Case study: culture clash in the boardroom

Case Study: Culture Clash in the Boardroom

The Case Study – Culture Clash in the Boardroom – discusses about a big European Company, Almond, which has a venture in China. Even though the business is global, it follows the European standards. There is a cultural difference in China concerning the way they do business practices– they give gifts and get to know workers families, for example. Some things that are important to do by law in Europe are not important there and vice versa.
In the case, in an international event the executives of the company discussed about ethics, emphasizing that there was some rules to be followed in every venture`s country. The chairman of the venture wanted to give some commissions for a sale that would happen. But the practice was against the rules and standards of the company as a unit. Even though in China this practice can often happen, it is not ethic to bribe someone on the business environment. In the discussion, the chairman of the business mixed some of his believes of giving commission with safety procedures, alleging that these ones were unnecessary over expenses. As a result, this kind of behavior showed a different way of leading business practices between two people and two different cultures.
In order of growing in China and do business, the European chairman considered about giving some commission or entertainment for the sales employees, but the president of the China`s venture was totally against. According to him, in the future the ethics practices can give good results, especially being an example for the Chinese culture. The company could have an opportunity to show that really follow the rules and would not bend company`s standards regarding ethics and safety.
According to the expert, “there is no room for compromise on ethics” and “(...) “creating standardized processes allows you to outperform the competition”. The Chinese business is a difficult environment. In this situation both of the positions must