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Taming the tiger: key success factors for trade with China

Brett Martin, Lecturer, Department of Marketing, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Gretchen Larsen, Teaching Fellow of Marketing, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the helpful comments of Gary Lilien, Rob Lawson and Kim Fam. This research was funded by a grant from the Asia2000 Foundation of New Zealand.
Abstract
With its large population and increasingly open approach to foreign business dealings, China has been heralded as a land of opportunity for Western business. “What are the keys to business success?” Addresses this issue by Investigating key success factors for trade with China. Presents results from a survey of New Zealand organisations trading with China. Top-ranking issues reveal a micro-business focus (e.g. negotiation strategy, business etiquette). Low-ranking issues include the need to understand advertising in China, and to have an intensive knowledge of the Chinese language. Correlations between importance and knowledge scores suggest that cultural issues are perceived as less important by those with a high degree of knowledge concerning trade relation intermediaries. Larger firms are also found to rate an understanding of negotiation strategy as more important than small firms.
Article Type:
Research paper
Keyword(s):
International marketing; International trade; Marketing strategy; Success; China; New Zealand.
Journal:
Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Volume:
17
Number:
4
Year:
1999
pp:
202-208
Copyright ©
MCB UP Ltd
ISSN:
0263-4503
Introduction
China, with nearly one-fifth of the world’s population and one of the fastest rates of economic growth, represents a market that Western businesses can no longer ignore (Ambler 1995; Yan, 1994). In the last ten years foreign investment in China has increased from $5 million to over $400 million (Wong and Maher, 1997). In fact, the North American company General Motors, recently announced plans for a $1.3 billion manufact- uring complex in Shanghai, China ($US) to produce automobiles (CNN International, 1997). Yet despite the obvious success of a number of foreign investors, many Western business firms which have invested their capital into Chinese businesses have suffered drawbacks or even failure. This lack of success has been attributed to the application of Western business management styles to the Chinese market (e.g. Ng and Tidwell, 1995). Consequently, “no other market is considered more appetising or difficult” (Conley, 1996, p. 16).
Eastern and Western business practices differ in many ways. It has been suggested that doing business in China is like looking at a mirror image. What are considered “normal” Western business practices are conducted in an inverse way and, as if reflected in a mirror it is “often difficult to distinguish the shadows from reality” (Ambler, 1995, p. 24). Because people are used to applying their own cultural values to judge those from a different culture, cultural conflicts and misunderstandings occur regularly when business East meets business West. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical success factors necessary for successful business relationships in China.
Key success factors
Much advice is given in the literature for Western business managers who may be contemplating undertaking business in the East. O本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。