CASE STUDY

CULTURE ANALYSIS

International Market Entry Strategies

Assignment 2 (Culture)

Group Members

Names Student Numbers

Taranpreet Kaur c0794249

Navdeep Kaur c0812954

Simranjeet Kaur c0812925

Kevin Oommen c0789143

Cultural Assignment (Case C-Smog Alert)

 Part-1

1. What resources could GES have used to research Chinese culture prior to traveling

to meet the client face to face?

Ans: GES before having a meeting with their Chinese Clients should have researched

about the country’s culture, background, the business environment etc. GES should

have researched more on which kind of communication can be more effective as their

way of communicating was very direct and threatening towards the method of GFCL

operating. GES employees should have learnt some common words in mandarin to

make them feel comfortable and give them some homely feeling. They should have

done more research on the concept of face because in Chinese business culture it

represents a person's reputation. Before going to China and should have arrived early in

China To better understand the Chinese way of communication and their culture.

2. Suggest three things GES could have done to begin building a relationship with the

Chinese client prior to traveling to China?

Ans: GES requires you to take some steps to have a successful relationship with the

Chinese client before traveling to China. They made some mistakes, in results problems

occurred and the relationship with them had risk to be failed and project could be

unsuccessful. The first thing that needed to be done is the review of the contract to

know the things deeply about the agreement. All the rules and regulations should be

described and understandable for everyone. As because of having poor knowledge

about the contract the meeting was done in an organized way and everyone felt

awkward. They were unsuccessful in providing the agreement’s detail. Second thing is
about the mistakes in architectural drawing, they needed to clarify about the important

facts in drawing. Concept of face has an important place in the culture of China and

“lose face” of manager of GFCL plant was also the noticeable fact. This is unacceptable

and could lead to problems in processing the activities. Another thing is the detailed

information about the project, that was not provided in an accurate way by the team

because of having less information. Before starting work with a team everything

required to be described to work on every aspect of the project, that was missing in this

case. The three things which GES should have done before are as follows:

● Hiring the interpreter: Hiring an interpreter would help them in

communication properly with full understanding with Chinese clients. Also,

interpreters can help them in teaching Mandarin so that GES employees can

speak some of the words to make the GFCL employees feel good.

● Research and Analysis: GES should have done research on Chinese

culture in depth so that they can blend in easily with their people. Everything

should have been researched and, also, if possible, rehearsed some of the

points to be confident.

● Arriving early in China: Visiting China prior to the date of meeting would

help GES in exploring some of the cultures that are practiced in the Chinese

business culture. Visiting the crowded place can help them to increase their

knowledge of China and their land which can become a benefit for the

company.
3. What three things did Johanna and Aleksi do to begin repairing their relationship with

the GFCL plant manager and the rest of the GFCL team?

Ans: The three things they both did to begin repairing their relationship were as follows:

● Johanna and Aleski were very mindful to compliment the premises and the

comfortable meeting space.

● Alexi made a point to explain to the attendees how the level of detail on the

plant drawing would save them money.

● Johanna focused on the reality to them that they were adaptable with the

timelines for implementing the training.

● Learning the culture and identifying the needs/requirements - Except the

gene material one crucial thing that sets human species apart is culture. In

addition to its intrinsic values, it gives an edge over social and economic

benefits. The first step, to repair the relationship with the plant manager and

the rest of the GFCL team, was to call back their GES international sales

team to review and identify potential errors. Based on which they learned the

specific cultural needs and requirements and were able to reconstruct the

whole plan. In addition, Johanna and Aleksi made it a point to make the

atmosphere of the meeting room comfortable and positive via warm

compliments.

● Clear communication with GFCL team- Explaining to the attendees how the

level of detail on the plant drawing would save them money and how the

vision of Aleksi as to where and how to implement the SCR system. Most

great ideas get lost in translation, and quite literally when it crosses between
 languages and culture. clear communication of Aleksi of the idea and the

vision helped to repair and ‘visibly warmed them up for the discussion.'

● Building Trust- Every situation requires a different and unique set of

gestures and or action plans in order to build and strengthen trust. The

timelines being blank the second time gave Johanna and Aleksi a chance to

make the GFCL attendees feel part of the process which initially with all the

detailed plan became a point of contention. The brief of how they wanted the

‘Chinese team should take the plan back with them and work out how they

would like the timelines to be’ made them feel involved and by extension

gained their trust which without a doubt is the most basic and crucial factor in

the business.

4. Going forward, list four strategies the GES team could use to continue repairing and

building the relationship with the Chinese client?

Ans: Three techniques that GES could use to keep fixing and building association with

the Chinese customer are as follows:

● Listing: Listening to their Chinese clients and giving them the best

solution to implement in their plant will help in building the credibility of the

GES with their global clients. The GES team should ask very clearly to the

GFCL team regarding their needs and requirements about project

timelines, set up area etc. Apart from it the GES team should try to

communicate more with GFCL employees as it will help them to know

more about them like their attitude, behavior, way of thinking etc. More
 and clear communication of ideas will definitely help to repair and build

strong long-term relationships.

● Sharing Knowledge: GES should first listen to their demand and after

that they can give their suggestion based on their requirement. This will

give them a hint that GES is also giving their efforts to resolve their issue

quickly and in an effective way. Every country has its own culture in

dealing with things whether it is business or any event and same is with

China. China has a different business culture and earlier when Johanna

Laine and Aleksi Salo started explaining the project to GFCL employees

they started determining and judging the things in different ways. So, to

avoid confusion and misrepresentation of thing s, the Finnish team should

learn basic business culture of China.

● Building Trust : Trust can be earned by learning the language of another

culture. Trust is reinforced by staying positive. A positive attitude conveys

faith that problems will be resolved and the business relationship will

succeed for the long term. Trust is the base of any relationship and when

it comes to business trust is the most important factor. The GES should try

to build trust between them and GFCL and they can do it by learning their

language, blow away their normal working agreement and offer GFCL a

colossal discount or some extra work in vain. Doing these things can help

GES to repair and build their relationship with GFCL.

● Identify Needs and Requirements: The GES should understand the

GFCL needs and requirements and plan the things according to it. Instead

of forcing their plan, the GES team should give a blueprint of the plan to
 GFCL and ask their feedback and implement the plan accordingly. Doing

this thing will help GES to gain confidence in GFCL and build strong

relationships.

Part 2

The country name is China in which our case study entered. As China is

a big country, it is obvious that it has a wide culture which always

influences their negotiation. In the case study, it is clearly seen that it is so

much time consuming because of language barriers. Along with that, here

are some other negotiation factors which influence how the country

responds to each.

1. Goal: The Chinese culture is more based on trust instead of contractual basis.

Building relationships takes longer, but once trust has been created, Chinese

partners and corporations typically want to move rapidly.

2. Attitudes: Chinese culture's disposition is completely made plans to it's identity

and furthermore its strict significance. Besides, this nation has a few unique

qualities like concordance, liberality, uprightness, mutual respect, sagacity,

dependability, unwaveringly, and loyal dedication. These are a few

characteristics which show the triumphant demeanor of China.

3. Personal Styles: The Chinese culture is very formal based especially in

business. They do not prefer any type of informal behavior in business. The

dress code is conservative and formal (a suit). Too much friendliness, informal

words are not expected in business meetings. So, Chinese culture is highly

formal.
4. Communication: In China, people do not trust strangers and the maximum

number of times Chinese people are indirect communicators. They hesitate to

convey their ideas directly like sharing their disagreement or agreement towards

anything. The most effective technique for developing relationships is to include

an intermediary in the process. The intermediary will help to get faster

acceptance, gather more information about potential partners, and avoid

misunderstandings about local norms

5. Time Sensitivity: Importance of time in the culture of China could be verified

very easily, as it is thought as a respect for others to be punctual. Time sensitivity

is high in Chinese culture, according to them it leads to success.

6. Emotionalism: In China the emotionalism is very high because the people have

a great respect for trust. If they are investing their time/efforts or money into

anything be it a business or a person and if that entity tends to break that trust,

then Chinese people lose faith in that person or business and would never work

with them again because of which as per our research, emotionalism in china is

high.

7. Agreement Form: China has a general form of agreement because they feel

that the world is a dynamic entity and situations you agree on today might be

totally different the next day so prefer a negotiable agreement.

8. Agreement Building: In agreement building top-down factor is a priority, as the

first written contract is made between two parties. Then relations come under

focus. Agreement contains important factors that parties need to follow, while

processing the deals.

9. Team Organization: Team organization needs to follow some rules to have a

successful group, so one leader method is preferred by Chinese people, one

person can easily run a team, without any conflict. Group in navigation of one

person can make better decisions, as because of the absence of critics.

10. Risk Taking: Exchange on any point isn't as dangerous. Whenever some other

nation likes to do an exchange with China, they can undoubtedly do as such.

Alongside that, as it is a major nation so different nations can undoubtedly get

such a lot of stuff from that point. All individuals are so great, agreeable and

agreeable which assists with expanding the degree of correspondence to other

people. Subsequently, this nation is safer.