The business cultures of Russia and China

As a marketer, we need to deal with different people even through the foreigners. Therefore, we need to understand the business cultures come from different place. Now I will take Russia and China for the example and analysis it from beliefs, negotiation, business entertaining and punctuality.

Beliefs come as the first factor of divergence between China and Russia. These two countries both contain so many ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups, but beliefs in them are not the same. In Russia, the people fear the number 13 very much. They think it is the symbol of danger and death. So businessmen avoid this number when they are working. Maybe they fear 13 will cause bad results. By contrast, the Russians treat the number 7 as a lucky number and it means happiness and success (Xu，2011). However, Chinese don’t like the number 4, because of the pronunciation of four in China is the same as death. But Chinese like the number 8, which means to earn lots of money. In general, old people are more superstitious than young ones and you need to pay more attention to them.

Furthermore, negotiation also plays an important role in the differences of Russia and China. In Russia, “Russians would rather out-sit the other negotiator — — and gain more concession from the other side” (Morrison & Conaway, 2006, p.421). They usually don’t believe that your price is reasonable. Besides, the Russians are “factual and include all levels of technical detail” (Morrison & Conaway, 2006, p.421). They may ask for all kinds of things such as design drawing, parts lists, and service guides and so on. And they are very careful in the use of contract terms. On the other hand, Chinese businessmen usually listen to customers talking about the downside of the products instead of advertising their products. They like to be patient and modest.

In addition, business entertaining is different between Russia and China. In Russia, people always invite others for supper. Russia is in the North of Europe and Asia, so Russians like to eat salty, sour, hot, or oily food, such as black bread, caviar, and sour cucumber. Because of their tolerance and open hearts, the Russians prefer to drink strong wine. “Russians are very confident of their ability to drink heavily and still remain clear!”(Morrison & Conaway, 2006, p.422). Russians’ favorite wine is vodka. If you can show them your drinking ability to them, it must be easier to conduct business.

On the other hand, in China, business lunches are more and more popular. They like to have an extravagant meal for entertaining. The Chinese have different taste in food if they come from different places. In most cases, the northern people like salty food while the southern people like sweet. What’s more, “toasting is popular in China” (Morrison & Conaway, 2006, p.96). It can show your respect if you know how to toast others.

Ultimately, another custom we cannot ignore is the difference of punctuality between Russia and China. As the saying goes, details are the key of success. So we should to pay attention to punctuality even if it is just a small matter. In Russia, people ”always are punctual, but do not be surprised if the Russians are not on time. It is not unusual for Russians to be fifteen to thirty minutes late”. Someone says that Russians like to drink strong drink, so they are often late because of inebriation. Nevertheless in China, people think highly of punctuality. “Not only for business meeting, but for social occasions as well” (Morrison & Conaway, 2006, p.110). The Chinese regard punctuality as a virtue.

In conclusion, to make a better communication and corporation, it’s indeed necessary for both sides to learn and comprehend the other’s cultural differences.

References

Morrison,T.& Conaway, W. A.(2006). Kiss,Bow or shake hands (2nd). Avon, MA: Aven Media.

Xu, J. (2011, Aug 21). Local conditions and customs. Retrieved from http://expo.ce.cn/zt/neasiaexpo7/07/10/201108/21/t20110821_22635105.shtml