Toyoda’s Apology
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Akio Toyoda
Read more about Toyoda’s apology.
Grayson
Archive for the ‘CultureWizard Blog’ Category
Mary Kay, in China?
An article and video in the New York Times shows how an American beauty brand, Mary Kay, has been impacting women in China. Value placed on individualism and self-image is taking on a new life for women in Chinese urban agglomerations like Shenzen and Hangzhou. Culturally, women in rural China raise children and take care of their families, and beauty products are more or less a luxury. The great rural-urban migration signals a major shift in attitudes and values that are indicative of a new, evolving Chinese culture.
A fascinating New York Times video explains that these products also provide lessons in “how to lead one’s life, how to be happy, and how to look good while doing it.” The simple message aims to build women’s confidence and inspire ambition. Many women have moved to China’s urban centers without friends or family from their rural hometowns. They find Mary Kay’s community of sellers and customers, brought together in seminars and selling parties, is an important part of their transition into city life. Mary Kay beauty classes and meetings provide these women with a “safe space” to chat and make friends.
Wang Di, left, a national sales director, Paul Mak, president of Mary Kay China, and Xiang Jun Mei, another national sales director. Associated Press
How is this representative of the general cultural shift that China is experiencing during it’s era of new economic growth? The video states that many of these women, rural immigrants, strive to “project a new self-image that is modern, urban and sophisticated.” One Mary Kay beauty seminar attendee said, “my teacher at Mary Kay told me that successful people are usually extroverts, so I have tried to change.” Extroversion is not highly valued in Chinese culture, where collectivism and teamwork are emphasized from a young age, and conformity is an important virtue. How drastically different is the lifestyle Mary Kay saleswomen exude?
On the same subject, an article in the Asian Pacific Post states that Chinese “women are even more impressed by the way [Mary Kay] lived her life, from putting God and family ahead of her career to practicing the Golden Rule. This kind of connection is helping Mary Kay rapidly expand its sales force. And it‘s transforming this army of Chinese women into entrepreneurs, in a country where private enterprise is a relatively recent phenomenon.”
Read the New York Times article and watch the video here.
Sean
Globalizing the MBA
In a Financial Times article, an INSEAD professor writes about the changes that are crucial to the future of MBA programs.
“Two things need to change. MBA programmes need to become more global. Our research shows that high performance is evenly distributed across the world. Business schools thus need to scour the globe for role models, innovative ideas and the best students. The MBA curriculum and experience needs more global cases, more discussions of multicultural issues and more comparisons of international ways of doing business.”
This sounds a lot like what NYU’s Stern School of Business is trying to do. Are you in an MBA program that explores intercultural business skills and offers multicultural business projects? Do you agree that cultural competence, the ability to effectively communicate and work across cultures, is an important attribute of a modern MBA graduate? Let us know.
Click here to read the rest of the article.
Sean
A Sense of Culture: Touch
A New York Times article details scientific evidence that demonstrates the importance of touch as an important means of nonverbal communication, calling it a part of the “universal human vocabulary.” The article states that certain messages are communicated far more quickly and accurately through touch than through words. However, specific ways of using touch to convey a message is almost always culture-specific. For example, a hug is not the universal greeting between friends, nor is a hand-shake the worldwide greeting between people meeting for the first time.
What is interesting about this article is that it looks more closely at the benefit of touch as a recipient and how it impacts behavior. For example, it states that “students who received a supportive touch on the back or arm from a teacher were nearly twice as likely to volunteer in class as those who did not.” In another example, basketball “players who made contact with teammates most consistently and longest tended to rate highest on measures of performance, and the teams with those players seemed to get the most out of their talent.”
Are you conscious of the positive impact certain forms of touch can make?
Click here to jump to the article.
Sean
The Winter Olympics and Globalization
I wonder how many of you who watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics were struck, as I was, by how it is simultaneously the most global of events and yet the most nationally chauvinistic. Unlike the world that most of us live in, where intercultural cooperation is the pursuit and the prize, the Olympics emphasize competition between cultures and nations. The great irony, of course, is that globalization has taken the edge away from many national advantages that competing countries used to have. There are now many athletes and coaches playing and working across national lines. For example, the seismic shift from Russia to North America in awards for ice dancing (Canada taking gold and US taking silver) was aided by a pair of Russian émigré coaches. Many of the biathlon medalists are from France, Germany and Russia, despite the event’s obscure origins in the Norwegian military. The US team also made it to the podium for the first time in 86 years by winning a silver medal in the Nordic combined event, thanks to a new mixture of experts devoted to the sport. All of this provides additional testimony to the power of globalization and its continuous impact. Let us know your thoughts.
-Mike Schell
China’s Candidate for Global Gay Competition
China’s first gay pride festival took place last summer in Shanghai, which was forcefully shut down after it started, but was a majorly important event for the country.
This year, according to the New York Times, a Chinese contestant joined the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition, hailing from Xinjiang, a majority Muslim region of Western China and where homosexuality is forbidden by religion. His pageant name is Xiaodai Muyi. After successfully getting a Norwegian visa, he flew to Oslo to partake in the competition.
Xiaodai Muyi, China's contestant in the competition. Photo by Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
While Chinese authorities shutdown the Mr. Gay China pageant, which was the group charged with sending a candidate to the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition, it was still able to quietly make a decision.
“After the cancellation, we thought our attempt to educate the Chinese public had failed for now,” said an organizer of Mr. Gay China. “By sending someone to Oslo, I guess we’re sending out a message to the world that still China is able to send a representative.”
The fact that the Global Times, a Chinese newspaper, published an article on his participation in the Worldwide Mr. Gay competition says something about the publication’s perception of the matter. The tone of the article is positive, and it focuses on the inspiration Xiaodai Muyi has given to members of various LGBT groups in China, rather than focusing on what Chinese authorities have had to say.
Have you seen any trends in China’s gay culture? How does it blend with Chinese national culture?
Click here to read the article.
Sean
Taciturn Toyota Culture
In the Wall Street Journal, an article highlights the “secretive” culture of Toyota in relation to a series of recalls.
“Toyota is still very much run by its Japan headquarters, despite being active in the U.S. since 1957. Top leadership doesn’t include U.S. executives. The Toyota officials who run the recall process are in Japan.”
Because of this, Toyota’s US operations have not been able to react swiftly to safety issues that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has identified.
According to a person familiar with the matter, “what has really happened is a breakdown in communications within Toyota” between its D.C. office and Japan headquarters. “The Washington office didn’t have the information it needed to provide to the government.”
Around 130,000 Toyota Prius cars are involved in a global recall because of its braking system.
Why is this? While many of the facts are missing, a comment about cultural norms would shed some light on this issue. Communication in Japanese culture is quite indirect, and very hierarchical, which creates an obvious gap in understanding, e.g. when an American team is working remotely with a Japanese team. Certain information may be only for privileged executives, thus leaving a foreign team of less senior individuals out of the loop. Mistakes are viewed in a more negative light by collectivistic or group-oriented cultures, as in Japan, thus people will strive to avoid giving bad news or making direct confrontations to save face and to maintain harmony.
It will be interesting to see where exactly communication broke down for Toyota. Where do you think is may have occurred?
Click here to jump to the article.
Josh
Mumbai’s Luxury Car Show
Check out an Economic Times video on this event in Mumbai. In its second year, the “Parx Super Car Show 2010″ saw a huge increase in interest from luxury car manufacturers (e.g. Lamborghini, Maserati, Rolls Royce and BMW) than it did in 2009.
There was a pronounced interest from visitors to the show in knowing what wealthy individuals drive. One commentator, Bollywood star Sohail Khan, said that once the roads in Mumbai are improved, he envisioned seeing many more luxury cars on the streets of the city.
Sean
Changing Attitudes in China
Asia Business Media, a blog that focuses on B2B media and business information in Asia, posted on an interesting talk by James McGregor earlier this week at the US Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. As a media professional and an American expatriate in China, he offered his thoughts on changing attitudes that the Chinese have never been known for in the past.
Beijing
According to the blog, “[McGregor] believes that the arrogance that was once a less-than-appealing feature of U.S. businesses abroad has been adopted by the Chinese at an alarming rate.” These attitudes represent a smaller, yet powerful portion of the country. Oftentimes, culture is influenced by entities of power, e.g. industry and media, so the implications of a more arrogant sphere of business may gradually prove to be an influential force in popular, mass Chinese culture.
Among other observations, McGregor added that Chinese officials are increasingly implementing policies to favor Chinese businesses over foreign businesses, and that the government is encouraging “indigenous innovation.” The competition for market share will be increasingly important for indigenous organizations in China, but are these observations a foreshadow of Chinese hegemony? How can cultural awareness help us understand Chinese attitudes towards the world, and towards globalization?
Mike
Female Bankers in India
The New York Times reports that despite the challenge women face to become leaders of banks in New York and London, many women fill senior positions in India. “HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and Fidelity International in India are run by women. So is the country’s second-biggest bank, Icici Bank, and its third-largest, Axis Bank.”
Chanda Kochhar, chief executive of Icici Bank
This may come as a surprise, for many families in certain parts of India favor boys over girls. According to female professionals in the industry, “India provided the right combination of supportive, mostly male, managers and a diverse work environment that did not require them to be ‘one of the boys’ to succeed.” The freedom from conforming to a stereotypically masculine banker persona, which is prevalent in Western banks, has allowed women to climb the ladder in their own way, which isn’t to say that they are exempt from hard work and long hours.
A managing partner from head-hunting firm EMA said that “bosses sometimes gravitate toward women in India because they think ‘women are less corruptible, more straightforward and above board most of the time.’” How does this view of women differ in other cultures?
How do you think Indian culture influences the success of women in this industry? How does culture in other parts of the world make it more difficult for women to attain the same positions? The article reminds us that “there are no women leading major American or European banks, and no woman has ever run a Wall Street investment bank.”
Click here to read the article.
Valerie
Categories: CultureWizard Blog female bankers, icici bank, indian banks, indian culture, women leaders
NYU’s New Global Focus
A BusinessWeek article explains how new Dean Peter Henry of New York University’s (NYU) Stern School of Business plans to re-focus the school towards industries outside of finance. Since the troubled financial industry is no longer the best option for new job hunters, Henry plans to transform the school’s orientation into one that is global, equipping its students with the skills to go beyond the environs of New York.
Dean Peter Henry
Henry moved to the US from Jamaica when he was 9 years old. He “…knows how to assimilate and adjust to new cultures, and he wants Stern students to do the same.” One of his challenges will be to develop the academic materials and courses required to produce the kinds of graduates that global organizations want.
Click here to jump to the article.
Grayson
Culture Defined
I’m frequently asked—professionally and socially—about our definition of culture—what it is, where it comes from and how culture affects interaction with colleagues. Here is the definition that we find works best: a deep-seated set of values and beliefs shared by a society that define a sense of right and wrong, good and bad, appropriate and inappropriate behavior.
Delving into the meaning of cultural awareness, the “Golden Rule” of “do unto others what you would like to be done unto you” might best be modified to “do unto others as they would like you to do unto them.” Of course, this means you need to know a little about their cultural values and preferences. The important thing is to recognize that culture represents intrinsic beliefs and values, which impact behavior. Combined with personal style, being attuned to these factors allows us to be culturally astute and professionally successful in 2010 and beyond.
Mike Schell
Dubai: New UN HQ?
An opinion piece on Forbes.com suggests moving the UN from New York City to Dubai. Aside from the argument that the UN is a drain on New York’s economy, “the U.N. may be leaving anyway. A relocation committee has recommended that the organization move temporarily to Singapore by 2015. It will be hard to vacate Asia again for New York, which is far away from the bulk of the world’s largest population centers.”
Photo by Sean Dubberke
The writer argues that the ruling al-Maktoum family has developed one of the most impressive, modern cityscapes to date. A truly global city, the population comprises a majority of foreign nationals. “Sheikh Mohammed could offer to build a United Nations City to house the U.N. in any number of vacant office towers. Business Bay has 65 million square feet of office space under construction in more than 200 high-rises. Dubai already has thousands of newly constructed apartments that await the international delegates. More than 2 billion people in Africa, Europe and Asia are within a six-hour flight from Dubai.”
The argument is persuasive, but how would this change Dubai in the long term? How would New York handle the loss of UN workers? The culturally diverse population of Dubai and the UAE would certainly suit an organization like the UN, but how would this affect the region, which may not share the same visionary future?
Click here to jump to the article.
Sean
Avatar in China
The front page of The Hindu earlier this week featured an article called “In China, Avatar finds unlikely resonance.”
“…Many film critics and bloggers have…been struck by the close resonance the film’s plotline has had for many cinema-goers here.” Powerful real estate companies in China have forcefully moved residents off land in some of the worst human rights offenses on the country’s record. The article displays some interesting opinions Chinese viewers have had on the movie, including one person that found the movie unoriginal from a Chinese perspective.
Click here to jump to the article.
Updated on January 20, 2010: Click here to read an article in the New York Times on the multitude of cultural reactions people have had to Avatar around the world.
Joshua
RW3 CultureWizard is “Taking the Bite Out of Moving Overseas”
An Investor’s Business Daily article this past weekend poses the following question: Why is it hard for American companies to expand overseas? Simply put, “mastering cultural differences and understanding European, Asian or Latin American customers affect bottom-line results.” So, if nothing is invested in cultural learning, business will not build the momentum it needs to achieve the success it took to expand in the first place.
“Americans think if they are well-intentioned and go overseas or anywhere, they’ll be successful. Being well-intentioned isn’t enough,” said Charlene Solomon, EVP of RW3 Culturewizard who co-authored Managing Across Cultures with CEO Michael Schell. Solomon says that “businesspeople need to understand cultural differences and pinpoint what global customers want from their product.”
Wal-Mart considers local tastes in selling crocodiles at a Sam's Club in Guangzhou, China. AP
One of the most important tips Schell and Solomon offered is to “honor the local culture as exemplified by McDonald’s buying local produce and ingredients rather than having them shipped in.” Knowing the customer in an intimate way, as one would more naturally do in their native country, is absolutely essential. Developing a global mindset is a core competency for all members of an organization, management especially, in the 21st century.
Click here to jump to the article.
Josh