Culture Briefing for Potential New Business Venture

Introduction3

Discussion3

Location and Size4

History4

Prehistory4

Early Dynastic Rule5

Imperial China5

Republic of China5

People's Republic of China6

Political and Economic System6

Language8

Traditions9

Chinese New Year9

Qing Ming Festival9

Dragon Boat Festival10

Qi Xi Festival10

Mid Autumn Moon Festival10

Independence Day Festival11

Values, Ethics, Culture and Lifestyle11

Business Practices11

Leading Tips12

Punctuality12

Structure and Hierarchy12

Business Relationship12

Etiquettes13

Conclusion13

References15

Culture Briefing for Potential New Business Venture

Introduction

Culture is a strong factor an entrepreneur should analyze, especially when 'starting a new business venture' is considered. Culture revolves around the societies' values, views, thoughts, literacy levels, fears, worries, loyalties and hopes; all under a wider framework of a cultural theme. Every country has its own culture which substantially implicates how that culture does business, shared by relatively a large group of people which, in broader sense, cultivated by people through their learned and accumulated experiences. It consists of patterns, both implicit and explicit, which are shown through distinctive achievements of human groups, embodiments of artifacts and attached values. Following essay highlights most important factors to be considered by an entrepreneur before stepping onto a new business internationally.

Discussion

“We are what we repeatedly do”, is the saying by Aristotle. There have been assorted ideas by scholars regarding organizational culture. Although many have defined this substantial term with their valuable descriptions, some have defined the characteristics by the help of diagrams and charts. Geert Hofstede (1997) defined culture as, “the collective programming of mind which separates the members of one group of people from another” and further defined it by the help of the Onion diagram consisting of layers; Edgar Schien (1992) defined culture consisting of artefacts, underlying assumptions and espoused values which surrounds the framework of culture. Deal & Kennedy (1982), Johnson & Scholes (1999) and Kotter (2008) define culture in more details steps; and so on. Following are some break-up contents to put a better light onto the matter regarding doing business in a certain nation. This report puts light on China and its culture in detail.

Location and Size

China, generally known as People's Republic of China, is a sovereign country located in the East Asia's densely populated region with an entitlement of being the world's densely populated country itself, with a population of over 1.3 billion according to the official figures from consensus (2010). It is governed by a single party and exercises its jurisdiction in 22 provinces (claims Taiwan as its 23rd) with estimated 9.6million square kilometers of covered land declaring world's second largest country by land area.

History

The history of China is expanded into five great divisions on the basis of time ranges: Prehistory, Early dynastic Rule, Imperial China, End of Dynasty Rule, Republic of China and People's Republic of China.

Prehistory

According to archeologists, it has been learned that the signs of inhabitants suggest a wide span of Chinese prehistory ranging between 0.25-2.24 million years ago (EHTC, 2000). Remains of fossils were found at a cave, where the present Beijing exists, which prompt confirmation of existence of civilization from as old as 3000 B.C. It is evident that the foremost imperial of Chinese dynasty was Xia, which in ancient chronicles regarded ...