1 Major Problem

The Chinese-German way of doing business

In the Chinese way of doing business, the Chinese approach of generating sales was
made smoothly and effectively. An example of this is having good connections to the
vendor than other companies so that the company with the closest connection with the
vendor shall obtain the deal. The Chinese would palm-grease such deals to further their
own business.
In the German way of doing business, the German approach of generating sales is
conducted with discipline and respect. The Germans have a standard when it comes to
everything, especially business. They did not like to conduct business in dishonorable
acts such as bribery and corruption.

1 Minor Problem
Safety in the joint venture of Almond Chemical & Chongqing
To the Germans, safety measures such as safety tools, training and equipment are a
must for the workers in the production facility. This is to avoid any incidents and injuries
that may cost them in the future. Although the Chinese see these safety measures as a
total waste of money as these safety tools, training and equipment are imported. This
adds more cost to the joint venture and the Chinese took this in a negative way and said
that these safety measures were luxurious expenditures.

One must point out why

the Chinese are
thinking this way. We
must understand that
during 1998 to 2002,
there was an all-time
low of fatality rate of
workers in China. In
result, it gave a
confidence boost to the
Chinese people in the
joint venture that
worker’s safety in China
is not a priority.

Song, L., He, X., & Li, C. (2011).

Longitudinal relationship between economic development and occupational accidents in China. Accident; analysis and prevention,
43(1), 82–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2010.07.014
Alternative
Pullout of the joint venture

This is not the first time a company has had a cultural clash with another company. A
good example of this is Daimler and Chrysler merger in 1998. The merger was a
“merger of equals”. A few years later, company cultures had the two companies at war
with each other. The merger failed because of cultural differences and different
company philosophies and models. Dave Healy, an analyst of Burnham Securities, said
that the merger faced significant cultural differences and was doomed from the start. In
the end, the $36 billion "merger" of Chrysler and Daimler-Benz was dissolved for a
meager $7.4 billion.
History is already telling us of a story that happened before and we are seeing another
occurrence in the joint venture of Almond Chemical & Chongqing. An alternative is to
pull out of the joint venture to avoid further losses.

Mateja, J. T. A. R. (2018, August 24). How Chrysler marriage failed. Chicagotribune.Com.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-05-15-0705141000-story.html