In the realm of international commerce, before a given corporation begins to conduct business overseas, it must first get acquainted with the cultural values of the region (or regions) it endeavors to inhabit. This is particularly so when Western corporations eye Asian cultures that have traditionally embraced core values different from their own. In China this is certainly the case, where two millennia of culture inform the views and practices of over one billion people. The world's most populous nation, China plays host to a range of cultural values and norms that are at times inconsistent with those recognized by its Western counterparts. How these differences can impact multinational corporations looking to do business in China is the subject of intense debate and study.
In a greater sense, the fundamental tensions that can arise between Western businesses and far Eastern locales serve to illuminate the folly inherent in modern attempts to divine a "universal" code comprised of "objective" truths that may then be applied to the world (Li 28). From a purely business-driven perspective, foreign corporations as well as local populations will surely be better served when divergent core cultural values are taken into account from the outset of an international business venture. When this is the case, it can become evident that though cultures can and do conflict, this is not to say that they cannot find a common ground in spite of their differences. On the contrary, as China has exhibited, it is often the case that a system of transcultural values can possibly emerge, gratifying host and visitor alike.
William Ho, a Global HR Business Partner for the Swiss firm Ciba Specialty Chemicals notes that traditional Chinese core cultural values may be broken out loosely into four categories. The first of these refers to a principle of social hierarchy; grounded in the teachings of Confucius, this core value asserts that social...