has been working on corporate social responsibilities since the last decade, so this is nothing new to China. The Chinese government has been committed to improving the corporate social responsibilities, it seek substantially increase in wealth to satisfy social needs, it takes measures to foster job growth, it promotes social welfare, and it tries to control pollution to have a better environment (Chen, 2011). This is to continue corporate development, allow China government to value and respect corporate social responsibilities (Chen, 2011).
The Issue of Corruption Corruption is a major concern for those engaged in global business. These issues have been address across the globe in numerous venues such: as international conferences, policy forums, government official speeches, international organizations, including the OECD and Transparency International and international nongovernment organizations (Satterlee, 2014). In the Herald Tribune, it wrote an article on the corruption that had been covered up by leaders in China government. There were massive use of secret bank accounts in tax havens involving politicians, businessmen, and managers of public companies and 13 relatives of high ranking officials and leaders of the Communist Party, including the present president, Xi Jinping (Corruption in China: [Herald Tribune], 2014). To fight corruption, and clean up the politics and economy of China, it is essential to disassemble the administration of the single party. Which is appeasing and encouraging all these abuses in the absence of freedom, transparency and supervisory controls (Corruption in China: [Herald Tribune], 2014). Corruption has not just happen within China, in mid-1970’s as a result of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) found that over four- hundred U.S. companies had admitted in making questionable or illegal payments in excess of $300 million to foreign government officials, politicians, and political parties (Satterlee, 2014). The government formed the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) to bring a stop the bribery of foreign officials and to restore public confidence in the U.S. business system (Satterlee, 2014).
China Cultural In the early 1900’s China still had the largest population and the oldest culture compared to America and Europe, however China was the weakest and poorest country in international affairs p.178 (Morton, 2005). China became part of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 11, 2001, after several years on negotiations with the United States and WTO members’ p.265 (Morton, 2005). This open doors for China in the global marketing system, now China is one of the largest countries in the world. China culture consisted of communication, religion, attitude and values, gender roles, social status and social structures.
Communication
In international business people have different cultures which causes difficulty in communication. Communicating effectively is very important, when building a relationship with other countries, one should have some caring and appreciation of each other’s points of view, values, and goals. There are many forms of communication: languages, verbal and nonverbal, and high context vs low context.

Languages Chinese languages which are also called Sinitic languages. Dialect are usually separated by languages, there several Chinese exists that are popularly (Chinese languages, 2013). There are more Chinese people that speak a variety as a native language than any other language in the world. Chinese modern standard of language is one of the six official languages in the United Nations (Chinese languages, 2013). Mandarin is the language spoken in the northern, central, and western part of China, and Yue is the language spoken in southeastern part of the country. The modern Chinese language are tone languages and the number of tones vary (Chinese languages, 2013).
Both verbal and non-verbal are forms of communication. When a person speaks forming words is consider verbal communication. Non-verbal communication can be accomplished by body movements and facial expressions including silence. Silence is addressed in both the collectivist and individualist cultures. Collectivist conforms to the norms of their society they are from. They are people that have family interests, group goals and focuses on the common good than the rights of a person. Individualist are people who concentrate on personal accomplishments. Japanese honor silence as respect, agreement and harmony and in contrast, North Americans and the British may find silence stubborn. When individuals, speak, disagreements may occur when there are differences or disputes p.442 (Maya Khemlani David, 2011).
High Context vs Low Context
Another cross-cultural communication variable is context. A cultural that rely comprehensively on nonverbal and subtle situations cues in communication are high context culture. Low context culture is a culture that depend on a group of people that are very close over a long period of time. Verbal agreements is a form of high context, this cultural indicates trust and concentrate on building a relationship. Low context is a culture where you have many acquaintances with short periods of time. If you were to do business with someone who culture is considered low context it would be important to know how to conduct yourself and contracts will be in writing, precisely worded, and highly legalistic. They tend to value directness, managers are expected to be unambiguous and precise in passing on intended meaning p.45 (Satterlee, 2014).

Religion One of China’s main religion is Buddhism, it was brought to China from India. Buddhism divides into three branches depending on the language. Religions with fewer adherents are the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity and numerous regional faiths, as practiced by China’s ethnic minorities. Christianity came to China in the 13th century which was Catholicism, however did not make it present until the 16th century. In the 18th century there were several Chinese Catholics however the Vatican refused to give permission to offer sacrifices to their ancestors, they said this was Confucian-hence “pagan” rite. Catholicism in China was control by foreign clergy and no Chinese adherents had the right to handle their own religious affairs (China's Religions, 2008). All of China’s religious group remain free of restriction from outside in such matters as running their own churches and faiths. Neither China’s government nor its religious organizations interfere in the spiritual worship of other countries. This did not mean that religious worships couldn’t fellowship with other worships in other countries. China did not want to see other religious organizations and religious matters controlled by forces outside its own borders. In the 1966 to 1976 China did not allow religious worshipers the freedom to worship, and if any citizen was caught they would be persecuted. Now the freedom to practice one’s faith has been reinstated. According to the China’s Religion, “China’s stability in politics and social affairs proves it success in dealing with problems pertaining to it diverse and numerous religious adherents, and confirms that its policy towards such groups is the correct one” (China's Religions, 2008).
Attitudes and Values
. When one think of culture you must include values and attitudes. Values are accepted beliefs about what is right from wrong. Attitude is the demonstration of values, beliefs, feelings, and state of mind p. 54 (Satterlee, 2014). Attitude and values are interconnected, as attitudes often shape values, and vice versa. Business are growing interested in ethics and corporate social responsibility, the attitudes of the future business leaders will be what shape the direction of business in the future. Hofstede did a study with the comparison of the United States and China. He found that Americans were individualistic rather than collectivist, which were comfortable with uncertainty and ambiguous situations, they valued assertiveness and other traditional “masculine” values, and attend not to accept hierarchy and that someone has power over others (Yu, 2007). Hofstede found that China was considered Confucianism, this has been the major force influencing Chinese values. Confucianism as a moral system, of five relational virtues: humanity/ benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness (Yu, 2007). In regards to business Confucian underlies organizational structure including superior/ subordinate relationships, business etiquette and ceremony. With the results of this study it gives the difference between the Chinese and U.S. business ethics value. Studies such as the Hofstede has provided useful information in the process of helping the people of these two countries to better understand each other.
Gender Roles The Encyclopedia of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, states that gender roles are expectations that apply to individuals based on their social identified sex, this gender role refers to the expectations with men and women to be consensual in the social order. Gender roles derivers from social roles which are expectations of people. Social roles are distinguishing behaviors among individuals who have the same social position within a social make-up p.301 (Gender Roles, 2010). There have been discussions about the pay gap in China between women CEOs and male CEOs. The question to be answered will be, are women pay gap due to lack of experience and education or just because of their gender? If the pay gap is due to differences in ability which are characteristic in the nature of the job market, then those CEOs with low income thus have the opportunity of making greater effort if they wish to do so. In spite of the recent surge in women CEOs in China, women in China still only fill a low percentage of CEO positions in China. It has been said that female CEOs in China’s corporations wages are less than their male colleagues, even if they have a senior position and better educated. Female executives must be more experience and overqualified to overcome gender bias in order to receive the same wages as their male colleagues in China (Elkins, 2013).
Social Status/ Social Structure The rank that a person holds, with associated rights, duties, and lifestyle, in social hierarchy. This may be assigned to persons at without indication to any inherent abilities or achievements (Social Status, 2014). Ethnic attitudes vary by social status structures. The social structure of a nation states to the manner in which the society is organized, also including its institutions, social group, statues and roles p.56-57 (Satterlee, 2014). In the “Small Town China: Rural Labour and Social Inclusion,” says that small cities are been neglected. A case study was done, were rural workers’ engaged into the urban labour market, their access to welfare benefits and to social services, such as housing, health and education. Stating, larger cities are having more unorthodox accounts of metropolitan social change and of the combination of country refugee workers. The socio-economic structure of towns, where to state-owned share of the economy has been smaller and where consequently social and private forces have been more active, allowed for more open attachment of country workers (Carrillo, 2011).

How are these elements and dimensions integrated by locals conducting business in China?
Globalization
David Held and his colleagues, defined globalization to be, “the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to criminal, the financial to the spiritual”p.17 (Ferguson, 2012). Globalization can be call the advancement of human operations across national borders. Multinationals are taking advantage of globalization, by employing, buying from, and selling to others across the country. Globalization has open the door for new developing countries like China, the fastest growing major economy in the world is expected to exceed the United States by 2050 p.219 (Marvel, 2012). The financial aspect of globalization are showing expressive numbers as stated in the prior sentence. Evidence has shown that economics is the greatest concern in globalizations. The connections of different international countries will have different effects such as political, social, and cultures problems among them.

Political Impact for Globalization One may have said, “Great Power Politics is Back”, however they never went anywhere we just thought they did. There are many transnational matters that has to be addressed within many states, humanitarian crisis, climate change, economic crisis. Because of the increase of global politics on domestic politics, has caused an increase in political cooperation among states. Economics Impact for Globalization The international integration through trade and direct investment promoted economic growth, there was also a spillover in foreign direct investment because of the economic technology. China understood how the WTO worked so China and applied the concepts to their economic growth becoming very successful. Premier Zhu Rongii, who led the Chinese government believed that entering to the WTO would cultivate greater economic growth through the entrenchment of economic reforms, decreasing the power of administrators to have favorites, it cuts down on government red tape, and inspiring competition and entrepreneurship (p. 285-286) (Ching, 2011). Nevertheless, economic globalization and liberalization in fact stimulated the entrepreneurship and competition in China. There have been different products, material and technologies discovers which led to the transformation of China’s enterprise. Because, China government was able to adapt to the open door policy, China has become one of the leading economic countries (p.300) (Ching, 2011). In 2003, China was the fourth largest exporter and the third largest import of merchandise products worldwide (Alon, 2009). China and the pattern of their industrialization, high growth in economics and a faster development of urbanization have created environmental, social and ecological concerns. Social Impacts of Globalization It has been over a decade of reform and openings, China economy still continue to grow. However, the economic growth has been uneven, benefiting the elite rather than workers and farmers, it has promoted the development of cities more than the countryside. The economic growth development in China has cause several social issues. These issues have cause protest in parts of China, some of these protest have been peaceful however there have been violent protest. With people coming together old, young and different ages have caused new social groups to be formed (Wu, 2009). One of the issues was the social gap between the rich and the poor. It was stated that globalization would benefit the entire country making things better for all people of China, however it has only shown great benefits in more developed cities and more educated workers. The increase in the economic growth and the social change in China has not reduce the tension between the different cultures and social groups. With the economic reform in China a profound social change has taken place in China’s market.
How do both of the above items compare with US culture and business? Communication There are many ways people communicate with each other, most people think of verbal communication this is the sharing of information between people by using speech. People who work within a business needs to have effective communication skills, that employs understood spoken words and pronouncing enunciations, stress and tone of the voice with the correct expression. However, there is another means of communication and that is non-verbal communication. Non-verbal is just as important as verbal communication because every culture is different and does not express things the same way. This includes facial expression, tone and the pitch of the voice, gestures through body language (kinesics) and the distance between individuals (proxemics). This can have meaning over and above verbal communication. In the United States looking in the eyes means that you are listening to someone as they talk which is acceptable. Hand shaking with eye contact is a standard greeting in the United States. In China shaking hands have become the norm, however they do nob or slightly bow when greeting someone. Chinese does not show their emotions and are not touching people, so if you don’t get a smile when greeted don’t be upset (Wibbeke). Religion In 2008 the United States almost all religions are practiced, the American tradition of freedom of worship has made religious life in the United States the most diverse and vibrant in the world. Based on the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 78 percent of people are classified as Christians, 5 percent belongs to other faiths, and 16 percent were not affiliated with a specific religion. In the United States the Protestant churches is the largest religious group, followed by Catholics and then the mainline Protestants (MAIN RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2008). The largest group of the Evangelical in the United States is the Baptists, Pentecostals, and nondenominational evangelicals. These groups share the religious beliefs: the belief of the acceptance of Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, practice –bringing others to the faith, and origins which is the nationalist movements against established religious organizations. These groups took part in Bible study, spreading the faith, and practice faith based morality in public (MAIN RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2008). The United States has the third largest Catholic population in the world. The Americans with Latino, Italian, Irish and Polish practice Catholic religion. Roman Catholic is the most single largest in the United States. The mission of the Catholic Church is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, which are found in the four Gospels of the Bible, and to practice direct church rituals for example sacraments (MAIN RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2008). The Mainline Protestants shared a less exclusionary opinion on salvation, they did not put prominence on personal acceptance of Jesus Christ. The Mainline Protestants put more importance on social reform. The Mainline Protestants churches are Methodist, Lutherans, mainline Presbyterians and mainline Baptists these churches embraced Christianity unity (MAIN RELIGIOUS AFFILIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES, 2008).

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