Meridian Resources Establishes Fundamental Guidelines for Doing Business in China - Ability to Communicate in Multiple Chinese Dialects Crucial to Foreign Marketing and Sales Efforts
Meridian Resources, a global leader in helping companies gain an intercultural competitive advantage by building and leveraging their global resources, announced today essential guidelines for foreign companies doing business in China.
San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) May 25, 2005 -- Meridian Resources, a global leader
in helping companies gain an intercultural competitive advantage by building and
leveraging their global resources, announced today essential guidelines for
foreign companies doing
business in China.
Because the most commonly spoken language in the
world is Chinese and not English – 20 percent of the world's population speaks
some variation of Chinese of which there are multiple
dialects – many foreign companies often face a complex and challenging
business environment.
One factor that makes conducting business in China
so complex is that the Chinese will deliberately use dialects as a way of
regulating whom they choose to include in a conversation. The ability to shift
into a local dialect represents a powerful communication method and a regulator
of social interaction, negotiations, and sales.
“Although it is perfectly
possible for a sales team to market and sell its product or service anywhere in
China using Mandarin, it is much more effective if the team can speak to its
prospects and customers in their local dialect,” said Lisa Spivey, Director of
Business Development at Meridian Resources. “This is because speaking the local
dialect brings a sense of closeness, community, and linguistic kinship that
helps build trust and confidence in the product or service.”
Meridian
Resources recommends the following guidelines for non-Chinese firms doing
business in China:
• It is a good idea for any foreign business in China
to have a clear linguistic "map" of its operations in China, and to ensure that
key Chinese managers in each region are able to speak the local dialect. This
will confer a huge advantage in everything from motivation and development of
local staff to negotiations with local officials.
• The easiest way to
ensure this linguistic match is, of course, to hire locally. Sending employees
from Shanghai or Beijing to manage an operation in the interior of China, for
example, may be necessary from a technical or leadership standpoint. But even
experienced operators will benefit from having trusted colleagues who speak the
local language and can use it to build strong ties - the level of spoken
Mandarin in many rural areas with their own unique linguistic and cultural
heritage may be limited.
• During the candidate interview process, ask
where a candidate is from and what dialects he or she speaks in order to ensure
the best possible match of talent, business need, and geography. With increased
mobility in China today, qualified candidates for a job - for instance, people
from Chengdu who speak the Sichuanese Chengdu dialect - might be found in cities
as far away as Harbin in the north or Kunming in the south.
• Ensure
that overseas Chinese who are sent to China are familiar with the dialects
spoken in their destination. Many Western firms naively assume that because a
person is ethnically Chinese, he or she will be able to handle both Mandarin and
local dialects. Those who learned the language at home and were educated in
English may only speak Cantonese, for example, and not Mandarin, and would
therefore find an assignment in Tianjin in the northeastern part of China to be
based on impossible expectations.
• Non-Chinese learners of the language
should take the time to learn at least a few expressions characteristic of the
local dialect in order to demonstrate their interest and commitment in the
region.
To learn about Negotiating
in China, view our webcast, which covers strategies for overcoming common
obstacles and best practices when negotiating in China: http://www.meridianglobal.com/workinginchina/
About
Meridian Resources
Founded in 1990, Meridian Resources is a global leader in
helping companies gain an intercultural competitive advantage by building and leveraging
their global resources. They offer blended model solutions combining web-based
knowledge tools with training and consulting services. Meridian Resources is
headquartered in San Francisco with offices and affiliates in Asia, Europe and
Latin America. For more information visit http://www.meridianglobal.com
Contact:
Lisa
Spivey
415-333-3800
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Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/5/prweb244317.htm