Culture2Go - Doing Business with China

Avoid blunders when doing business in CHINA

When it comes to communication, it’s not only language that creates barriers, but also the lack of understanding of other cultural beliefs as well as stereotypes and prejudices we have towards other people or cultures and countries.

It's better to embrace cultural differences and recognize the importance of each team member's and business partner's personal and cultural values and how they influence their behavior and communication.

Therefore, in order to be able to understand and eventually embrace the differences, we need to look at HOW things may differ, such as the dress code, the behaviour in the business environment, which covers also the body language, gestures but also who to address first in a meeting or who to shake hands with if you do so, how much time you spend on small talk or the use of time in general.
Only that way, we know how to prepare.

Due to our cultural identities, the experiences we’ve made with other cultures and stories that we have heard, we have a certain „picture“ of people and cultures in our heads.

The „problem“ I personally see here is that we might have heard only one story and have had only one particular experience, so we assume that we KNOW the other person. Yes, there are certain traits and characteristics that are more Chinese, but the fact is, we shouldn’t make the mistake to generalize, in any situation.

What we are going to look at in this course:

• BUSINESS ETIQUETTE

• TABOOS & MANNERS

• USE OF TIME

• COMMUNICATION PATTERNS

• LEADERSHIP & DECISION MAKING

• IMPORTANCE OF STATUS

Understand China's culture a bit better in order to avoid putting your foot in when you travel or do business with China.

Enjoy the course!

Martina Jeric-Ruzovits