...globalization is a world trend today, thus national and cultural stereotypes are drawing attention. Before reading, the definition of stereotype should be clarified. Stereotypes are traits but different from the country, language, culture and other factors. Furthermore, stereotype is ‘a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing’ (Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, 2014). This essay will compare and contrast the ideas from two articles named ‘Intercultural communication for sale’ (Piller, 2011) and ‘East meets West: How the brains unites us all’ (Yong, 2009), then consider whether stereotypes are useful to examine people’s mind and business activities. It is shown in two texts that national stereotype is a common topic that both Piller and Yong discussed in their articles. Yong (2009) refers to stereotypes that easterners have a holistic world view, while westerners tend to think more analytically. Piller (2011) uses the ideas of stereotypes and shows how they can be exploited to help sell products. Moreover, both Piller and Yong have mentioned or implied that human thoughts can be shaped by different cultures. In Yong’s article, researches are referenced to describe two different modes of mindset. One of the experiments done by Nisbett (2001, from the University of Michigan, cited in Yong, 2009) revealed how people describe the same object by different visual focus. Likewise,...
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...Introduction: China's hotel industry has only really existed since 1978. So far, it has been drawing on the successful experience of the Western, or simply copies part of the management mode from western hotels. Undoubtedly, both the hotel management theories and modes in western countries are advanced and perfect compared with those of China. However, just as Rome is not built in one day, the successful and mature mode is developed and accumulated throughout a long time in Western society. If the successful experience is engrafted directly to China’s hotel industry, confusions and discrepancies will occur essentially due to the cultural differences between China and the West. As the pace of International economic integration goes increasingly faster, China’s hotel industry is facing the challenge of creating its unique management characteristics and choosing proper management modes based on absorbing advanced experiences from the west. In this paper, the cultural effects on the differences of hotel management styles in China and Western countries are discussed specifically from humanity cognition, way of thinking, sense of hierarchy and innovation consciousness points of view, etc. By such comparison and analysis, gaps of management standards can be easily seen between China and West. Then, some theoretical references are proposed as suggestions for the right direction of China’s hotel management methods so as to meet the international standards. 1. Introduction...
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...A Tiger vs a Cat -Difference between Chinese and Western Education- Yu Kang Pace University Fall 2011 ELI 084A Midterm Research Paper Tara Vassallo November 9, 2011 Abstract According to A cultural perspective for the differences between Chinese education and Western education, there are considerable differences between Chinese and Western education due to the influence of culture and history. What’s more, the article- Views on differences between Chinese and Western education from quality education and Analysis of the differences between Chinese education and Western -show the differences on school and family education specifically and separately. Chinese education is characterized by setting diversified strict rules and regulations on students; Whereas, Western students get more freedom and chances to choose and develop what they really interested in. Generally speaking, Chinese students usually are good law-keeper and possess solid basic foundation but lacking creative spirit. Western kids are more independently and do good jobs on innovation. However, they don not stress too much on discipline and hard working. Zhao and Bai said in Draw inspiration from comparing that Chinese and Western education should learn from each other (1999, p. 46). Therefore, integrating the essence of these two education systems will come up with a better one. Tiger VS Cat Difference between Chinese education and Western Education At the beginning of 2011, a book named “Battle...
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...Keeping Others in Mind: The Very Social Cognition of Asian Managers Zhixing Xiao* Steven K. Su** 1 Introduction Do we need a separate model of psychology to describe how Asians process information in the managerial context? Do Asian and Western managers evaluating the same business decision take fundamentally different paths and reach different conclusions? One view might hold that just as the rules of mathematics are identical in the East and West, the rules of analysis in business will tend to be very similar, and hence no special differentiation is necessary for the Asian context. We suggest that while business organizations in each culture engage in similar behavior, there are nonetheless deep social differences that pervade how information is processed. We offer as an analogy the difference between dining in China and dining in the West. In both contexts, the major activity of the patrons is to receive a meal in exchange for payment. Aside from the fact that the food in these restaurants tastes different, many differences in venue reflect different social beliefs and assumptions. In the West, restaurants are usually equipped with rectangular tables, often suitable for two to four people, at which the diners randomly take seats. In China, it is more common to have large round tables that allow each individual to directly face a large number of compatriots. Seats around the table are not random, but instead have hierarchical status: those facing the door are usually...
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...has a different culture. This diversity is seen from different of religious beliefs, languages and ethnic groups. With this much diversity in the world, many people is dividing a group based on the average person is classified. Stereotype is the way a person views and judgment to the average person is classified or in short assessment of the appearance or background. Stereotypical way of thinking is taken to simplify complex allegations in the observation quickly. Stereotypes are rarely accurate, usually only a few basic right or even completely fabricated. For example, the Chinese have slanted eyes. Though not all Chinese have slanted eyes. From these examples, it is only a view of the many against the background of the case, for example the Arabs are terrorists. This stereotypical view usually shared by many people because it formerly existed on known terrorist from the Arab world is Osama bin Laden. That's what makes people think or labeling that Arabs are terrorists. But, does all Arabs are terrorists? The reality is not all Arabs are terrorists. Moreover, whether in Asia or in America there is a terrorist? With the stereotype, many people who judge someone based group, religion, or race them. Though we do not yet know the person. Therefore a lot of people who uses stereotyping use it as a guide to a national culture. There are lots of people who work internationally or study abroad for many years. Stereotype cannot be used as a guide to a national culture as the first character...
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...recent economic crisis, the world is looking for fresh ideas and new perspectives. Business reality has transformed from “West leads East” to “West meets East.” A thriving Chinese business culture represents not only a source of economic partnership but a potential fount of managerial wisdom that can help renew Western economies. Unfortunately, the cultural distance between East and West makes Chinese examples too different, and at times inappropriate, for Western firms to emulate. Outstanding entrepreneurs such as Stan Shih, who have taken the best managerial practices from the East and the West while avoiding the shortcomings, represent ideal “intermediate” role models. By employing such an “ambicultural” approach to management, Shih provides a model for both bridging cultures and instructing organizations in the East and West. In this essay, we discuss these linkages and some of the useful lessons for managers from both cultures. Indeed, “Chinese” as a way of thinking, with its emphasis on balance and self-other integration, offers the promise to bridge global divides and facilitate the formation of global-minded executives. T he global economic crisis has destroyed vast amounts of wealth— both public and private— and eliminated tens of millions of jobs. An estimated $34.4 trillion worldwide was erased between the autumn of 2008 and March 2009 (Liu, 2010); American households alone have lost some $11 trillion in wealth, according to a Federal Reserve report (Kalita, 2009)....
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...45 2014 January International Business Studies and the Imperative of Context. Exploring the ‘Black Whole’ in Institutional Theory Michael Jakobsen ©Copyright is held by the author or authors of each Discussion Paper. Copenhagen Discussion Papers cannot be republished, reprinted, or reproduced in any format without the permission of the paper's author or authors. Note: The views expressed in each paper are those of the author or authors of the paper. They do not represent the views of the Asia Research Centre or Copenhagen Business School. Editor of the Copenhagen Discussion Papers: Associate Professor Michael Jacobsen Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School Porcelænshaven 24 DK-2000 Frederiksberg Denmark Tel.: (+45) 3815 3396 Email: mj.int@cbs.dk www.cbs.dk/arc International Business Studies and the Imperative of Context. Exploring the ‘Black Whole’ in Institutional Theory Michael Jakobsen Associate Professor Asia Research Centre Copenhagen Business School mj.int@cbs.dk Abstract The aim of this article is to take a critical look at how to perceive informal institutions within institutional theory. Douglas North in his early works on institutional theory divided the national institutional framework into two main categories, formal and informal institution or constraints as he called them. The formal constraints consisted of political rules, judicial decisions and economic contracts, whereas informal constraints consisted of socially sanctioned norms...
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...Introduction 1.1 Problem definition Any discussion of higher Education in different countries needs to be conducted within the context of the overall perception of a country’s culture, society, history, salary and intellect. These influences are the foundation of the education in a country. Due to these different influences every country has a different understanding of education. I will also concentrate on the influence of culture on education in China and in the United States (U.S.) with special emphasis on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, because culture and history can lead the way in understanding the differences among student’s higher education. 1.2 Objectives The paper investigates the differences between the education in China and the U.S. against the background of dramatical differences in culture and history. First the country-specific Cultural Dimensions by Hofstede need to be elaborated to reveal a basic approach for the understanding of a nation’s culture. Based on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions and the history the effect on education and instructional strategies in China and the U.S. will be discussed. 1.3 Course of the Investigation To achieve the objectives the course of the investigation will be carried out in three steps. In the first step the conceptual background on the topic will be defined to provide a basis. Chapter 2 describes the theory and the five Dimensions of Hofstede’s Culture’s Consequences. In the second step the explanations focus...
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...Halmstad School of Business and Engineering Rufei He & Jianchao Liu (2010) Barriers of Cross Cultural Communication in Multinational Firms --- A Case Study of Swedish Company and its Subsidiary in China Abstract In times of rapid growth, both in terms of economic development and globalization, an increasing number of firms extend their businesses abroad. A subsequent challenge of this development is the managerial implications of cross-cultural management. This study employs a qualitative approach in a single case study of Swedish company and its subsidiary in China. After reviewing the previous studies, the authors summarize the differences of management style, staff behaviors and communication system in different culture context and find the barriers of cross cultural communication in multinational firms. The findings of this study indicate that the barriers of communication come from the national culture’s influence on the work place and behaviors of people with different identity. Moreover, culture also influences people’s way of thinking and behaving and result in different understandings toward vision and purposes of firms. Key words: cross cultural, communication, multinational firms, management style, staff behavior Prelude It is 9:00 a.m. on Monday in Sweden. The Technical product manager of company X sent an email about the new design of the product to its subsidiary company in China. He would like to have a production ready model of the new design by...
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...IKEA: Expanding globally Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3 1. A learning organization: understanding the culture of learning and innovation….3 2.1 General concept of learning organization……………………………………3 2.2 IKEA – a learning organization in various market:………………………….4 2. IKEA’s internationalization strategy ……………………………………………..6 3.3 Internationalization strategy from 1974 onwards ……………………………6 3.4 From the perspective of internationalization theories: ………………………7 3. Issued considered in international market research and opportunity analysis: ….9 3.1The Japanese and Chinese market: ……………………………………………9 3.2 The Brazilian market: ………………………………………………………..9 4. IKEA’s entry mode strategy: …………………………………………………...12 5.5 Subsidiaries………………………………………………………………….13 5.6 Franchising………………………………………………………………….13 Summary Introduction Globalization is now playing an important role in the growth of economies across the world. The rapid growth of its process has led to social, economic, technical, cultural and ecological interdependence among nations. It also provides new and potentially profitable markets, increases firms’ competitiveness, facilitates access to new product ideas, manufacturing innovations. Thanks to its numerous advantages, the world is moving closer together and a great deal of organizations has great opportunities to expand their market to foreign ones. IKEA, the world’s largest furniture retailer, did not...
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...Title: Negotiating with the Chinese: A Socio-Cultural Analysis Author(s): Tony Fang and Pervez Ghauri Source: Journal of World Business. 36.3 (Fall 2001): p303. Document Type: Article Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2001 JAI Press, Inc. Full Text: China has been one of the most favorite markets for Western firms for the last decade. However, doing business with China is considered difficult, mainly because negotiating with Chinese counterparts is quite complex. This paper analyses the negotiation process with China from a socio-cultural perspective. A Swedish multinational, Ericsson, is followed for several years and its negotiation process for different Chinese projects in the telecommunication industry is studied in depth. Based on these cases and literature a model is developed and some conclusions are drawn. Finally, managerial implications presented as four Ps: Priority, Patience, Price and People sum up the essence of Chinese business negotiation process. The People's Republic of China (PRC) started to open up its economy to the rest of the world in December 1978. Since then, Western business communities have been enthusiastic about China--the world's largest emerging market with more than one billion consumers. The Western enthusiasm for China decreased somewhat during a period following the Tiananmen Square incident in June 1989. But it rebounded and increased even more vigorously in the 1990s. China's rank in world trade rose from 32nd in 1978 to 9th today. By the...
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...Globalization Note Series Pankaj Ghemawat and Sebastian Reiche National Cultural Differences and Multinational Business The eminent Dutch psychologist, management researcher, and culture expert Geert Hofstede, early in his career, interviewed unsuccessfully for an engineering job with an American company. Later, he wrote of typical cross-cultural misunderstandings that crop up when American managers interview Dutch recruits and vice versa: “American applicants, to Dutch eyes, oversell themselves. Their CVs are worded in superlatives…during the interview they try to behave assertively, promising things they are very unlikely to realize…Dutch applicants in American eyes undersell themselves. They write modest and usually short CVs, counting on the interviewer to find out by asking how good they really are…they are very careful not to be seen as braggarts and not to make promises they are not absolutely sure they can fulfill. American interviewers know how to interpret American CVs and interviews and they tend to discount the information provided. Dutch interviewers, accustomed to Dutch applicants, tend to upgrade the information. To an uninitiated American interviewer an uninitiated Dutch applicant comes across as a sucker. To an uninitiated Dutch interviewer an uninitiated American applicant comes across as a braggart.”1 Cultural differences, while difficult to observe and measure, are obviously very important. Failure to appreciate and account for them can lead to embarrassing...
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...Globalization Note Series Pankaj Ghemawat and Sebastian Reiche National Cultural Differences and Multinational Business The eminent Dutch psychologist, management researcher, and culture expert Geert Hofstede, early in his career, interviewed unsuccessfully for an engineering job with an American company. Later, he wrote of typical cross-cultural misunderstandings that crop up when American managers interview Dutch recruits and vice versa: “American applicants, to Dutch eyes, oversell themselves. Their CVs are worded in superlatives…during the interview they try to behave assertively, promising things they are very unlikely to realize…Dutch applicants in American eyes undersell themselves. They write modest and usually short CVs, counting on the interviewer to find out by asking how good they really are…they are very careful not to be seen as braggarts and not to make promises they are not absolutely sure they can fulfill. American interviewers know how to interpret American CVs and interviews and they tend to discount the information provided. Dutch interviewers, accustomed to Dutch applicants, tend to upgrade the information. To an uninitiated American interviewer an uninitiated Dutch applicant comes across as a sucker. To an uninitiated Dutch interviewer an uninitiated American applicant comes across as a braggart.”1 Cultural differences, while difficult to observe and measure, are obviously very important. Failure to appreciate and account for them can lead to embarrassing...
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...International Marketing Management (IBU5MKG) [pic] Title : International Marketing Plan “Monster Energy Drink” Lecturer : Mr. Mike Turner Student : Ekapon Srisittichaikul - 15996703 Kasemvit Lohitkul - 15954478 Mengxi Xu - 15999067 Hsieh Hsinng-Jen - 15942765 Yaxian Tang - 15707254 Shuqing Zhang - 15498769 Hanjie Mei - 15619403 TABLE OF CONTENT Executive summary………..……………………………………………………...............……...3 Political system……………………..…………………………...……………..…...…………….5 Legal system…………………….……….………………….................................................……7 Economic statistics and activity…………….……………...……………….........…..………….8 Geographical setting……………………………………..…...…………….…..........................14 Social environment…………...………………...........................................................................15 Cultural environment…………...………………......................................................................19 Technology…………...……………….......................................................................................22 Trading infrastructure…………...………………....................................................................24 The market…………...……………….......................................................................................27 The company………...………………………………………………………............................31 Statement...
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...2008 An Analysis of Business Challenges Faced by Foreign Multinationals Operating the Chinese Market Jianlian Wu International Management, University of Nottingham Ningbo 315100, China E-Mail: zlixcwj1@nottingham.edu.cn, qqnamei@163.com Abstract China’s rapid economic growth has presented numerous opportunities and challenges for foreign firms there. Many large corporations have established a China centre to coordinate and control their operations in the country. As firms have increased their presence in China, their concerns are increasingly focused on implementing successful management practices and strategies. This article describes the challenges and difficulties that multinational companies faced in Chinese market. It analyses roles played by the human resource function in these China, culture differences, social environment and other factors. Keywords: Challenge, Multinationals, Chinese market 1. Introduction Over the last few decades, the process of globalization has created unprecedented opportunities for global business investment and trade. Many multinational companies are attempting to expand their business international by many entry strategies such as joint venture and subsidiary. While China, with over 1.3 billion population and 9.6 million square kilometers (China Popin, 2008) has become a valuable land for foreign multinational companies. They try to enter the Chinese market by using many different strategies. For example, Siemens set up its representative...
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