Meadow Food: International Business Communication in China Market

This report examines Meadow Food's entry into the Chinese market, focusing on international business communication strategies. It applies Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory to understand cultural differences between the UK and China, covering power distance, collectivism vs. individualism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity vs. femininity, short-term vs. long-term orientation, and restraint vs. indulgence. The report evaluates cultural sensitivity, identifies communication barriers such as gender bias, cultural differences, language barriers, and Chinese bureaucracy, and recommends strategies like building a receptive environment and soliciting employee feedback to facilitate effective communication and harmony in the workplace. The goal is to assist Meadow Food in navigating the complexities of the Chinese market and fostering successful business relationships.

International Business
Communication

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Overview about the selected developing country...................................................................3
Application of theories of international and intercultural communication............................4
Critical evaluation of cultural sensitivity while doing business in China..............................6
Communication barriers experienced by foreign businesses.................................................6
Communication strategies and recommendations..................................................................7
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCE...................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Communication is considered to be an essential component in any organisation. The
process by which the information is transferred from one person to another as well as outside an
organisation is known as business communication (Agbim and Eluka, 2018). It is the
responsibility of the manager to make sure to establish as well as maintain the channel where
they all could interact and receive other's response. Businesses are selling goods across the globe
and their partnership is established with people from diverse culture.
A good international business communication practices assists businesses in maintaining
their business dealing. As cultures are wide in the world, comprehending the distinct culture as
well as importance of international communication is essential for the business environment.
Meadow Food is taken as base company. Meadow Food is the UK's largest independent owned
dairy as well as a leading supplier to the food industry which was established by Simon Chantler
in 1992, headquartered in UK. In this report, the organisation is trying to enter into the markets
of China in which this report will represents the theories of culture and intercultural
communication. Along with this, it includes an evaluation of cultural diversity while doing
business in China and the communication barrier. Also, communication strategies and
recommendations for company success in the Chinese markets.
Overview about the selected developing country
China has been considered as a leading destination for the entrepreneurs for expanding
within its field. This the challenge for China market entry has become vital for all the Western
organisation. China has become a leading economy in the world and they are increasingly
captivating Western businesses. Several Chinese organisation understand the importance of
accommodating the international market and their government policies are becoming better as
well as favourable to the foreign enterprises. Along with this, China has young professional
which are talented as highly competent and if an organisation needs a skilled worker, then they
could hire easily. Social, economic and political stability assists China to grow and develop their
growth for three decades. These three are crucial for providing a healthy business environment
(Birru and et. al., 2019). Chinese are able to make predictions so that they could strategies as per

the situation. Chinese culture value diligence and hard work which directly create effects in the
job performance of the employees. Conducting business in Chinese market would assists
organisation to work alongside goal oriented and their strict work ethics would allows the
organisation to be well developed as well as a better workplace where the employees would be
working fro their advantage and also for the sake of the organisation.
Application of theories of international and intercultural communication
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory
Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory is a framework which is utilised to comprehend the
differences in culture across the nations as well as to discern t he manner which business is
conducted across the distinct culture. This theory was developed by Geert Hofstede in 1980 for
distinguishing the different dimensions of cultures, national culture and evaluating the influence
on the business setting. Hofstede has identified various categories of culture which are
mentioned below:
Power distance index: Power distance index describes the extent to which inequality as
well as power are tolerated. China has a high power distance index which means that they
believe that inequalities between the individuals are acceptable, encourages bureaucracy and
represents a high respect for power and rank (Clevenger and MacGregor, 2019). On the other
hand, UK has low power distance index which society believes that inequalities between the
people must be minimised. In order to expand, Meadow Food should make sure that people
which would be hired should be able to accept the cultural differences.
Collectivism vs Individualism: The individualism vs. Collectivism dimensions are the
degree to which the societies are interlinked into entities and its perceived obligations and
dependence on entities (Collinson and et. al., 2020). Individualism showcase that there is higher
importance placed on attaining individual goals and an individual self-image is categorising as
“I”. Collectivism depicts that there is greater significance on goals as well as well-being of the
entity and an individual's self-image is categories as “We”. China is having a high collectivist
culture where individual acts in interest of the entities and not mandatory of themselves. In-
group consideration affects recruiting and promoting with the close ones are getting more
preferences. The individual of UK is highly individualist and private person. Children are taught
from very early age to think for themselves as well as also for finding out their purpose in life.

Meadow Food has to make sure that they could adopt collectivism as Chinese people follow this
dimension and it will be difficult for organisation as people of UK has individualism dimensions.
Uncertainty avoidance index: China and UK share cultural similarity of low uncertainty
avoidance index. Unclearness and ambiguity is accepted by UK and Chinese culture. In relation
to workplace culture with low uncertainty avoidance index results in shorter planning horizons
and emphasis on creativity. This cultural similarity will assist Meadow food develop talented
forswore in China. The firm needs to ensure that Chinese workplace does not enforce rules and
regulations strictly in order to maintain ambiguous nature which is part of Chinese culture.
Femininity vs Masculinity: China is masculine society as performance and success hold
high significance in Chinese culture. Similarly UK culture is also centred around masculinity and
has a success oriented value system (Frank, 2017). UK society has performance ambition and
aims to attain success in every aspect of life. Meadow foods needs to take advantage of similar
masculine culture in China and UK. The company needs to ensure to develop results driven
culture so that employees in China are able to attain professional success by giving the company
favourable outcome.
Short term vs Long term orientation: Chinese culture has short term orientation and is
pragmatic society. The truth in Chinese society is dependent on time, context and particular
situation. In comparison to highly pragmatic culture of China, UK culture is more normative.
This means that workplace regulations and traditions are maintained in UK. Employees are
expected top follow certain workplace norms which uphold time-honoured traditions. The
leadership at Meadow food needs to focus on short term planning. This will help the company
navigate integrate with pragmatic Chinese culture. In addition to this swift completion of short-
term goals will assist in attainment of long term goals of the company.
Restraint vs Indulgence: The restraint vs indulgence dimension is considered as the
extend as well as tendency for society for satisfying their desires. This dimension is revolving
around how the society could manage and control its desires and wants. Restraints depicts that a
society suppresses gratifications of wants as well as regulates with the help of social norms
whereas indulgence showcases that a society allows relatively free gratification which would
interlinked to enjoying and having fun (Guffey and Loewy, 2021). UK is highly indulgent as
they are willingness for realising their desires along with enjoying of their live. Along with this,
they possess a positive attitude as well as have tendency to optimism. China is a restrained

society and they do not emphasis much on leisure time and control their gratification of wants.
The selected firm
Critical evaluation of cultural sensitivity while doing business in China
Cultural sensitivity is describes as being aware of all the cultural differences as well as
similarities among the individual exist without assigning a certain value such as positive or
negative, right or wrong, better or worse (Knudsen and Moon, 2017). When Meadow Food enter
into the markets of China, they would analyse there is much difference in culture such as their
language, their sign language and so on. They make sure that individual must understand the
difference and also ensure that they don not understand the thing in which they are considering
cultural as superiors or inferior. The had to make sure that all the cultures are equal. The primary
disadvantages of gender sensitivity is resistance from employees. This will foster conflicts and
decrease productivity.
Communication barriers experienced by foreign businesses
The communication is vital in an organisation and in order to penetrate into Chinese
markets, they selected organisation has to encounter with one of the most common barrier which
is communication barrier and it is mentioned below:
Gender bias: There are culture which is still dominated by male as well as they would not
conduct business with women. Gender based wage still exists in China as women are paid less
than men and it is considered to be the major issue (Lauring and Klitmøller, 2017). Meadow
Food had to make sure that they must pay equal wages to both the genders. Along with this,
women are restricted from entering into professional occupations and also barred from doing
white collar jobs.
Cultural Differences: Chinese people are punctual as it is vital for their business.
Meadow Food has to make sure that their meeting should be held on time as Chinese people
think that being late to meeting is a rude behaviour. Chinese business executives prefers to get
knowledge about their business associates on individual level as they considered as business
relationship. China has different hierarchical structure as there importance is place on respecting
of the hierarchies which means that the final decisions that is made by above are considered as
final. Also, comprehending the invisible rules of respect as well as defence towards their
superiors.

Language Barriers: Conducting business is China has both opportunities as well as
challenges which is to be face by Meadow Foods. Chinese people speak Mandarin language
which is considered to be the most toughest languages in the world. Their language is not made
up of alphabets but from another set of rules. Also, the grammar of Chinese language is very
much different from English. In order to penetrate into the Chinese markets, they had to make
sure to hire a good interpreter so that they would be able to make business deals appropriately
(Mikkelson, Sloan and Hesse, 2019). The interpreter should be efficient so that they could
translate the different languages as there are some other dialects too which are spoken by
Chinese people.
Chinese Bureaucracy: Bureaucracy refers to as working in a manner which consists of
many level for completion of tasks. These are designed to maintaining the uniformity and control
inside the organisation. The selected organisation has to make sure that they do no struggle with
the laws and legislation in China as they would be struggling in obtaining the required permits
and licenses along with respondents bemoaning the laborious procedures.
Communication strategies and recommendations
Building receptive environment: This communication strategy involves building
receptive workplace environment so that employees can communicate their concerns to
authorities. This communication strategy can help business firms bureaucratic working
environment. Employees will be able to contact their supervisors and authorities easily in order
to understand complex rules and regulations.
Meadow foods needs to create receptive working environment in order to ensure that
employees at Chinese outlet are able to easily communicate with authorities to understand
complex rules and regulations enforced under Chinese bureaucracy. This will not only help
effectively enforce different regulations but will also ensure proper communication at the
workplace which will decrease dissatisfaction caused by complex bureaucracy in China.
Employee feedback: Taking employee feedback is also an effective communication
strategy which facilitates harmony in the workplace (Soto-Acosta, Del Giudice and Scuotto,
2018). In order to implement this communication strategy business firms need to develop
communication channels which help employees send feedback in various projects and other
aspects of daily business operations.

Meadow foods needs to build communication channels to gain employee feedback.
Meadow foods will be able to gain employee insight on different business operations and
employees will feel valued for their opinions. This will improve employee satisfaction and
promote contentious communication between employees and senior staff members. Meadow
foods will be able to eliminate cultural barriers as employees will provide feedback on
suggestion to improve workplace culture. This will help the company eliminate any offensive
elements of workplace culture and propel effective business communication.
Language training: This communication strategy involves providing employees training
so that they are able to develop proficiency in new language. This communication strategy
assists in intercultural communication as employees from different cultures will be able to
communicate with common language understood by every employee (Usunier,Van Herk and
Lee, 2017).
Meadow foods need to provide language training to their employees so that they are able
to speak and participate effective verbal communication with employees. This will reduce
conflicts and miscommunication at the workplace caused by language barriers.
Gender equality workshops: This communication strategy can be used to enforce
gender equality in the workplace. Intercultural communication can be imported with this strategy
as it promotes gender equality by starting discussion on workplace gender stereotypes. This
communication strategy will ensure effective communication between every employee.
Meadow foods needs to adopt this strategy in order to deal with gender bias in China.
Conducting workshops in which employees are able to learn about various concepts related with
workplace gender equality and employees who faced gender based serotypes are able to come
forward to promote gender equality. This will strengthen gender equality and create positive
working environment in the company.
Social media communication: This communication involves the usage of social media
to communicate with employees. It helps the company develop strong bonds with their
employees (Yousef, 2017).
Meadow foods needs to connect with their employees on all major social media platforms
in China so that a digital community is created for employees. This is cost-effective
communication channel which will enable the company to send creative messages to employees
through social media tools.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is determined that differences in cultural expectations and
cultural sensitivity affects business communications. It is important for business firms to gain
knowledge about cultural differences before expanding their business in international regions s
that effective business communication is maintained in foreign regions. Hofstede's cultural
dimensions is theory of intercultural communication which provides information about specific
culture through four cultural dimensions. These cultural dimensions are power distance index,
uncertainty avoidance index, individualism vs collectivism, masculinity vs femininity, long-term
orientation vs short term orientation and indulgence vs restraint. Developing cultural sensitivity
is beneficial to international communication and successful expansion of a company to foreign
locations. On the other hand cultural sensitivity also has certain disadvantages which include
resistance from employees. Business firms face various communication barriers while operating
on foreign regions which include language barriers, cultural barriers, gender bias and
bureaucracy. These communication challenges can lead to failure of the company of foreign
region if they are not acknowledged and eliminated quickly. In order to remove communication
barriers business firms need to create communication stratifies which assist in elimination of
communication barriers. Different communication stratifies such as building receptive workforce
and building flexible workplace need to be adopted by business firms in order to face various
communication barriers.

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