BRISBANE -
Despite globalization, cross-cultural differences
remain a potential minefield for any company
wanting to do business overseas. While in the West
the deal is the thing, in the East the onus is on
building relationships.
Even among
countries with cultural ties to Australia,
different ways of doing business remain because of
contrasting etiquette, manners and communication
traditions. Queensland University of Technology
business lecturer Cheryl Rivers says every culture is
different and learning the
subtlety of these differences can smooth the way
forward for business. If not, anger and
accusations of deception can sour a budding
relationship.
In her studies funded by ENS
International, Dr Rivers said research showed 30%
of international negotiators believed they were
deceived by the other party. She said when an
offer of money is considered a token of friendship
in one culture and a bribe in another, there is no
wonder cross-cultural negotiations break down.
"When business negotiators negotiate overseas and
the other party does something they think is
unethical, it makes them really, really mad," Dr
Rivers said. "It makes us mad even if we are both
Australian but if it is across cultures it makes
us madder, it is almost like it exacerbates the
problem."
Dr Rivers, who recently
presented her paper, said Australians are
generally regarded as being more mindful of other
cultures. "Asian business perceives us as being
culturally sensitive and that's quite true in
comparison to some of the other Western cultures
that almost insist on 'doing it our way'. However
I still think there is a problem that many
businesses simply don't know how people from
another culture behave. There remain many
companies who fail to train staff in the cultural
differences of the country they're dealing with."
She said: "I've spoken to people from
leading companies in Australia who have been sent
to a country like China to start up a new office
and who have had no cultural training at all." A
typical cultural difference between Australia and
China is the concept of guanxi, which is
based on obligations or relationships with others
to achieve outcomes. "Australians have a very
strong separation between business and friendship,
which is a complete contradiction for the
Chinese," Dr Rivers said. "Australians are angered
by gift money, which they take as bribery. But
really it's gift money and they're trying to
strengthen the relationship."
In Eastern
countries, there are also long-held concepts of
collectivism, saving face and status, which are
markedly different from the West's individualism
and blunt, analytical approach. But Dr Rivers said
there are differences within Western countries as
well. American negotiators usually turn up as a
team at the start of negotiations, while
Australians tend to bring in lawyers and others at
the end of the process. "If you're going to
negotiate in America and go over as the sole rep
of your company, find some fellow Aussies, put
them in suits and go in as a team," she said.
"Americans seem to have more of a sense of
hierarchy than us."
But Dr Rivers said a
culturally sensitive person can always wriggle out
of tight situations. She said a businesswoman she
knows with a non-gender-specific first name had
been negotiating with a Japanese firm for months
by fax and email. "A Japanese buyer was coming out
and she went to the airport to meet him. He was an
old Japanese gentleman and in the older generation
in Japan, they tend not to be comfortable dealing
with women," Dr Rivers said.
"Anyway, she
saw him and went up to him and bowed because she
was culturally aware and said who she was and the
gentleman went ashen faced because he had been
dealing with a woman. She noticed this and bowed
deeper and introduced her husband who, she said,
runs the company and she then backed off. But he
doesn't run the company, had nothing to do with
it. She recognized there was this impenetrable
cultural barrier. Apparently in the end her
husband did quite a good job," according to Dr
Rivers.
