Intercultural differences between Chinese and Americans in business

As business relationships with China increase, management of multinational enterprises and joint ventures in the U.S. and in China realizes that success depends on attention to cultural differences. This article was written by a Chi-nese professor of business communication who benefited from a business internship in San Francisco and an American professor of finance who wit-nessed cultural differences in business during a recent exchange visit in Shanghai. The article highlights several cultural differences that promote understanding and reduce the difficulties of dealing with these disparate cul-tures. The Chinese point of view of these cultural differences makes this article uniquely valuable. SINCE DOMESTIC and multinational corporations are nowI N E E S T I C marketing their products and services around the world, an under-standing of intercultural differences has become evident. Managers of multinational corporations and joint ventures have to negotiate, oper-ate, and make strategic plans that adapt to cultural differences in each environment. Considerable research on cultural differences between Americans and foreign nationals in business situations (DiBella, 1993; Mishra &amp