Why Cross-Border Business is Good for Culture and the Bottom Line

It’s in Both Country’s Interest to Better Understand Each Other, and Business Circumvents Tough Political Channels

One of my dreams has been to work in some capacity doing cross border business between the US and China. They are two of the world’s most dynamic economies, and both have entrepreneurs with an infectious passion for building new technologies and businesses. The top internet companies by valuation in 2018 is telling: China is charging up the list.

Part of my desire to work in the cross-border space is driven by the professional opportunities it affords: China’s influence on the world is only likely to increase, so those that can navigate both countries should run into some unique opportunities.

But on a longer term and more macro scale — cross border business is a way to build mutual understanding between both populations. When the political process breaks down, the individuals who get to interact and solve business challenges together become great ambassadors of each other’s cultures.

I experienced this first hand working on BitTiger, where 70% of the company was either based in China or were relatively recent first-generation Chinese immigrants. We went through the ups and downs of start-up life, clashed over cultural differences, taught each other new phrases in Mandarin/English, came up with creative product and marketing solutions, and learned a ton from each other in the process.

I encourage other Americans to seek out similar mixed teams as a golden opportunity to learn about a country that will most likely be impacting your life profoundly for the decades to come. There’s just no way to replace direct interaction and teamwork with learning about another country or people remotely through traditional media.

The Competitive Advantage of Having a Foot on Both Sides

The blending of operational expertise and capacity not only brings better cultural understanding, but real bottom-line benefits.

One great example of a US-based companies taking advantage of a true cross-border team is Lime, a rapidly growing mobility startup that brings the hardware expertise and supply chain ability of China and local execution teams in the US to be an explosive success. The team took key lessons from the explosion of bike sharing in China, and adapted it to other markets quite successfully.

• Manufacturing and prototyping is done in China, where there are extremely sophisticated hardware supply chains
• Local teams are dispersed to interface with each municipality one-by-one, and conduct deployments that fit each unique marketplace (a more localized approach that let them beat large Chinese competitors like Mobike and Ofo)

Lime has now secured hundreds of millions in funding, and is in dozens of cities around the world. Investors should keep an eye out for other businesses that can gain a competitive edge with through similar value-add from cross-border expertise. Other recognized operational advantages from Chinese management style include:

• Mobile first development
• Social eCommerce
• Operational speed: quickly iterating new products on a relatively open-minded user base

Key Takeaways

• Collaboration through business across the US and China is an excellent way to promote mutual understanding between two countries when traditional channels break down
• Investors should look to those that can gain a competitive edge by taking the “best of both worlds” in terms of strategic and managerial approach

Originally published on The ZMTD