The Beijing Olympics have had a great impact on the city of Beijing, where a large infrastructure refurbishment initiative, fresh developments and a massive English language training campaign have been some of the elements of a drastic change and an amazing source of business opportunities for both local and foreign companies. Shanghai, with its upcoming Universal Exposition in 2010 is going through the same face-list, with the replenishment…

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By Terri Morgan

Problems that may result from cultural differences in business are compounded by the fact that even though a native speaker of one language has learned the other person’s language, he or she may not have been sufficiently exposed to actual usage of the target language. Mistakes in usage can occur even when grammar and pronunciation are correct.

Until recently, few Americans had been directly exposed to Chinese language and even fewer had learned how to speak Chinese. This is changing. Beginning in the 21st century, more and more people outside China have begun learning the language.

It is important to distinguish ethnicity, nationality, and language. This is done naturally by most western people since western nations have many generations of immigrants from varied ethnic backgrounds. An American whose grandparents immigrated to the US from China may not speak Chinese at all or could be learning it as a second language. It is not as common for Chinese people to make these distinctions. Read the rest of “Language and Communication in China” or post a comment

Has China changed? Companies bet millions on the answer, but it’s the wrong question. You should ask if Chinese have changed. China has changed; the Chinese haven’t.

Amazing changes! New politico/economic system. New laws, social structures, buildings and consumption patterns, different clothes. Sound familiar? It should—it’s happened twice in 100 years!

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By Frank Gallo

General

Leadership is always important, but during a crisis, leadership is critical. This is where leaders truly earn their pay. Any crisis is very distracting to workers. In an economic crisis, workers worry about many things – What about me? What about my job, my salary, my benefits?

In China, the leadership challenge is more complicated than in other places around the globe. Despite the short-term gloom, the long-term future in China remains quite bright. Unlike the United States and Europe, where the corporate focus is on layoffs and other reductions, China will be making their cuts more strategically – not wholesale like in the West. Furthermore, the crisis is making more foreign companies continue to look at countries like China for investment. Even though costs are growing here, it is still a less expensive place to do business than in the West. Read the rest of “Leadership in an Economic Downturn in China” or post a comment

By Praveen Bhadada

In my last blog, “India & China: The offshoring Race”, I had mentioned about the vast R&D talent pool available in China as well as in India. In terms of the installed base, the current numbers are in favour of India. However, in terms of fresh talent pool availability, China is better off as compared to India. But, unlike IT services, R&D is not purely a number game. Domain expertise and relevant experience (functional skills) are much required in the case of R&D activities, and these determine the kind of work that is offshored to a particular location across the globe.

Unlike India, China’s organizational model does not follow a pyramid structure; it is more skewed at the top where there is talent deficit and at the bottom levels there is a surplus of talent. Read the rest of “R&D in China: What More Can the World Expect” or post a comment