118 Pafi2
Exercise 2
-
' : ir.riLr. ctrltural filctors clrive t1-Le .lifferences in blrsi-
:- r :: i i L.ILICtte encounterecl tlr-rring interr-ratior-ral br-rsi-
l-.c:: tr.r\ eL. Fol exam1,le, in ThaiLirnc{ it is consiclered
.ii'ii:L\-e ti-t show tl-re soie of the shoe or foot tcl tLn'
. thcr. Prior to leaving for your first business tri;r 11r
, ,a-
Back in 1993, Neu,Yolker Dirn Mintz mot'e.l to Chir-rir
as a fi'eelance filn-r .lirector i,r,ith nLl collti-Lcts, no aLlver-
tisir-rg experiencc, and no N4an.1iuin. By 2006, the ctlm-
pi,rnyhe sr-rbsecluently foun.leci in Chin:r, DMG, l-rac1
emcrgeri ils one of Cl-Lrr-ra'-. f:-rstest grolrtrng trdrte rttsing
agencies r''n,ith a client list th:rt inclttcles Btt.lu'eiser', Uni-
lever, Sony, N:'rbiscit, Ar-rcli, Volkstl'l'igen, Chin:r Mobile,
ancl do:er-rs of othel Cl-rinesc brands. Mint: :rttribLlles
l-ris success in pr211 to what tl-re Cl-rinese call guarl-tl.
C)ucmxi literally means relationshrps, aLtl-rourgl'r ir-r
bu-siness settings it car-r be better nnclerstoocl as collnec-
tions. Guanxl irtrs its roots in the Ctlr-rftLcian pl-rilosophl'
of vahLing social l-rieri'rrchv i'rncl reciprocal obligi'rtions.
confirci:rn icleology in China ha't a histor)' of .rtlre th:rr-t
2,000 years. Cor-rfucianism stresses tl're importance of le-
latior-Lships, both u,ithin the firmil,v an.l benvcen mtlster
anJ servant. Conftrcian i.lcology teacl-res that people are
llrrt createLl cq,-ral. In Confi.rcian thought, ltlytlity, u'ith
Lts relirte.l oblig:rttons to r)ne's superiols (or to family), is
regar'.1e.l as a sacrc,-1 dr-rty, br.rt at the same trme, this ltltt-
:rltv h,,Ls its price. Social supenors ale obhg:rtecl to rerl'arcl
rhe Lrr-aLtr trl theu social inierittts b1, bs.lolving "blcss-
ir-L.qs" uptrt-r theu; tl-rus, thc obligatictns are reciprocal.
N1inr-, s'ho rs t-tou-tluci-tt in Mancl:rrir-r, cnltivatecl l-ris
g1/.1n-rilr,.ing 1.1' gpir-Lg inro br,rsLness n'itl-L tlvtl yor-rng C1-ri-
nese c..rnncctrtrn:, Bing W,-r ancl Petel Xizro.
u'1-ro l-ra.l
Bing Wu, who n...t'k. on the pro.luction sicle of the
business, was a tr)rnler natirrnal q\'lnnastics ciri'rn-rpicll-t,
which transl:rtes inttr l.restige anJ Llccess tcr br-Lsiness anrl
go\rernment officials. Petel Xi:i,, conles ii-orn a n'Li1itilr'1'
fhmilv rvith rnajor political connections- T..rgether, t1-rese
three have l.eer-r able to open .loors that Lrllg-estalrllsheLl
'Western aclvertising agencics har-e not. Tl-Le1'l-Lale .1or-Le
it rn large part by leveragrng tl-re contacts of $7,-r tur.1
Xiao, ancl bv backlng up their connectLolls u'rti-L lr'1-r.rt
the Chinese c;rll -shi lr, the ability to clo good u,ork.
A case ir-r point r'r,as DMG's campaign for Volksu'agerL,
li-hich helped the German company become r-rbiqr,rttclus
Asia, :'r collei'rgue infolmecl you th:rt :r gtli.lc c:rlled
"Business Etlqr-lette Aronncl the World" mav hclp you
.luring yoLlr trip. Using the globalEDGE"' Web site,
finc'l fir''e trps regarding business eticluette of the ctlr-rrL-
try ofyour choice.
in Chir-ra. T1're acls ,.rsecl tra.litton.rl Chinese chatactets,
ll-rich 1-ra.1 L.een L.anne..l b1 Cl-railman Mao .l-Lr:ir-rg thc
cr-rltr-u:-r1 rer,olution in favor of sirr-rplifiecl versions. To get
pernLission to use the chal:rcters in fihr antl print a.1s-a
first in modern C1-rina-t1-ie trro h:r.'l to .lrau' on l-Ligh-
level government cLrntilcts in Beijing. Tl-rey \\Io11 o\rer
officials by arguing that the Lrl.l chttractels sl-rould be
tho,-rgl-rt of not i,ts "charactcLs" bltt as :rrt. L:rter, the,v s1-rot
TV spots for the atls on Shanghai's f,rn-Lo,-ts Buncl, a con-
gesterl L.ouler.:rrd that rr-Lns along the lvi'rterflont of the
oLl cLtv. Dran,ir-rg ag:rin on governlnent contacts, they
n,ere able to s1u-rt .lou'r-r thc BrLr-L.l ttl n-rake tl-re sl-Loclt.
Steven SpieLbcrg l-ratl been abLe to cltlsc dou'n only a
prrrtion of tl-re street lr,1-ren he filmed Enpire of rhe Surr
there in 1986. DMG has also filmed ir-rsicle Beijing's
Forhiclden filv, er-cn thor-rgh it is:rgarnst tl-re lar'l'to c1o
so. Using his cor-rt:'rcts, Mintu petstratled tl-re go\/ernlnent
to lift t1-re Liru, for 2'1 hoLrrs. As Mintz has r-Ltltccl, "lUe
rlon't stop rvhen u,c colne across tegtrl:rtitlns. There are
restrictions glrs1y$,hs13 vor-t go. Yor-r l-rave to knou' hor'r'
to gct nmnnd thetn antl get thlngs done."L'4
Case Discussion Ouestions
1. W}r-v do you think th:rt it is so inpott:tnt to culti-
r.:rte guan,ri ancl gurinrlu,arrg u-r Cl-rina?
2. What tloes thc experiencc of DMG tell Lrs
abont tl-rc \\,a,v things u'ork in Cl-rinal \Uhat
u,oul.l 1ik.-ly happen to a br-rsiness tl-iat tlbeyetl
:r11 t1'Lc rules :tu.l legttlntittns, rather ti-L:rn tr-ving
to find ir wity aroLtn.l thern as L)i'rn Mint: ep1ta1-
enthr !1oes l
3. 'What are the ethicaL issues that might alise
"l'het-r
clrau,tr-Lg upttn gaanxi{tr,lng to get things clone tn
Chin:rl Wl-r:rt cloes this sr-Lggest abor-rt tl-re 1in-Lits oi
using .quarr-tilr.'ang for a \Testern bttsii-ress cotntnit-
ted to hieh ethic:iL star-r.lardsl