Through different eyes – Learnings from kiwis doing agribusiness in China

Abstract

During 2013 and 2014, I interviewed 28 New Zealanders, 1 Australian, and 9 Chinese, mostly in senior management positions, from 25 agribusinesses that had been operating in and/or exporting to China, to identify cross-cultural challenges within the agri-food business sector. It was evident that the confusions and frustrations Westerners experienced in their business dealings in China are the result of diff erent world views that Chinese people possess compared to Westerners. Chinese people’s contextual world view has led to their pragmatic approach which then creates an environment that reinforces their cultural values and structures – an environment in which all actions and communications are understood within context, and words often convey messages which go beyond or even contradict their face values. Characteristics such as hierarchy and ambiguity become part of the social norm, concepts such as guanxi and face are part of the social currency, and behaviours such as avoiding confl icts and ‘going with the fl ow’ are accepted as common social actions. All of these elements thrive within a self-reinforcing sociological system which appears contradictory to non-Chinese. This presents challenges for foreign businesses.