Cover Story
Face value
2012-02-03 08:46
Chinese cultural characteristics are a key factor for Westerners doing business in China.
Global etiquette gaining ground
2012-02-03 08:46
With more Chinese companies expanding their global presence, many business etiquette trainers say they also have their work cut out for them.
Relationships hold the key for effective interaction
2012-02-03 08:46
Of all the changes that have taken place in recent decades, the most far-reaching is globalization. People from different cultures are coming into contact and interacting with one another more and more frequently. So cultural encounters are inevitable, but that does not have to mean cultural clashes. Based on deep mutual understanding, cross-cultural communication will contribute to cultural integration.
Respect is a language that is universal
2012-02-03 08:46
The importance of "giving face" or avoiding "loss of face" is the first golden rule you will read in almost any handbook on doing business in China. Common attempts to explain the subtleties of face, or in Chinese mianzi, typically entail cases where face is given, recognized, saved, or lost.
Confucius works at the next cubicle
2012-02-03 08:46
The hierarchical nature of Chinese society and the role of hierarchy in the realm of modern social structures defy explanation to Westerners who come from more egalitarian societies. Even after 12 years of living in China, I am confounded by the continuance of this most Confucian inheritance of China's past.
A business culture with Chinese characteristics
2012-02-03 08:46
While there remains a strong emphasis on hierarchy in Chinese business culture, this is changing, and changing rapidly, due to two major factors - technology together with the influence of a highly educated Gen Y and the emergence of the tech-savvy Gen Z.
Being polite, the Chinese way
2012-02-03 08:46
Lawrence Sterne, the Anglo-Irish author of the novel The Life and Opinions of Tristam Shandy, Gentleman, once observed that "to have respect for ourselves guides our morals; and to have deference for others governs our manners".
Show me a country's etiquette, and I will show you its mind
2012-02-03 07:41
Someone once said, "A man who does not pay attention to business etiquette is a man who has not taken the time to reflect on his mission, other than to make money. A man who thinks only of etiquette is a superficial man."
Gifts and the weighty matter of goose feathers
2012-02-03 07:41
Never before have so many gifts changed hands. In China, giving presents has become a must when the festival season arrives, when wedding bells ring, or babies are born. Giving a gift is also the done thing when you entrust someone to take care of something for you. There is even an ad on Chinese TV that trumpets the most important characteristic of any gift you give: the bigger the better.
Giving is not as simple as it sounds
2012-02-03 07:41
Giving a gift is such an enjoyable challenge - it combines all the great traits of good business, such as understanding, creativity, and added value, and is the perfect excuse to cross that fine and delicate boundary between professional and personal. I love it.
Economy needs slack monetary policy
2012-01-20 08:52
The age of the Chinese consumer
2012-01-20 08:52
Since the sustained liberalization of the Chinese economy began in 1978, exports and investment have been the main growth engines of the economic miracle, driving a transformation of the economy.
A steady trade year, but hurdles ahead
2012-01-20 08:52
China's imports and exports maintained steady and rapid growth last year. That was achieved against the odds - a global economic slowdown, increasing trade protectionism, the rise in domestic production costs, accelerating appreciation of the yuan and other unfavorable factors.
Grappling with issue of fixed investment
2012-01-20 08:52
China's fixed-asset investment rose to 26.95 trillion yuan ($4.27 trillion; 3.38 trillion euros) up 24.5 percent year-on-year in the first 11 months last year, but the growth rate was down 0.4 percentage points compared with that of the first 10 months of last year, according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Alternatives to full stimulus in coming year of reactions
2012-01-20 08:52
Housing bubbles: Reasons and ways out
2012-01-20 08:52
China's housing market has just gone through a year that had two strong characteristics: either standing still or going back. Just as prices remained largely static, the volume of trade fell sharply. Developers are in difficult financial straits. To understand the predicament the market now finds itself in and to forecast the short- or long-term trend, one needs to look at the supply and demand and at government policies.
Shifting gears
2012-01-13 08:38
Changing market may prompt foreign automakers to chart new strategies.
Luxury auto market goes into overdrive
2012-01-13 08:38
Lamborghini looks to make further inroads in China as demand grows.
Making the right turns
2012-01-13 08:38
Bridging cultural differences key to success of overseas M&A deals.
E-paper
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