Suspicion and misunderstandings part of daily life of Finnish companies in China
Chinese scholar writes thesis on transfer of information in multinational company
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By Päivi Isotalus
How can a company’s know-how and corporate culture be transferred to a subsidiary located on the other side of the world? What is the right way to treat Chinese workers and get them to do the right things? These are questions that companies seeking to enter the Chinese market need to consider.
In a doctoral thesis that he defended on Saturday at the Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Hanken, Chinese student Li Li, 32, examines the transfer of know-how in a multinational company. The nine years that he has spent in Finland have given him a good idea of what kinds of problems Finns can expect to confront in China.
Li gives a few examples of cultural differences that might cause conflicts.
For instance, by Chinese standards, Finns have a very direct and open manner of speaking.
Chinese rarely speak so directly, and their comments often contain hidden messages, which are difficult for Western people to comprehend.
Saving face is also important for Chinese. It is quite a challenge for a Western supervisor to express dissatisfaction with a worker’s performance without making the employee lose face.
Chinese culture puts value on age, experience, and expertise. It can be difficult for a Finnish supervisor in his thirties to win the same kind of respect as an older colleague.
Finnish companies constantly confront cultural differences in China, but an even greater challenge is the establishment of mutual trust.
Sometimes corporate management might be reluctant to reveal everything to Chinese partners, fearing the possible theft or copying of know-how. This is especially a problem in a country like China where the protection of intellectual property leaves much to be desired.
For that reason, networks or guanxes, are important in business in China. Chinese have an innate suspicion of outsiders. Those seeking to enter the Chinese market need to try to get into the inner circle. Companies need to work to get into the right networks, and they also have to sacrifice time for nurturing relations.
According to Li, Finns should be aware that in China trust is always based on reciprocity. If someone gives you something, he will expect something in return at some point.
Training can be used to strengthen confidence between management and Chinese personnel.
A Chinese employee might easily think that everyone copies software, and that it is therefore quite permissible.
But if a company clearly states from the very beginning that passing on confidential information is not permitted in this company, the Chinese employees will certainly learn new habits.
Learning Western corporate culture needs to happen gradually, and cultural change should also be mutual. In addition, personnel should be reminded of the new practices fairly often, because sometimes things can be easily forgotten.
Anything that can be converted into bits of information is easy to send to the other side of the globe, but what about silent information - the kind of non-verbal know-how that can only be learned from long experience?
Li emphasises the importance of personal interaction in the transfer of silent information.
As neither the top corporate management nor experts can be everywhere at the same time, frequent regular opportunities to meet with Chinese personnel should be arranged. These could take the form of internal training events, various working groups, meetings, and job circulation.
Li himself is ready to serve as such an information transfer expert, and to shuttle between a Finnish company and its Chinese subsidiary.
He says that he came to study in Finland almost accidentally. As is the case with many others, his first choice was the United States, but after noting the high cost of American institutions, and the difficulty of the entrance requirements, he began to examine Scandinavian options on the Internet.
At first he attended the University of Helsinki, where he began with study on cultural differences to a business orientation at Hanken.
Now he has spent such a long time in Finland that he is in no hurry to leave. As a single man he is nevertheless free to move around and to build bridges between cultures.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 22.9.2004
PÄIVI ISOTALUS / Helsingin Sanomat
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| 28.9.2004 - THIS WEEK |
 Suspicion and misunderstandings part of daily life of Finnish companies in China |
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