Globalization Effects And International Cross-cultural Communication Countermeasures

The phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy has been recognized universally in the international community. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the various sectors of the Chinese economy is considered as one of the key driving forces of this unparalleled miracle. Nonetheless, China's rapid economic growth will not be sustainable in the absence of distinctive competitive advantage beyond cheap labour. China is acting to address pressing issues confronting its agriculture and this initiative has resulted in shortage of cheap labour in coastal cities as Chinese farmers choose to return to jobs in their own rural communities. The Chinese must be cautious as China's status as the world's largest manufacturing heartland in the long run might be challenged and replaced by competing third world economies in possession of cheaper labour. Localization of thinking and action is one of the success factors for those foreign businesses who have found a way to succeed in the highly competitive Chinese market as the way things work in China fundamentally differ from that in the West. Likewise, it would be imperative that Chinese bring what they do in line with Western business practices and westernize their thinking and actions in order to bring in more FDI. Effective cross-cultural communication skills will help do the trick in this regard. Drawing on his 7 year working for the Government of Canada as a Trade Commissioner, the author feels that poor cross cultural communications represent a strong obstacle in China's effort to attract more FDI into its economy. This thesis gets the show on the road by justifying the author's view that globalization is one of the drivers for China to open up its economy to the international community and subsequently elaborates on mostly recognized and acceptable cross cultural communication theories. On the basis of these theories, the author draws on a large number of real and representative business cases happened in Canada's bilateral collaborations with Southwest China since the inception of the Canadian Consulate in 1997 to reflect on his views stated above. A host of concrete and instructive recommendations and suggestions are offered in relation to China's undertaking of international endeavors and initiatives. The core component of views expressed in this thesis is that the Chinese must learn how to switch in between domestic and international versions of their thinking and action, increase their sensitivity and adaptiveness to cultural differences and thus minimize the gap between what the Chinese do with Western business practices. Improvement of cross-cultural communications in China is essential should the country manage to bring in more FDI into its economy.