Kulturelle forskelle i Asien: Bestsellers markedsudvidelse

Hello ladies and gentlemen, I hope you all are sitting comfortable. First of all I would like to thank you all for coming here today. For you there don’t know me, is my name ……….. and I am the director of Bestseller A/S. I am here tonight, as some of you might know, because we are expanding our marked in Asia. Today, I am going to introduce you, to some of the basic cultural differences. Hopefully, this will help you later today, when Dr. Wang will come here later and be giving a lecture about Chinese culture. We had invited Dr. Wang because of her success with doing business in China. I hope, that you are all are going to have an exciting day and that you by the end of the day will know more about the Chinese culture.

There are more than 1,2 billion inhabitants in China. Almost all of these inhabitants are following the same basic, cultural protocol. This protocol is very different from the one we are using in the western part of the world. When you are in China, it’s important that you conduct yourself after Chinese protocol and etiquette. By doing this, your chances of getting friends are improved. Also in business, it is important that you are familiar with their culture, otherwise misunderstandings are possible. The Chinese do not like to do business with strangers. Therefore is it a good idea to wait with talking business until you have got a good relationship with the company. Also, when you are introducing yourself, it is formally done with a handshake. It can be a good idea to wait until the Chinese reaches out to give a handshake. It is normal, that you stand up during introduction – and that you remain standing throughout the introductions. It is common that the Chinese looks a bit unfriendly when being introduced. This has nothing to do with anger, but is because they are taught not to show excessive emotions. When exchanging business cards, it is polite to do it with both hands. The Chinese see this as a sign of respect. In the Chinese culture, there are some key concepts that are used. These make it easier to understand the Chinese culture. The first, Guanxi is a concept that means “relationship between people”. This has been used as a sort of glue to hold together the society, and when a relationship starts to exist, Guanxi is achieved. Another concept is Mianxi. This covers the English expression of losing face. In China, it is not good protocol to lose temper, be arrogant or to put someone on the spot, causing someone to lose face and disrupt the harmony. The last one is Li and surface harmony: Being polite and use the proper etiquette preserves harmony and face, accordingly to Chinese culture. Those were the basic concepts of Chinese culture. Finally, I want to talk you about some common misunderstandings between western and Asian culture: A common misunderstanding is when getting to familiar with the Chinese business partner, for example by putting your arm around their shoulder, or the pat on the back. This is considered rude, at least until you get a very close relationship with the person. The Chinese do not like to be touched by strangers, so hugs and walking hand in hand is not normal unless you have a close relationship. In China, people of the same sex can walk around, holding hands when they are good friends. It is not a sign of homosexuality.