Introduction
The differences between Chinese and U.S American culture must be put into consideration by any potential multinational organization. Both the profit and non profit organizations must be in the frontline in determining the cultures that exists so that it becomes easier to them in making decisions. The cultural differences between Chinese and the United States concentrate on issues concerning the business behaviors in different multinational institutions. It is known that the history of china has been in existence for more than 500 years. Most of the modern virtues and the innovative ideas that are applied in their multinational companies are connected to have roots that can be traced they existed thousands years ago. An example is Confucianism that came about 500BC and 400BC and was introduced by Confucius. It aimed at enlightening the people so that they could live a life that was linked with heaven and the most Supreme Being in all the activities that Chinese people got involved in.
Confucianism impacted on Chinese organizations as every individual is placed in a special position in the society and high morals are observed. The government of china ensures that it observes all the protocols in accordance to the set laws and regulation in ensuring that it upholds morals, better relationships, openness and sincerity. The philosophies explain the reason why most Chinese multinational companies will always have a well-built sense in the chain of command. The authorities are well defined and hold every individual with a high self-esteem. This culture brings a major difference between china and the United States on how activities are carried out in the organizations. If a Chinese institution wants to make international advertisements that will market it worldwide, it cannot allow photos to be captured if the president or the chief executive officer is absent. The vice president can turn down such an offer if the president is not present. This can never happen in the U.S as many would rush very fast to utilize on such an opportunity.
The ownership of private companies in china is either concentrate on an individual or a group of people. The top owners are the ones that are obliged in all steps of decision-making in the company. When it comes to transactions negotiations, this is taken care of by the delegates who are considered to be low level officers. This is dangerous as decisions made can be incomplete or inaccurate. The low level officers collect information that can accumulate in a level that it will be classified redundant. In the U.S setting, the negotiators must make perfect and reliable decisions and all partisans are informed about all issues that revolve around the company. This puts the Chinese organizations in a high exposure of risks compared to the United States.
Another difference is about perceptions in both the countries. The Chinese companies have a belief that the engagement in the U.S market needs a lot as compared to other countries. They perceive the American market as one that is full of a competent work force; have a good network in the buildup of sales and market that have already established channels of sale. For them to compete in the U.S market, they have to adjust to another culture. The top executives complains a lot when fellow business partners belonging from the U.S call their names as they are used to be addressed in accordance to their positions and titles in their organizations. The Chinese C.E.Os holds a prestige in their titles and they perceive this as a standard perk. The already well established companies in china have a responsibility to bear with the reality that in the U.S they are just among other normal companies and they will not be distinguished as the only superior companies. The Chinese companies are forced to learn new adaptive methods and the political and legal systems in existence.
The Chinese culture affects the operations of the institutions as the role of women is not clearly determined in the business world. This affects the United States as they are placed in jeopardy when it comes in determining whether to send a woman to represent a company in a negotiable table. It is also difficult to take a step of being represented by a woman in marketing their business in china. This is because the chances of a woman to succeed in a management position in china are very low. The Chinese culture is regarded to support male chauvinism to oppress the value of a woman. Qualified Chinese women are rarely given a chance to spearhead or be in the frontline in guiding the top companies. The discrimination against women is considered a disguise when men agree that a woman can achieve after she has proved to be different.
The Chinese and the U.S cultures are different in the way that they define negotiation. The U.S people looks at it as a process that is highly competitive amongst proposals and counterproposals. On the other hand, the Chinese will recognize negotiation as a great opportunity to share information. The U.S companies will present themselves on the negotiation table so tat they can win the hearts of the investors and negotiate effective deals that ensures that their interest are met.
The differences in negotiation presents with different rituals in the business between the two countries. The U.S do not place a larger emphasis on either the gender or he job title of an individual. Chinese appear very formal in such occurrences and a mismatch of the title means disrespect to most of them. It is also evident that china has a tendency of using business cards when parties are in the development of introduction. Any participant in china business is not allowed to use a business card that he does not legally possess. If one uses a card that is owned by another partisan in the business, he will be considered to be very disrespectful.
In a nutshell, the cultural differences that exist between china and the United States set unique scenarios in the business world. Any employee is forced to learn the existing cultures as that is used as a guideline in determining the kind of individual to be introduced in the company. There exist different institution behaviors when the two countries are compared and these determine the success of a business as aligned to the geographical location. The ability to predict the cultures of different countries can help you maximize profits as the decision made will consider the observed differences.
Work cited
James E. Rauch, “Business and Social Networks in International Trade, “Journal of Economic Literature, Vol XXXIX, 2001
Geert Hofstede and Michael H. Bond, “The Confucian Connection: From Cultural Roots to Economic Growth,” Organizational Dynamics, Volume 16, No. 1, 2005, pp. 4-21. 11
Bruce Kogut and Harbir Singh, “The Effect of National Culture on the Choice of Entry Mode,” Journal of International Business Studies, Volume 19, No. 3, 2010, pp. 411-432.
