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Table of Contents

1. OUTLINE OF THE TOPIC: 2

2. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON METHODS: 4
3. LITERATURE REVIEW: 5
3.1 Introduction: 5
3.2 Communication: 5
3.3 Cross Culture: 6
3.4 Hofstede’s Theory: 7
3.5 New patterns of International Trade: 10
3.6 Dynamic Workplace: 11
3.7 Business Culture: 11
3.8 EPRG Model: 12
3.9 Managing Business in Cross Cultural Environment: 14
3.10 Cross Cultural Issues and Solutions: 15
3.11 Conclusions: 17
4. ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL DISCUSSION: 18
4.1 Practicing Manager: 19
4.2 Policy Makers: 21
4.3 Management Education: 21
4.4 Future Research: 22
5. CONCLUSIONS: 24
6. LEARNING STATEMENT: 25
References: 28

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1. OUTLINE OF THE TOPIC:

The development of the economy and the progress of society, the transactions

between international countries have become more and more close, especially the

exchanges between technology and culture have increased. While providing

convenience to countries, it has also challenged the economic and cultural development

of various countries. With the continuous strengthening of international trade trends,

cultural differences between countries have become more and more prominent. Ways

to strengthen cross-cultural exchanges under the severe trade trend and formulate

sound corporate management policies has become important for all business managers

to think about. Therefore, the thesis starts from the importance of cross-cultural

communication under the trend of international economic trade, and studies how

Chinese business managers strengthen cross-cultural communication under the trend

of international trade.

Communication is very important in business operation. Business is always team

work and so team players need to communicate among them for the smooth running of

the business. Equally communication is also important in cross culture environment. But

it becomes difficult to communicate in such a scenario due to several reasons like

difference in culture and values, different language, different psychologies, etc. The

business managers need to overcome the issues arising by applying appropriate

measures.

Protectionism has intensified in the global trade landscape. The political climate

facing global trade has undergone a major shift. The United States was an important

advocate of globalization since the 19th century. However, in the 2016 US presidential

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election and the Trump administration, there were serious anti-globalization trends such

as protectionism. Many countries also adopted trade protectionism. The globalization

tide represented by Trump has a certain regional nature. Other countries such as

Europe and Asia still have the will to support globalization. China also has the

experience and ability to improve the global economic governance mechanism. In such

a complex international trade situation, the cross-cultural communication of China's

trade seems more important.

The topics which have been analyzed for the purpose of this report are: at first

the importance of communication has been analyzed; then an idea was obtained on the

cross culture; Hofstede’s theory was analyzed to understand several factors which

creates difference among various cultures; then new patterns of international trades

were identified; dynamic work places have been analyzed since it is an important

component of international trade; the analysis have been made on business culture

since every business organization tend to have a unique business culture; EPRG model

was analyzed after this since this model is related to individual business culture; then

research ahs been made on the fact that how difficult it is to manage a business in a

cross culture environment; in the end, several issues of cross culture has been

identified and their probable solutions have been researched.

As it was evident from the research there are a lot of issues which can rise in

cross culture and they are inevitable in the current era of globalization. The managers of

the multinational companies have to face them at some point of their career, so it is

better to be prepared beforehand.

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2. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON METHODS:

Secondary methods have been used for the purpose of this report. All the

relevant journals, books and articles by other researchers, scholars and the authors

were found on the topic as well as on the related topics and have been used for the

purpose of this report. The keep the literature review with respect to the new trends of

international trend, the timeline of the literary review has been kept from 2007 till date.

The literary sources before that timeline might not be accustomed with the latest trends

of international trade. This is an evolving time and changes are being made constantly.

The topic of the thesis as the core relevant materials has been collected and

read. Then the collected materials were sorted out based on the feasibility and

practicality of the demonstrated analysis papers, and the title and approximate scope of

the papers are determined. Next the existing materials have been integrated to

construct the outline of the report. According to the searched data and related materials,

an in-depth and detailed paper was written.

In the process of writing the report, research was made on the related problems,

then research was made on its solutions. The integration was refined and modified and

improved during the preparation of the paper. The first draft of the paper was drawn,

then optimization was made in the structure of the report, the statements were polished,

the inappropriateness was modified, and supplements were found for the inadequacies.

Then the final report was formed.

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3. LITERATURE REVIEW:
3.1 Introduction:

Proper communication in business by Chinese business managers under cross

cultural environment is a very relevant topic. In the current era of internationalization

almost every big company is venturing into new countries and new cultures. Under such

circumstance proper communication is very essential for the success of the business.

So, for this research literature review is done. Works by scholars, researchers and other

authors in the relevant field has been used for the analyzation. For the literature review

the timeline has been set from 2007 till present date. The types of literature which has

been considered are journals, thesis papers, books, online article, and many more.

3.2 Communication:

For any business organization communication is very important to understand

and adapt to the environment around the business (Cornelissen, 2008). One person can

never carry out business alone and generally there are a lot of stakeholders in a

business and proper communication among all of the stakeholders are very essential for

the success of any business. Often proper strategic management is necessary for the

smooth communication across the business organization. The business always set up

some goals and missions; it becomes very necessary to spread those goals and

missions among the employees of the organization and also the ways to achieve them.

The importance of communication has increased so much that now separate

courses are planned for business communication and managers are taught regarding

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the importance of communication. Often it has been noticed that the reason for most of

the management problems in business are due to the lack of communication or

inadequate communication (Dodd, 2008).

The communication can be formal or informal (Baker, 2007). Formal

communication is that which move through a definite channel. For example, written

order and information is a way of formal communication. Informal communication is that

which do not move through a definite channel. For example verbal communication is

informal communication.

3.3 Cross Culture:

It is very difficult to define culture. Some scholars feel that culture is the

knowledge and belief possessed by a person as per his custom which he depicts in his

behaviors and practices (Fiske, 2010) where as many other thinks that culture is the

way of life and the habits of a person living in a particular society (Abu-Lughod, 2008).

Culture is generally inherited from the previous generation or is learned from the other

people around. But it has been found that every person follows and belief in some

culture or the other. Culture of different places can be similar or also can vary with each

other (Fiske & Taylor, 2013). Culture of western countries like USA, UK and other

European countries are all similar but are very different from the culture of the eastern

countries like China, India and other Asian countries where as the culture of the eastern

countries are similar.

In international business environment, people from different culture might need to

be work together, share their belief and thoughts and also should have a proper

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communication among themselves for the smooth running of the business. People of

different culture might have different mode of communication. Like some culture stress

more on the formal communication like Germany where as some culture might rely

more on informal or personal communication like China. When people from different

cultures work together they need to understand the culture of each other and also

should respect each other’s culture. Cross culture management is very essential

(Thomas & Peterson, 2017). Nowadays a separate brunch of studies has been initiated

to understand the concept of cross culture. International managers are educated

regarding the cross cultural concepts and how to handle any conflict in cross cultural

environment. Multinational organizations always promote cross cultural interactions

among the managers working across different regions.

Language also plays a very important role in the culture. Actually language and

culture are inter-related to each other. A particular language points to a particular group

of people who have a definite set of culture. It becomes very difficult for a person to

understand the culture of a place if he cannot understand the language of that place

(Hall, 2011). Generally language creates a barrier among the people belonging to

different culture and knowing the language can actually help to remove the barriers.

Often language is used to construct different social and cultural worlds.

3.4 Hofstede’s Theory:

Geert Hofstede developed a theory on the cross cultural communication

depicting six cultural dimensions. He established the effect of the culture of the society

on the value, belief and behavior of an individual. He surveyed the employees of IBM

worldwide from 1967 to 1973 and ultimately reached his conclusions. But at that time he

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gave only five dimensions and he added the sixth dimension only at 2010. Hofstede is

one of the pioneers of the cross culture psychology which has been further developed

by others after his research (Soares, Farhangmehr & Shoham, 2007).

The first dimension of the theory is power index. This index reveals how the

people with lower power in the society accept the inequality or discrimination imposed

on them by the people with higher power in the society (Hofstede, 2009). China has a

score of 80 on the power distance index (Hofstede Insight), which is a very high score

which shows that the country supports inequality in the distribution of power.

Subordinate and superior relations highly exist in the society. But if Chinese managers

need to work in western countries or the Chinese companies want to expand to western

countries so they have to adapt to the culture over there since western culture is totally

different from that of China. Power index is very low in the western countries.

The next dimension is individualism vs collectivism. This index refers to the

interdependence among people in the society (Chiao & Blizinsky, 2009). China has a

score of 20 (Hofstede Insight), which reveals that the countries believe highly in

collectivism; people give priority to the interest of the whole group rather than to the

individual interest. Chinese employees give high importance to the goals and benefits of

the organization they are working in. This index is similar in western culture as well

since those are also collective societies. So, the Chinese managers will not face much

difficulty in this aspect since almost all the organizations believe in achieving the

collective goals.

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The next dimension is uncertainty avoidance index. This index refers to the

tolerance of the people in the society towards uncertainty and ambiguity. China scores

30 in this index (Hofstede Insight), this is a low score which means that the country has

high tolerance towards uncertainty and new ideas and situation, their rules and

regulations are also flexible. Western culture is also similar to Chinese culture in this

respect. Most of the organizations follow such culture where new and innovative ideas

are entertained. Since this is the era of technology, it is very dynamic and constant

change is very necessary. So, not only the Chinese managers but also every manager

all over the world has high uncertainty tolerance.

The next cultural dimension is masculinity vs feminism. This index refers to the

preference of the society towards toughness or tenderness (Cornwall & Lindisfarne,

2016). China has a score of 66 (Hofstede Insight), which reveals that it has a masculine

society which means that Chinese have priority for success and achievements but not

for family time and leisure. Although most of the western countries also have masculine

culture yet feminism society can be found in some of the European countries. So, if the

Chinese managers go to work at such countries they need to change their thought

process to work there successfully.

The next dimension is long term vs short term. This index refers to the outlook of

the society towards the time horizon whether long term or short term (Hofstede &

Minkov, 2010). China scores 87 in this index (Hofstede Insight), depicting that the

culture is pragmatic or long term in nature that is the people in the society have long

term goals for life and work. But the western culture is mainly normative in nature

having short term orientation that is the people in the society have short term goals for

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life and work. So, if the Chinese managers need to work in western culture then they

need to change their outlook and has to concentrate on short term goals for work and

the organization.

The sixth and last cultural dimension is indulgent vs restraint. This index

analyzes the behavior of the people of a society towards the fulfillment of desires and

their control over such desires (Myrseth & Fishbach, 2009). China has a score of 24

(Hofstede Insight), which shows that the Chinese society is restraint in nature, where

focus is made on pessimism and cynicism, so almost no importance is given on leisure.

Western countries have a contrast culture to Chinese culture, they are somewhere in

the middle that is their culture is to work hard and also to have enough leisure. So, if

Chinese managers start to work in such culture or people from west come to work in

Chinese business organization, they have to be flexible about work and leisure hours in

order to adapt themselves. They cannot force the employees of such places to only

work and neglect their leisure.

3.5 New patterns of International Trade:

Trade is the exchange of goods and services. A trade is international when the

exchange is between two or more countries. When a country buys goods or services

from other country and those are brought into the country, it is known as import. When a

country sell off goods or services to other country and those are send off from the

country, it is known as export. In the current era of globalization, more and more

countries are trying to trade with maximum number of other countries possible

(Levchenko, 2007), so that the maximum possible profit can be earned by reaching a

very large number of people.

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The companies are also becoming multi-national companies where they are

starting to operate at other countries. The companies are not only sending off their

goods and services but in order to capture a market they are setting up their unit at that

place and are trying to attract local customers by understanding them and adopting

proper strategies to impress them. Transportation costs are also saved in this way and

the products become cheaper for the consumers (Hummels, 2007). The companies are

either operating through individual unit or with subsidiaries, associate, holding

companies and joint ventures. In fact, some countries also enter into trade agreements

and form groups like European Union to control the trade among the member states.

The supply is mainly made by the developed countries to other underdeveloped

countries. But usually the developed nations are both the greatest producers as well as

the greatest consumers (Baldwin & Lopez ‐Gonzalez, 2015). China, Germany and

United states are considered to be the highest exporting countries as well as they are

the highest importing countries. So, developed countries have highest share of

international trade including both import and export compared to developing or under

developed nations.

3.6 Dynamic Workplace:

In the current time, generally the employees spend most of their time in office.

Sitting in the same place and working continuously alone can be fatal for the employees

and can actually decrease their productivity. So, most of the companies are trying to

make their workplace dynamic, where the employees will be able to work at their

preferred places. The whole work environment is tried to be made flexible. Employees

are actually encouraged to interact and communicate among themselves. In the modern

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business processes team work is very essential and most of the companies believe that

more the employees can mix freely more will they be able to work together

(Worthington, 2012). The result will ultimately work in the benefit of the company. The

companies these days are bringing people from different cultures to work together so

that each of them put forward their different views and ideas which will ultimately benefit

the company.

Dynamic workplace is the ideal workplace but it is difficult to set up such

workplace actually in reality. Management has to give up close door policy and has to

adopt open communication and should allow employees to share their ideas and

creativity which will ultimately benefit the company.

3.7 Business Culture:

Every organization has a set of culture which highly influences the strategic

decisions taken by a business. Culture influences the management, decisions, functions

and the ways of operation of a business. The culture of that organization decides as to

how the employees of the organization will be managed and treated. The culture of the

business also decides as to how the business will react to certain events and incidents

(Lipartito, 2008). All the functional areas of a business including sales, distribution,

marketing, and accounting can be highly influenced by the culture of that business. In

fact the culture of the business only decides its perception about a new market as well

as regarding the existing market.

Škerlavaj, Štemberger & Dimovski (2007), presented in their article the

importance of a prevailing culture in an organization. They depicted that culture is the

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most important factor which link the functions of the business with the performance of

the business. Culture creates a unity among the employees of the corporation. The

employees must have something in common to unite them and there comes the

importance of the culture. The success of a company always depends of the successful

implementation of a positive organizational culture.

Trompenaars & Hampden-Turner, (2011), in their research paper described the

diversity on the international business since so many companies are operating at such a

large number of countries. But they concluded that only a unifying culture can unite the

employees of a company who are working all over the world. But the culture must be

always positive since a negative culture can ruin the motivation of the employees and

can actually affect their work capacity. Employees need to be inspired and motivated

and should not be de-motivated. The culture of an organization moulds its corporate

identity among the general people.

3.8 EPRG Model:

EPG model is used in international marketing and is used by the company to form

several strategies in the international business. As mentioned by Rozkwitalska (2009) in

his article that EPG model is highly related with the cross culture effect on the business

of an organization and the strategies are to be taken in way that the company will be

benefitted. There are four different elements of EPG model which can be considered as

four different cultures followed by different business organization, which are

ethnocentrism, polycentrism, regiocentrism and geocentrism. Every company follows

any of the four cultures for their international operation.

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Ethnocentrism is a culture where it is believed that one ethnic group is superior to

others. The companies which follow this culture tend to send people from their home

country to other countries where they are opening new branches since they believe that

home country people are more superior (Bennett & Castiglioni, 2004). Companies like

Nissan and Bosch follow such culture.

Under polycentric approach, more stress is put on the host country. The strategy of the

company becomes to localize and adapt. Headquarter appoints the managers and

important personnel from the host country, set up separate goals and strategies for the

branch and are allowed to operate independently (Pennycook, 2014).

Geocentric culture is one where the focus is made on the talent of the individual

but not on their ethnicity, race or culture. Under this culture multinational company

recruit and place a person irrespective of his nationality (Taylor et al., 2008).

Regiocentric is the culture where the company seggregates a few nations as a region

based on the similarity between their culture, belief and ways of life. The regions are

made based on the similarity and difference between countries (Branine, 2011). Then

the strategies are formulated for the whole region rather than on the individual countries

of that region. Managers or important personnel of all the branches of that region are

recruited from that particular region only.

Pereira, Hsu & Kundu (2002), conducted a research on some of the Chinese,

Indian and Taiwan companies and concluded that China has an ethnocentric culture

and Chinese companies consider themselves to be superior. So, they tend to send

managers and employees for high job profile from China even if they open any foreign

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branch. But some Chinese companies like Xiaomi and Huawei are following polycentric

approach as well and are recruiting local people at their extended branch and are also

allowing those to operate independently.

Qing, Lobo & Chongguang (2012), further contributed on the topic. They made a

research on the consumers of China on their buying habits and it was found that even

the consumers have an ethnocentric culture and they tend to buy from Chinese

companies mainly rather than companies of other different countries.

3.9 Managing Business in Cross Cultural Environment:

As already mentioned the current trend of international trade is venturing into

new countries and new economies. The profits are high but it becomes very difficult to

accustom to the new culture of the new place. In such a situation people has to

communicate in cross culture which is an essential element for the success of cross

border trade. Chinese managers must have a good knowledge about Hofstede’s theory

along with EPRG model. When the Chinese managers has to go to other countries like

Western countries or European countries they has to compare and understand the

culture of that organization using these tools so that they can easily adapt to those.

Dong & Liu (2010), in their article presented that Chinese managers might have to work

with foreign managers in their own country as well when the company will bring

potential staffs from other nations, in such a scenario the Chinese managers might

understand the culture from where the recruits belong with the help of these tools and

can also help them to adapt to the new culture.

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However, the managers should always keep in mind that there are different

forms of culture that is national culture can be different from individual culture. Again

individual culture can be different from organizational culture. In fact different person of

the same nation might have different culture. So, the managers need to understand the

organizational culture as well as the culture of the majority of the employees working in

that organization. The final culture of that organization should be mix of the majority

individual culture with the organizational culture so that a harmony and unity can be

created (Liden et al., 2014). The exchange of ideas in cross culture can open new

dimensions since different people might have different creative knowledge and if

brought together wonders can be created, which will benefit ultimately not only the

company but society at large.

Li, (2010), mentioned a new method to handle cross cultural and that is virtual

sharing. Current era is the era of digitalization and under such circumstances and in

such a scenario the companies and the managers can resolve their cross cultural

issues virtually. In the companies where headquarters are the decision makers they can

pass their decisions to the other branches virtually and also can explain the reason

behind their decision so that there is no confusion or conflict between the two entities.

The company should always operate as one unit for its success. Any issue regarding

the national culture can be easily solved virtually. The author has stated that advance

technology has made virtual meetings similar to personal meetings along with a

personal touch.

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3.10 Cross Cultural Issues and Solutions:

Different psychology can be an issue in cross culture. People from different

places have different psychology (Berry & Dasen 2019). It arises because of the

difference in the tradition and the culture of different people. For example, the basic

difference in different psychology in cross culture is the structure of the building. People

of different places find beauty in different structure. For example, there is a sharp

difference between the Chinese temple and US capitol building. Another difference

which is created by difference in psychology is different traditional believes. For

example, many Asian cultures believe that negative emotions can never be allowed in

the life. But American culture allows universal show of emotions, where both the

negative and positive culture is entertained. Well being is also different in cross culture.

Different psychology defines well being differently. Brazilian people believe that positive

emotion is very necessary where as Chinese people lack that high desire for positive

emotion. All these factors also influences the business organization and if the Chinese

managers has to interact with people from other psychologies they need to adapt

themselves.

Education can also be a point of difference in cross culture. Some countries are

poor and so are not able to fully educate their whole population (Banks & Banks, 2009).

In countries like China and India the population is so vast that poverty exists at a very

high level and so the average education level of the people are not so high. But in

developed nations like UK and US the level of education is very high and the rate of

literacy is high. Multinational companies often rotate their staffs and in fact also send

staffs across the countries. In such scenario problems might be faced by a manager

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from a lower education background to work with another highly qualified manager or

even to interact with highly qualified customers. So, Chinese managers might face

problem while working at US and UK.

Language act as the primary barrier and can often create rift between two people and

can create misunderstanding. To avoid this conflict, Chinese managers should have a

good knowledge in English to deal with most of the western countries yet European

countries have their own distinctive official language making it very difficult to

communicate. Latham (2007), in his research article stated that it is easier for China to

connect with other places but for an outsider it is very difficult to adjust to Chinese

culture since Mandarin is a very difficult language to understand and can take very long

if someone wants to learn the language.

Chinese managers should avoid treating their employees differently. They should

always the all the employees in the same manner irrespective of their culture, nation

and belief. Since unfair treatment or unequal treatment can affect the employee badly

and can also influence his productivity. Generally these factors create a negative impact

on the employees, which de-motivate them highly and they separate their own interest

from the company’s interest, which is not beneficial for the success of any company.

The managers should give equal political, judicial, social an economic treatment to all

the employees. Nowadays stakeholders also judge a company based on its behavior

towards its employees (Mueller, 2012). The managers should also respect believes and

cultures of the other nationals employed in their company. Now most of the Chinese

companies are giving Christmas holiday for their other counterparts even though

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Chinese not really celebrate Christmas. Christmas is not actually a Chinese holiday but

it is hugely celebrated in western countries.

3.11 Conclusions:

All the literature reviews revealed that culture is different at different places and

so culture varies among different people. But in the current era of international trade, it

is very important for a business organization to operate at different countries to

maximize their profit. So, they also has to work and communicate properly among their

employees hailing from different culture for the success of the business. Different

theories and tools can be use to differentiate between cultures in order to understand

the culture properly. One has to know about a culture first in order to change and adapt

as per that culture. Managers need to have proper knowledge about the culture they are

operating in.

4. ANALYSIS AND CRITICAL DISCUSSION:

Based on the literature review presented above it can be concluded that communication

is very important in any business and going global is equally important in the current

business era. When companies start to venture in other countries they come across

difference in culture. Communication in such cross culture environment is very complex

and difficult. But as an International leader the business managers has to overcome this

problem. There are several tools to understand the culture in other country like

Hofstede’s culture theory as well as there are other tools to understand the culture of

the organization like EPRG model. The trends in international trade are changing and

the workplace has become very unpredictable and dynamic. Under such circumstances

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it is very important to manage business under cross cultural environment. There are

some issues which the managers will face in a cross cultural environment but those

issues can be solved with an understanding of the culture and with proper strategies.

Hofstede’s cultural theory can be used to understand the culture of a place and also to

differentiate between the culture of the home country and the culture of the foreign

country. An international manger should be a flexible leader and should change with the

new environment and new culture. He should be open-minded and open to change so

that he can be easily accepted by the people of the foreign country he will start is

operation.

An international manager must also possess knowledge about the foreign culture he

might work in. Often it has been seen that not understanding a culture has led to the

downfall of a successful company at a region. From CNN a recent incident can be taken

which was major setback for an international brand and the issue arose due to problem

in cross culture communication: Versace created a T-shirt with country names but it

mentioned Hong Kong and Macau as country but in reality these are cities and special

administrative regions of China. In fact after this incident a Chinese actress who was

their brand ambassador terminated her contract. The revenue of the brand from China

also received a major setback (Robinson, 2019). Previously also Dolce and Gabana,

Balenciaga, Dior, and Philipp Plein made similar mistakes in China and faced the wrath

of Chinese people. Such situations can be nightmare for international leaders and

managers and can totally spoil the reputation of a brand in a particular region. Based on

this whole literature review some implications can be suggested for practicing managers

and policy makers. Some academic implication can also be suggested for management

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education and future research. Such implications on each of the factors have been

discussed below in details.

4.1 Practicing Manager:

There can be two types of Chinese mangers who are involved in international trade and

have to make cross cultural communication and has to handle cross cultural issues. The

first type of managers can be those who are Chinese but are working in some foreign

country. The second type of managers can be those who are working with foreign

employees in their own country in a multinational corporation. As already mentioned

cultures are different in different nations and so can pose problem for such managers

engaged in international trade. Western culture like that of US and UK are very different

from Chinese culture. But even the cultures of other Asian countries like Korea,

Singapore, India, etc are very different from Chinese culture.

Under such a scenario some implications can be adopted to integrate in the cross

culture environment. Every business organization should construct their corporate

culture in such a unique way so that it can be embedded in any of the foreign country

where the business will decide to venture. But till now there is lack of any theory

regarding multinational culture that is the same culture which can be applied at various

nations. The managers should always have a mentality that no culture is superior to any

other culture and there is uniqueness in every culture (Ralston et al., 2008). This theory

applies not only on Chinese managers but all the managers involved in multinational

organizations. If the managers start to be open minded and respect all the culture then

most of the cross culture issues can be solved. The mangers should be totally unbiased

and need to recruit local personnel and they should not believe that the people of the

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home country are mostly talented. The appointment, salary and the promotion of each

employee should only be based on his merits and talents and not based on his nation

and the culture he follows. The cross cultural communication system can be well

established using the cross cultural training.

Transformational leadership can be successful in such multinational corporation. So, the

managers need to adopt this style of leadership. Under this leadership style, the

decisions are not taken solely by the managers and he consults his team during

decision making process. The whole business process are done in team that is starting

from identifying the changes which are necessary to creating a vision through

inspiration for going through the changes to finally implementing and executing the

changes (Dunn, Dastoor & Sims, 2012). This kind of leadership involve employees from

all the levels of organization so that there is proper communication among every one

and all the perspectives can be heard before taking any final decision. This form of

leadership is very effective in cross cultural scenario since the manager might not be

able to understand the whole situation and while taking the opinions of the employees

he might become aware of any existing business activities which is against the culture

of that nation. Cross cultural communication will also improve.

4.2 Policy Makers:

There is a legal culture in each country and such culture highly depends on the national

culture. The government is the policy maker in any nation and their policy is formulated

based on the legal culture of that particular nation. Political culture of that particular

nation also plays an important part in policy making that is the relation between the

government and the citizen of that nation.

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The culture of the nation also highly decides upon the laws related to the corruption and

the level of corruption (Bontis, Bart & Seleim, 2009). Some nations are so accustom to

corruption and it almost has become a part of the culture. In such a situation even no

policies are made to remove that corruption. In such a scenario it becomes very difficult

for a foreign business organization to operate in that country.

Some nations have trade treaties with each other and they only tend to continue their

trade with those nations. The treaties are made by policy makers but it highly affects the

business organizations of such country. Such treaties highly depend on the political

culture and national culture of the member nations. European Union is the example of

such trade treaty where the members only tend to trade with other members. Generally

governments of nations with different culture do not tend to have treaty with other

culture. But support of open trade among cross culture nations by policy makers will

help to boost the situation and solve a lot of issues.

4.3 Management Education:

For several management courses worldwide students from different culture comes for

the course. Often it has been found that cross culture conflicts arose in the classroom

where people differed from each other’s opinion and values. Students from America and

Arab go to China for studying. But often it has been noticed that that conflict of believes

arise between students and teachers.

Moreover, management students are ought to be managers some day. Current era is

the era of globalization and almost all big companies are going international and in fact

these students might also work at some international organizations. Working at such an

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organization will make it compulsory for the students to interact in a cross culture

environment (Demuijnck, 2015). So, it is very important to incorporate and implement

several management theories in the syllabus of the management. The students should

be made aware regarding the importance of cross culture communication at

international organizations. Hofstede’s culture will be a good topic to teach the students

so that they can differentiate between the various kinds of culture based on the six

dimensions as presented in the theory. The students should also learn different ways to

learn about new culture and get accustomed to those to communicate with people on

different culture. Business ethics on cross-cultural environment also need to be taught

to the students. The tutors should try to dissolve the cultural difference among the

students first in the class room so that they can get prepared for such future incidents.

4.4 Future Research:

The culture of a particular country reveals believes, values, practices, symbols and

rituals of the individual citizen of that country as well as the collective nature of the

society of that country. Till now Hofstede’s cultural dimension theory has played a

significant role in the cross cultural theory and its management. This theory has opened

several opportunities and also has influenced several managerial decisions. The

framework to understand the cultural difference has been provided by this theory. This

theory can be regarded as a start in the topic of cross culture and has really helped

people to understand it.

But there are very few theories on cross cultural management and more such theories

need to be developed for future reference of the international managers. With more and

more companies going global there is increasing demand of cross culture theories and

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ways to solve the cross culture issues. So, more scholars and researchers need to

explore this field and need to come up with more such theories for future so that other

approaches can also be taken to understand cross cultural difference. At present it is

seen only from a few perspectives but new perspectives also need to be developed.

Some theories also need to be developed on the way to handle the cross cultural

communication, to understand the issues related to business operating in a cross

cultural ambiance and the ways in which the arising issues can be solved (Liñán &

Chen, 2009).

Organizational culture is a different topic. Different business organizations have different

culture. Both business culture and the culture of the country of operation need to be

integrated together to form a culture which will prevail in the organization. But there is

lack of theories in this perspective as well and need more research in the future.

5. CONCLUSIONS:

To conclude communication is very important in every prospect of life. So,

communication is equally important in business organizations. No business can be

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operated in seclusion and team work is very essential for the success of any business.

For the team work there should be good relation among the members of the team and

that can be achieved only proper communication. The managers should have effective

communication with the employees and also should ensure effective communication

among the employees.

In the current globalization era, almost all the big companies are operating at

multinational level. Generally the culture of one nation is very different from the culture

of another nation. So cross cultural differences arise in multinational organizations.

Several cross cultural issues can arise under such circumstances. In such a scenario

the managers must have knowledge of the other culture they are operating in and

should try to adapt to that culture. Proper communication in cross culture can be also

very effective to solve most of the issues.

Hofstede’s cultural theory of six dimensions will help the managers to understand one

culture and also to differentiate with the home culture. Understanding a culture is very

important for cross cultural communication. Understanding the cross culture from the

education at student level will benefit the managers in the long run. The managers

should try to integrate the organizational culture with the culture of the country they are

operating in. Transformational leadership will be very helpful for the managers under

such scenario.

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6. LEARNING STATEMENT:

So, the purpose of this research paper was to find out the ways in which the Chinese

business managers can deal cross cultural communication in the new patterns of

international trade. The topic itself is very relevant for the current time and researching

for this topic actually enriched my with new ideas and thought process. I have the aim to

be a corporate manager and most of the Chinese big companies are going multinational

these days. So as an international manager, challenges will be faced to handle cross

cultural differences in various other nations. It is very important to understand the

related theories and the probable challenges which can be faced in the future along with

the ways they can be handled. This research exposed me to all such topics. The

research has been done from the perspective of both the Chinese managers who works

at some foreign country away from their home country as well as those Chinese

managers who work in their home country but work with employees from foreign

country. I can play either of the two parts in future so it is important to understand both

the perspective.

At first I learned the importance of communication. It is very important to have proper

business communication to handle all the stakeholders properly; knowledge could also

be obtained about different forms of communication. Then I got an idea about cross

culture that is how the cultures of nations are different from each other. In order to

operate in a foreign country, a business organization must adopt the local culture. So a

manager should be well efficient in cross cultural management to be successful in a

multinational corporation.

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Then I came to know about Hofstede’s cultural theory with six dimensions. The six

dimensions are individualism vs collectivism; masculinity vs feminism; uncertainty

avoidance; long term orientation vs short term orientation; power distance; indulgence

vs self restraint. Based on the scores on these six dimensions cultures of several

nations can be understood. For this project I have mainly taken the scores of China and

US to draw a distinction between western culture and eastern culture. In fact the

managers of international organizations can also use the score of this theory to

understand the culture of a nation and then to adapt according to that.

Then I got a brief idea regarding the new trends in international trade. Opening new

branches at new countries is the new trend. Some economies are really profitable and

to gain the trust of the local people and to save the transport cost it is important to be

present in that country. Then I also came to know about dynamic workplace. Most of the

organizations these days are encouraging their employees to interact with each other.

The attempts are being made to make the workplace flexible so that the employees can

work from their choice of place so that they can give the maximum productivity.

Then I came to know that business organizations have a definite set of their culture with

connect the functions with the performance. All the employees of the organization and

the managers work collectively only because of the existing culture. But culture of

various organizations varies from each other. Then I got a brief idea about the EPRG

model, which plays a significant part in forming the culture of an organization.

Ethnocentrism, polycentrism, regiocentrism and geocentrism are four components of

EPRG model and business organizations choose different types of styles.

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A manager needs to understand there are different types of culture which play a part in

cross culture. There is individual culture of the employees, then there is national culture

and then there is organizational culture. In a cross culture scenario the culture should

be the integration of all these components. Some issues can arise in cross culture

which is like different values, psychology, different levels of education, language, etc.

But all these issues can be solved if the managers can have equal respect for all the

culture and should motivate the people from all cultures and should treat them equally.

The promotion and the salary of the employees should be totally based on their talent

and not on their culture and nationality. Transformability leadership is the best suitable

style for cross cultural management.

Still more research need to be done in the field of cross culture. Till now there are only a

few theories in this field. Mainly Hostede’s theory is the pioneer in this field. An

integrated multinational culture need to be developed which can be implemented at

various nations.

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