d not represent a threat when its economic growth remained dismally slow and its leaders staunchly opposed to free market capitalism. However, U.S. managers can no longer view China and its billion-plus market of potential consumers and competitors as it has been known historically – the Sleeping Lion.
Because of this, there is even more pressure to produce American executives who can effectively manage and communicate across different cultures. It may mean their ultimate survival in the global marketplace. As Helms (1) notes:
With the economy growing at a 10% annual rate, China, the “Sleeping Lion,” is waking and opening its doors to provide investors with opportunities and access to the largest market in the world. China’s transition to a predominant world power is only a matter of time. The strategic implication is that going to China today will ensure surviving in the U.S. tomorrow.
We can see how this scenario makes it even more imperative that U.S. executives can effectively conduct business in China by overcoming the significant cultural differences that produce failure as often as success. This analysis will now discuss the cultural barriers that impede effective communication and management for American managers trying to conduct business in China.
The cultural differences that separate West and East when it comes to the U.S. and China exist on two levels. On one level they are obvious and immediately apparent: the language, the mode of greeting, the dress, the food, the religious practices. On another level they are more subtle but impart as much of an impact, if not more of one, on effective interaction between U.S. and Chinese managers. We will examine the obstacles and difficulties of conducting business in China as an American executive by looking at cultural elements on both of these levels.
One of the most obvious but extremely important cultural differences between American and Chinese...