Tony Fang

A critique of Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension

Using indigenous knowledge of Chinese culture and philosophy, this article critiques Geert Hofstede’s fifth national culture dimension, i.e. ‘Confucian dynamism’, also referred to as ‘long-term orientation’. The basic premise on which the dimension is founded is scrutinized and the way in which this index has been constructed is assessed in detail. It is argued that there is a philosophical flaw inherent in this ‘new’ dimension. Given this fatal flaw and other methodological weaknesses, the usefulness of Hofstede’s fifth dimension is doubted. The article concludes by calling for new visions and perspectives in our cross cultural research.

From “onion” to “ocean”: paradox and change in national cultures

Differing from the dominant bipolar paradigm of analyzing national cultures, this paper champions a dialectical approach that sees each national culture as having a life of its own full of dynamics and paradoxes. The paper calls for shifting our mindset from the Cold War “onion” way of analyzing culture to a new “ocean” way of understanding culture to capture the dynamics of national cultures and international cross-cultural management in the age of globalization.

Negotiating with the Chinese: a socio-cultural analysis

China has been one of the most favorite markets for Western firms for the last decade. However, doing business with China is considered difficult, mainly because negotiating with Chinese counterparts is quite complex. This paper analyses the negotiation process with China from a socio-cultural perspective. A Swedish multinational, Ericsson, is followed for several years and its negotiation process for different Chinese projects in the telecommunication industry is studied in depth. Based on these cases and literature a model is developed and some conclusions are drawn. Finally, managerial implications presented as four Ps: Priority, Patience, Price and People sum up the essence of Chinese business negotiation process.

Assessing the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in emerging Asian markets

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to develop an alternative approach to researching the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in Asian markets.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual approach is taken.Findings – The paper has argued that in Asian markets culture can be better understood on the basis of cultural groupings (e.g. ethnic grouping) than on politically defined and artificially created national boundaries. The assessment and comparison of cultural differences and similarities in Asia can be conducted by using an “enlarged” emic approach. Given the idiosyncratic nature of relationships and the increasing significance of the emic contexts enriched by globalisation, the proposed approach is likely to generate a better understanding of the impact of culture on relationship creation and network formation in emerging Asian markets.Practical implications – Managers doing business in emerging Asian markets need to go beyond traditional national culture stereotypes to...

Negotiation : the Chinese style.

Purpose – To examine the nature of Chinese business negotiating style in Sino‐Western business negotiations in business‐to‐business markets involving large industrial projects from a social cultural point of view.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual approach developed from personal interviews.Findings – This study reveals that the Chinese negotiator does not possess an absolute negotiating style but rather embraces a mixture of different roles together: “Maoist bureaucrat in learning”, “Confucian gentleman”, and “Sun Tzu‐like strategist”. The Chinese negotiating strategy is essentially a combination of cooperation and competition (termed as the “coop‐comp” negotiation strategy in this study). Trust is the ultimate indicator of Chinese negotiating propensities and role choices.Research limitations/implications – The focus of this study is on Chinese negotiating style shown in large B2B negotiations with Chinese SOEs.Originality/value – Differing from most other studies on Chinese negotiating style wh...

Editorial Cross Cultural Management in the Age of Globalization

Globalization is reshaping our modes of thinking and ways of behaving and foster-ing cultural change in societies. While some scholars (cf. Harrison, 2006; Harrison and Huntington, 2000) may argue over a ‘clash of cultures’, it seems just as relevant to focus on the ways in which cultures may learn from each other, even inspire each other where the beauty of cultural differences and cultur-al collisions is applauded (Fang, in press; Soderberg and Holden, 2002). At the same time, some scholars argue that a world cul-ture (Lechner and Boli, 2005) or global cul-ture (Arnett, 2002; Bird and Stevens, 2003) is emerging and that it threatens the existence of national cultures.This special section on ‘Cross Cultural Management in the Age of Globalization’ aims at providing a forum to examine what globalization means for cross cultural man-agement with a special focus on the evolution of our understanding of national culture and cultural change. We attempt to avoid a sim-plistic and sweeping ‘either-or’ debate over convergence vs. divergence. Instead, we give importance to understanding the paradoxi-cal and evolving conceptualizations of cul-tures and their implications for cross cultural management theory and practice.To put the discussion into perspective, it is useful to consider the changing trends in the cultural research pantheon. In the 19th cen-tury, Sir Francis Galton first introduced the problem of cultural group independence in his work on correlation. He noted that cultural groups could not be considered truly independ-ent from one another because the processes of cultural transfusion created relationships that cannot be easily disentangled (Lindridge, 2005). Consequently, research came to focus on cultures

Parachuting internationalization: a study of four Scandinavian firms entering China

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a “parachuting internationalization” metaphor as an alternative strategy that firms may choose to enter foreign markets compared to Uppsala Model and Born Global Model. This proposed new metaphor seeks to integrate the Uppsala and the Born Global Models to show that firms can attain success in the age of globalization if they are adept at devising creative strategies that help them overcome the challenges in a psychically distant environment. Design/methodology/approach This is a research paper that develops theoretical perspectives inspired by the Yin Yang thinking as well as the “thick descriptive” multiple case studies. Findings “Parachuting internationalization” embraces essential elements of the Born Global and the Uppsala Models and refers to a firm’s strategic targeting of markets with great potentials, correct positioning, swift actions, and fast learning, thus enabling the firm to circumvent the conventional wisdom of liability of foreignness, cultural distance, and psychic distance. “Parachuting internationalization” is essentially a GLOCAL approach which can be implemented in practice in terms of global vision, location, opportunity, capital, accelerated cultural learning and quick action, and logistics. Research limitations/implications The “parachuting internationalization” metaphor is derived from interviews with four Scandinavian firms’ experiences that have entered into the Chinese market. This research reveals that two seemingly opposite approaches, i.e., the Born Global and the Uppsala Models, can be fruitfully combined and reconciled to generate a third novel approach. Originality/value To date, there has been little attempt to reconcile and/or integrate the Born Global and the Uppsala Models of internationalization. The paper enriches the ongoing debate on the internationalization of firms in the international business literature that has relied primarily on the Uppsala Model or Born Global Model. The study shows that a third way, i.e. the “parachuting internationalization” is both theoretically innovative and practically feasible.

East Asian wisdom and relativity: Inter-ocular testing of Schwartz values from WVS with extension of the ReVaMB model

Purpose The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, the paper demonstrates how inter-ocular testing (looking at the data) of Schwartz values from world values study (WVS) provides a surprisingly different picture to what the authors would expect from traditional mean comparison testing (t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA)). Second, the authors suggest that the ReVaMB model can be applied to an East Asian philosophical perspective. Relativity, the authors argue, is a factor when East Asian wisdom, philosophies and ideologies (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Legalism) “drive” outcomes such as work ethic. Third, the paper serves as an editorial to a special issue in CCSM on East Asian wisdom and its impact on business culture and performance in a cross-cultural context. Common themes are Yin Yang, how different cultures deal with paradox, and Zhong Yong, with accompanying concerns of how to conceptualise and deal with balance of opposites. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted ten variables of the Schwartz values scales used in the WVS and subjected them to principle components analysis to reduce the number of variables. The authors found a two-factor solution: one relating to personal material success and adventure and excitement; another relating to success and personal recognition. The authors labelled these factors as Altruism and Hedonism. The analysis is based on an overall sample of 84,692 respondents in 60 countries. In addition to traditional statistical testing, the authors conduct inter-ocular testing. The authors also suggest that the ReVaMB model can be applied to East Asian wisdom. Findings Three recommendations help to arrive at more accurate conclusions when comparing groups: the authors recommend to aspire to “consistent look and statistic”. If the data distribution does not agree with the statistics, then the researcher should take a closer look. To avoid misinterpreting statistics and other analysis, the authors recommend inter-ocular testing, i.e. eyeballing data in a scientific fashion. The authors provide specific examples how to do that. The authors recommend to test for common-language effect size (CLE), and also recommend a new rule of thumb, i.e. a split of 60/40 as minimum difference to make any generalisation; 70/30 is worth considering. The rule of thumb contributes to better differentiation between real and “not real” differences. Originality/value The authors introduce two concepts: the “inter-ocular test”, which simply means to “look at your data”, and the Chinese word, 错觉 (Cuojue) which roughly translates to “illusion”, “wrong impression”, or “misconception”. This study argues against accepting simplistic averages for data analysis. The authors provide evidence that an inter-ocular test provides a more comprehensive picture of data when comparing groups rather than simply relying on traditional statistical mean comparison testing. The “word of caution” is to avoid premature conclusions on group comparisons with statistical testing alone. The authors also propose an extension of the original ReVaMB model from a confucian orientation to a broad East Asian philosophical perspective. Culture does determine attitudes and behaviour which in turn contribute to the shaping of cultures, depending on situation, context, location and time. The “context” for a situation to occur should be tested as moderators, for example, between East Asian wisdom (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Legalism) and behavioural or attitudinal dimensions such as work ethic.

Managing paradoxes, dilemmas, and change: A case study to apply the Yin Yang wisdom in Western organizational settings

Drawing on Fang’s (2012) Yin Yang theory of culture while taking up the roadmap proposed by Li (2016) for applying the epistemological system of Yin Yang balancing to complex issues in management research, in general, and to paradoxical issues, in particular, the purpose of this paper is to explore how organizations and individuals in the West can balance cultural paradoxes and manage culture dilemmas through the lens of Yin Yang wisdom.,The paper is based on a qualitative case study. Data are gathered through interviews, documents, and field observations in four subsidiaries of an Italian insurance multinational corporation and were analyzed according to the three parameters, i.e., situation, context, and time (Fang, 2012).,The findings show how the integration and learning from seemingly opposite cultures and sets of values lead the organization and individuals to balancing cultural paradox and managing cultural dilemma effectively. With regard to situation, the authors find that both organizations and customers choose the most relevant value(s) to take advantage of specific events or circumstances, and that different value orientations can coexist. As for context, the authors show that organizations can adapt their values either through suppression and/or promotion, which can foster individuals to find new balancing within the paradox. In terms of time, the authors show that the process of learning from other cultures over time can play a role in the shift of people’s and organizations’ choices of attitudes and value orientations.,The paper suggests the relevance and usefulness of adopting Yin Yang wisdom to uncover the dynamic process of cultural learning in Western scenarios.

International business negotiations in Brazil

Purpose - The purpose of this study was to explore an innovative strategy for studying the Brazilian negotiators unique and paradoxical characteristics from a cultural point of view to acquire a b ...