Camille Schuster

No matter how far communication technology advances, cultural differences will still be a challenge to businesspeople worldwide, said Camille Schuster, professor of marketing at California State University in San Marcos during an online seminar organized by the Decatur-based India, China and America Institute. 

“We’re not a global village.  I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon.  We aren’t becoming similar in the kinds of values we have very quickly,” she said, adding that most people develop a values system between ages 7 and 10 that is not likely to change suddenly.

The seminar was part of an ongoing series of online seminars, or “Webinars,” conducted by the institute on doing business in China and India under the title, “Tap into Chindia.”

Dr. Schuster said that a values system provides the basis for making decisions. 

She described the American way of business as the “John Wayne style,” referring to a style of direct communication between business partners, the great level of independence and the decision-making power of individuals in the United States.  Dr. Schuster added that this firm, no-nonsense style is based on a strong sense of what is right or wrong in a given situation.

This differs from Chinese and Indian business cultures, which are highly nuanced and require more subtlety.

An important legal distinction is the difference between bribery and “grease payments,” which are paid in these countries not to affect someone’s decision-making but to speed the process of dealing with government.

“There’s a tremendous amount of red tape, if you give a small present, to encourage them to do your work before someone else’s, that’s a grease payment, that’s okay,” Dr. Schuster said. 

She added that a typical grease payment would be given to an official to get perishable goods through customs more quickly.  Dr. Schuster recommended that companies interested in doing business in either country consult experts in the Chinese and Indian legal systems to learn the distinctions.

She also noted a key difference in face-to-face relations in India and China.  Politeness between American and Chinese or Indian businesspeople is not necessarily a sign of a good relationship because maintaining mutual respect is a given. 

“In China and India hierarchy and harmony are important.  While being tactful is certainly a trait of U.S. businesspeople, respecting hierarchy and harmony is a more pervasive and deep-seated value,” Dr. Schuster told GlobalAtlanta following the seminar.

Companies that do not adapt to other ways of doing business can offend potential foreign partners and find themselves shut out of the trade process.  She said that this shutting out would occur not by overt rudeness, but by the subtle cancellation of meetings and lack of invitation to social events.

As a part of maintaining harmony in a relationship, both Chinese and Indians acknowledge the idea that there are many different perspectives and truths operating in the world at the same time, none of which are right or wrong.  Understanding this idea of multiple realities can be crucial when negotiating deals with Chinese or Indian companies.

“The yes you’re given very quickly means nothing,” said Dr. Schuster, adding that it is necessary for American businesspeople to “find a way to probe more deeply.”

Chinese, according to Dr. Schuster, is a “high-contact” language in that the meanings of words can change depending on the context in which they are used.

Indian businesspeople have a greater knowledge of the English language due to the colonization of the country by the British from the 19^th century to 1947 and many well-educated Indian businesspeople “pride themselves on using words in a clever way,” forcing foreign partners to pay close attention to what is being said, according to Dr. Schuster.

She added that Chinese and Indian businesspeople place a greater emphasis on company hierarchy than most Americans, restricting what decisions individuals can make in a company.

Meetings and social events will most likely include company representatives of varying importance, making it essential for American companies to send negotiators in groups with members of varying ranks in the company to develop relationships with their foreign colleagues at several levels.

This emphasis on hierarchy also influences the Chinese and Indian sense of punctuality.  While Americans emphasize arriving and starting meetings on time, Eastern business cultures acknowledge that high-ranking businesspeople might need to be somewhere else at a given moment.

“Expecting things to operate on U.S. time will lead to frustration,” said Dr. Schuster.  “Pushing on more structured use of time might backfire,” damaging the relationship between an American and a Chinese or Indian company.

She recommended that a company interested in doing business abroad take advantage of the Gold Key Service offered by the U.S. Commercial Service, which provides market analysis, counseling and assistance in arranging business trips.  Atlanta-based companies can learn more about this program by contacting the U.S. Export Assistance Center in the Centergy building on Fifth Street.

Dr. Schuster is also president of Global Collaborations Inc., a company that provides counseling for companies trying to operate in the international marketplace.  She has also written two books on the subject, “Global Business Practices: Adapting for Success” and “The Consumer…or Else!"

The India, China and America Institute’s next educational event will be a question and answer session Nov. 6 with Jagdish Sheth, chair of marketing in the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.