Doing Business in China

This assignment explores the importance of business etiquette in China, highlighting key cultural considerations. It delves into topics like power distance, nonverbal communication, and Confucianism's influence on business practices. The text offers recommendations for navigating cross-cultural miscommunication and achieving success in the Chinese business environment.

Running head: COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS
COMMUNICATION IN BUSINESS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Chinese business Etiquette..............................................................................................................3
Methods that Mary can apply for making favorable first impression while visiting China to meet
manager of popular store.................................................................................................................4
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The present study analyzes about given case study that highlights on the significance of
cross cultural communication while expansion of business in new market. Cross cultural
communication is crucial for the business as it helps to build international customers, business
partnerships and relationship with employees. This study reflects that Mary being an Australian
businesswoman wishes to expand her business in China but is not certain about how to conduct
business with the Chinese (Bochner 2013). The Chinese business etiquette along with the
strategies adopted by the businessman for expanding business in China is also explained in this
essay. Furthermore, the method that Mary should implement for conducting business with the
Chinese is mainly discussed in this essay. In order to address this section, few recommendations
are also provided in this study. In context to this, the occurrence of potential cross- cultural
miscommunication is also elucidated in this essay by applying Hofstede models of culture.
Chinese business Etiquette
Business etiquette refers to the set of behavioral standards in which every individual
treats others respectfully and also exhibit good manners in every interaction. Good etiquette in
the business helps to protect the employees and business owners from conflicts by setting high
business standard by all (Chua 2012). Proper business etiquette provides impression to the clients
that business has successful as well as productive environment. Business etiquette generally
differs among the countries. It has been opined by Guffey & Loewy (2012) that, China’s
business culture and practices differs from other developed nations. If the business owner plans
to expand the business in China, then it is necessary to understand local customs of Chinese
business etiquette in order to attain success. Business in this nation heavily depends on the
personal relationships. Although doing the market research is vital in China, personal
relationship is also essential for achieving success in business. However, it is extremely
important to establish as well as maintain good relation with the government officials and
business contract in this nation. There are some proper ways of starting relationship building
procedure in Chinese business, which involves-
 Attending the networking events of the industry
 Following up specially on personal introductions
 Contacting associations within the industry and municipal investment
However, adopting this relationship building procedure will facilitate the business owner to
introduce open culture within the business and attract large number of workers. This in turn
increases total productivity within the business and achieve the target within a specified time
period. Furthermore, it is also vital to remain conscious about the potential scams that might be
encountered while doing business in China (Okoro 2012). Some of the common scams are given
below:
 Some unknown Chinese business enterprise might approach new business owner with
huge purchase order of considerable value
 Another instance that occurs in Chinese business is insisting on a specific contract
quickly

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 Some of the Chinese business also insists new business owners to come to this nation for
signing the contract as well as pay notarization fee
However, it is necessary to become aware and understand the business practice and etiquette
before notarizing contract in China. It has been founded by some researcher that the Chinese are
highly affected by Confucianism that give emphasis to respect for authority, age and education.
Although modern Chinese might not follow the Confucian principles in rigid way, these
principles still continues to strengthen several customs as well as business practices. However,
the business entering the Chinese market is bounded to follow these principles for maintaining
etiquette (Taras, Steel & Kirkman 2012). Within Chinese culture value system, the
Confucianism’s main value of politeness and etiquette is the vital foundation of the business
dealings in this country. In addition to this, these patents in numerous practical customs are
important for effectively engaging with the Chinese business. As building good relationships and
trust are crucial in the Chinese business, proper communication with potential clients and
business partners is necessary. Apart from this, the Chinese business people always prefer to
create good relationship with the clients before closing the deal in order to achieve success and
attain more contracts. Ting-Toomey (2012) opines that one of the Chinese business etiquette is to
greet their clients by bowing heads and shaking hands. Additionally, Chinese business cards are
also exchanged while meeting their clients. Besides this, body language, art of conversations and
dress codes are some of the business etiquettes that are prevalent in Chinese business. Apart from
this, offering gift is another common Chinese business etiquette that the business visitors
maintains while doing business with this nation.
Methods that Mary can apply for making favorable first impression while visiting China to
meet manager of popular store
The steps that Mary can use for making favorable impression while visiting China to
meet the manager of popular store are given below:
Firstly, as first impression and appearances are vital in business culture of China, dressing
conservatively will aid to signify modesty as well as status
Secondly, as Mary is going to meet senior Chinese manager, entering room in proper order will
help to demonstrate huge respect towards the manager.
Thirdly, as handshake is general way of greeting Chinese counterpart, Mary can initiate this
gesture for showing respect towards this Chinese manager
Fourthly, as body language is crucial in Chinese business, the body posture should be formal as
well as attentive since it demonstrates respectfulness and self- control. However, staying
composed throughout the whole conversation will help to make favorable impression.
Fifthly, as Chinese business people are careful about negative statements, Mary must maintain
good art of conservations.
Sixthly, presenting business card to the Chinese manager will also help to show respect towards
the Chinese manager. However, presenting the card in proper manner is also crucial for
maintaining business etiquette.

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Areas of potential cross -cultural miscommunication using Hofstede cultural model
Cross- cultural communication has become crucial to expansion of business in the global
marke (Carbaugh 2013). This mainly deals with the varied business customs, communication
strategies and beliefs. The Hofstede cultural dimension theory mainly constitutes the framework
that revolves around cross cultural communication According to Hofstede, difference in values
are the main barriers in cross- culture communication. Hofstede proposed that there are some
national as well as regional factors that contribute to the business culture. It mainly illustrates the
impact of culture of society on values of the members. If the enterprise cannot manage
differences in culture, it might lead to cultural conflict and miscommunication. This in turn
impacts the relation between employees and managers and thus creates gap between them.
There are few cultural dimensions of Hofstede model, which includes-high or low context
cultures, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism vs individualism, long term vs
short term orientation. In fact, these are the major factors that create cross -cultural
miscommunication, which are explained below:
 Language barriers- Language usage has discrete differentiation among the cultures.
However, misunderstandings arise in communication owing to improper application of
language or varied interpretations of words. Apart from this, if the people speak similar
languages in several nations, then also it can create miscommunication owing to varied
cultural backgrounds. As the Chinese people speaks different languages, the business
owners of other nations faces difficulties in understanding their language and this creates
cross- cultural miscommunication.
 High context vs low context cultures- For the people with low- context culture, the
people apt to be the indirect communicators and thus do not reveal information with other
people (Hurn and Tomalin 2013). On the other hand, people living in high context culture
tend to interpret shared information with others and thus becomes sensitive to the works
spoken. The Chinese people living in high context culture are highly sensitive to words
and hence business owners planning to expand business in this nation must be aware of it.
 Power distance- This refers to the extent of inequality among individuals that the
population of the nation deems as normal. It is basically the degree to which less
powerful organizations’ members accept as well as expect that the power is unequally
distributed. As different nations have varied power understandings, there might
considerable variations in culture. Hofstede research found out that, China has highest
position of power distance characteristics (Minkov & Hofstede 2012). As the people
inherit Confucianism in Chinese business culture, it leads to cross- cultural
miscommunication since it relies on unequal relationships.
 Nonverbal differences- This mainly indicates the body movement and attitude of the
people. Similar body languages might be easily interpreted in different meaning across
varied cultures. Non verbal differences can occur if the people from other nations expand
their business to China. However, this also leads to cross- cultural miscommunication.
Recommendation
Some recommendations are provided to Mary for doing business in China, which are
described below:

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 The psychology of the Chinese consumer should be understood before expanding
business in China
 Knowledge of the Chinese language should be known
 Proper knowledge about the Chinese business culture should be taken before expanding
the business to this nation.
 Proper information about Chinese business etiquette should be gathered
Conclusion
From the above study, it can be concluded that business etiquette is important while
doing business in China. Effective business etiquette helps the business owner to achieve success
while doing business in China. Moreover, proper cultural communication also aids the business
owner to understand the Chinese psychology and provide service according to their preferences.
The business owner must adopt proper strategy in order to avoid cross-cultural
miscommunication and expand business effectively.

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References
Bochner, S. ed., 2013. Cultures in contact: Studies in cross-cultural interaction (Vol. 1).
Elsevier.
Carbaugh, D. (Ed.). 2013. Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge.
Chua, R.Y., 2012. Building effective business relationships in China. MIT Sloan Management
Review, 53(4), p.1.
Guffey, M. E., & Loewy, D. 2012. Essentials of business communication. Cengage Learning.
Hurn, B. and Tomalin, B., 2013. Cross-cultural communication: Theory and practice. Springer.
Kinloch, P., & Metge, J. 2014. Talking past each other: problems of cross cultural
communication. Victoria University Press.
Lewis, M. and Rowley, C., 2014. Greater China: Political economy, inward investment and
business culture. Routledge.
Martin, J. S., & Chaney, L. H. 2012. Global Business Etiquette: A Guide to International
Communication and Customs: A Guide to International Communication and Customs. ABC-
CLIO.
Minkov, M., & Hofstede, G. 2012. Hofstede’s fifth dimension: New evidence from the World
Values Survey. Journal of cross-cultural psychology, 43(1), 3-14.
Okoro, E. 2012. Cross-cultural etiquette and communication in global business: Toward a
strategic framework for managing corporate expansion. International journal of business and
management, 7(16), 130.
Schulz, A., 2006. Chinese Business Culture. diplom. de.
Taras, V., Steel, P., & Kirkman, B. L. 2012. Improving national cultural indices using a
longitudinal meta-analysis of Hofstede's dimensions. Journal of World Business, 47(3), 329-341.
Ting-Toomey, S. (2012). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Press.