Riassunto esame Mediazione Inglese 3, professoressa D'Antonio, libro consigliato "International Business"

MANAGEMENT STYLE

In BRA relationships are more hierarchical as far as decision making and following instructions

goes, but are very creative in finding solutions to a problem, good team players: managers have

strong personality, with a stern but fatherly touch. GERs plan all details, BRAs more generally,

realizing that the environment is likely to change. While GERs respond with anger and reflect on

detail, BRAs accept the situation and react to it.

NEGOTIATING

Rapport stage is longer in BRA because they want to find out how reliable and loyal you are: they

look for commitment, reliability, overall impression. No dividing line between business and

personal life as in GER.

ADVICE: avoid being too direct. Personal contact is much more important for BRA than telephone,

email etc. as in GER. They avoid distance, while for GERs distance>closeness. Commitment for

BRA is nurturing the relationship, for GER is putting something down on paper. Avoid prejudice in

st

BRA, they are very sensitive in 1 world arrogance. GERs must avoid common stereotypes

(samba, exotic and not serious); they go less often to the European origins’ countries

(globalization). Appreciation for BRA aircraft production.

STYLE OF MEETING

BRA: intensive exchange of views when preparing for a meeting. Spontaneous but guarded in

expressing their opinions. Humour, don’t take too seriously. Negative reaction to too much order.

Absolute order is no order at all: like for deviating from the norm.

GER: open debate and disagreement.

MANAGERS

BRA: paternalist approach, talk a lot to their staff. He must enthuse the staff. Influence from the

French system before, now from US.

RECCOMENDATION: be prepared to take time, don’t insist on immediate solutions, allow space

and time, emphasize common positions rather than the difference, pay attention to all people

around your partner (talk to secretary, to people in the lift and greet people you meet), smile.

Choose a relaxed atmosphere for meeting (informal setting like a barbecue, no top restaurant) with

flexible times. First names are more important than surnames: their president is Lula, not Mr. da

Silva.

NORDIC COUNTRIES

Business in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland) is booming: they have

embraced new technology with great enthusiasm – they have the highest penetration rates for

mobile phones in the world – even if they seek peace in nature. There are new business

opportunities in development: this area is characterized by attachment to nature, highly developed

welfare systems and a healthy work-life balance. But they are not completely understood (great

English, but it’s hard to get them to talk, with endless discussions, and no signals of being

unhappy). Significant differences from Germany.

Low rates for MAS (masculinity) values in this area (Sweden 5, 74°). GER (66, 11°) is one of the

highest.

In a masculine society, men are assertive, tough and focused on material success, while

women are modest, tender and concerned with the quality of life. (tendency for general

behaviour, can lead to stereotypes; this research can be useful in helping people to become

aware of what factors are relevant when setting up organizations)

MAS: Management is decisive and aggressive, conflicts are resolved by letting the strongest win,

preference for larger organizations, people live in order to work, careers are compulsory for men,

optional for women

FEM: Management is based on intuition and consensus, conflicts are resolved by compromise and

negotiation, preference for smaller organizations, people work in order to live, careers are optional

Scandinavian regions share democracy, a strong sense of loyalty to the state, a belief in equal

opportunities, States avoid poverty and provide high education for all, consensus-oriented

discussions (more in Sweden than in Finland). Finland was under Sweden power.

Germans find Finnish quiet and not communicative, thinking they don’t understand what they

say: this is because turn taking is very different, they wait for a break – missing in GER - before

saying something, while staring their conversation partners. They listen quietly without saying

anything, so we must learn to cope with silence and breaks. Silence is not a lack of interest. Be

patient, clarify the situation, don’t force people to give you feedback.

Positive topics: skiing, F1. Bad topics: politics (impression of influencing partner). They don’t want

to get too close, they don’t ask questions. They make decisions quickly after a long period of

thinking, and this irritates Germans used to exchanging opinions. For them, the action counts,

not the words: they don’t go into details, have short presentations even if with modern design. “I”

is too personal for them. Business made often in sauna to highlight the equality of power.

Hierarchies: strong leadership and flat hierarchies coexist. The manager must make clear

decisions, working with the team. Direct criticism is lower and made by someone lower in the

hierarchy on someone higher because of the concern for the weak in society.

DUBAI

A mix of Arabian Singapore, Las Vegas, Miami, Houston, Mumbai. It has the world’s tallest hotel

(Burj al Arab), the symbol of Dubai, that expresses both the aggressive and progressive attitude

of 1 of the 7 principalities that make up the UAE (United Arab Emirates): shaped like a seal, it’s

both a monument to Dubai’s seafaring past and a tribute to the petrodollars that built it. Dubai is

the past and present futurized. Around Dubai, there is desert: Dubai looks so a mirage in the

morning sun.

Money gone into property speculation: profitable for sheikhs and emirs who own the sand on

which everything is built. They sell desert land to investors at exorbitant prices then multiply the

profits by financing the construction of towers, islands, lakes and hotels. In this way, the emir of

Dubai is the fifth richest man of the world (10$ billion, “CEO of Dubai”), investing in very solid

assets outside of the Gulf.

Dubai’s success can be dated back to 1970s thanks to the Jebel Ali seaport that made Dubai a

very successful trading centre, thanks to the agglomeration of economies. The next project is the

airport that could allow Dubai to become the aviation hub of the Middle East.

Dubai International Airport is the main base of Emirates airline, the first airline in the world to allow

the use of mobile phones to call, a move to create publicity. It uses new Boeing 747-8 freighters;

the DIA serves 100 airlines on 145 routers, with a capacity increased to 50mln passengers a year.

Duty-free area recorded a turnover of $590mln in 2005.

Advantages of DIA: no night-flying restrictions, all forms of strikes are illegal. Human rights

are abused anyway to reach these records, with thousands of underpaid labourers: unpaid

wages, withholding of employee’s passports, dangerous working conditions. Western visitors can’t

see these workers that work 12h\day, 6 days out of 7 for 150$\month, without seeing their family.

They must expatriate workers while attempting to keep their distance from them at the same time.

250.000 nationals over 1.2mln residents: demographic problem; they want to preserve the

localness, the Emiratiness, increasing the participation of adult nationals in the labour force,

particularly in the private sector where 95% of workers are foreign. This is because UAE nationals

find pay and working conditions in the public sector so much better.

They like the benefits of cheap foreign labour, to live in a city with more than 150

nationalities\cultures.

CHINA

Tension from the way both sides see each other.

West’s view of China: massive potential market (“workbench of the world”), providing gigantic

opportunities for cheap production of everything from cameras to laptops > China is the largest

receiver of foreign direct investment (FDI) – more than 50$ billion each of the past 3 years.

Westerners are worried about China getting too powerful and threatening jobs in the West, and feel

that Chinese don’t respect Western rules, ignoring laws on intellectual property. Chinese are so

now seen as self-confident rather than self-deprecating.

China’s view of West: people who earn a lot of money in China through joint venture companies.

Criticism towards JVs that force Chinese partners to:

1) pay components and materials at exorbitant prices

2) use Western technology and charge too much

3) use certain suppliers and charge for the certification to maintain quality standards

4) buy expensive plants and machinery for production

Ex: Chinese producers have to pay a licence fee of 13-16$ per player to their Western partner.

They are pleased about foreign investment and the force of their exports, but they don’t want to be

limited to production. They want to do R&D of their own, making their innovation an international

standard. To avoid being forced to buy from the West, they’re studying European patent law and

interpreting it to meet their own needs. Westerners should prevent Chinese imposing international

standards.

You must motivate your staff to recognize their cultural background, avoiding their alienation in

order to have a competitive advantage.

Reaction of Westerners of working with the Chinese:

1) fear of the unknown, expect all to be strange

2) fear the Chinese won’t understand people and won’t know what’s happening

Difficulty for the language: need for an interpreter. You might find Chinese partners aggressive,

changing their mind very fast. Market is extremely competitive: they could fail following the agreed

procedures, often skipping all of the procedures to reach their goal quickly. You must pay health,

pension and unemployment insurance to Chinese staff

To be successful in China, managers need to be very clear in their aims and stick to them, being

flexible and willing to change processes if necessary, being friendly and tough

GERMANS VS CHINESE:

GER about CHI: “speedy reactions, keen to learn, open minded BUT not prepared to take

responsibility, follow agreed procedures, no horizontal communication (only hierarchical), reluctant

to take the initiative or make independent decisions, difficult to know what they are really thinking,

not loyal (join competitors)”

CHI about GER: “excellent planners, very logical thinking, straightforward approach BUT they

don’t trust us, don’t give responsibilities, setup complicated processes slowing everything down,

wasting time with too many meetings, causing problem with deadlines if they don’t answer quickly”

Chinese want to be able to influence strategy and targets, want clear decisions to be made. They

don’t use direct communication, they lack practical experience, they don’t divide private life and

work.

RECOMMENDATIONS: invest time in discussing expectations, communicate the importance of

meetings, trust between the parties is very important, seek local advice before