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CI-CD Centre for Inter-cultural Development

from cultural orientation to inter-cultural competence

Our experience of preparing executives and managers for negotiating or JV partnership working in China

1. SATRA: workshops for Marketing Executives preparing for tours across China’s footwear industry on behalf of SATRA’s consultancy and design services. (Over 90% of the world’s shoes are made in China.)

2. Training for the Marketing Dept., BAE Systems, to prepare for visit by senior Chinese Government and military delegation to UK to negotiate major deals for supply of Hawk trainer planes.

3. UK executive coach since 1994 for Shepell/FGI (Canada-based consultants to US global organisations, operating in 100 countries): preparing Western executives for expatriate assignments involving negotiating and joint project managing in China (Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) [and Vietnam; Thailand; Japan; Indonesia].

4. Director of broadcast video materials on international marketing, featuring:

§ world leading consultant Josef Assaf on marketing imagery that most attracts Chinese customers;

§ “user-friendly” culturally sensitive adaptations of marketing and customer service by Westpac Bank, successful in winning custom in Sydney’s Chinatown;

§ senior executives of Criterion Books preparing a second marketing tour to sell Mills and Boon books across China (following up their success in distributing over 2 million during their well-prepared first trip).

5. Director of broadcast documentary training DVDs/videos of East/West cross-cultural interactions, including

§ joint project management meetings (in telecommunications) with Vietnamese executives in Hanoi;

§ business negotiations/communication advice from current Australian Ambassador to Vietnam, and ex-ambassador to Beijing;

§ Western telecommunications engineers mentoring Vietnamese staff;

§ Vietnamese managers at National Economics University in Hanoi, studying Western business management styles;

§ Local authority service heads (Melbourne) adapting to conduct of meetings in Chinese/Vietnamese style.

[Each of (a) – (e) is accompanied by training manual.]

6. Director of DVDs/Videos on cross-cultural communication with people of Chinese background in the West:

§ Chinese employees in performance appraisal interviews in Bank of America

§ Chinese patients consulting UK doctor

§ Cross-cultural virtual communication (telephoning and videoconferencing) – analysing a videoconference within Hewlett Packard between Manager of Asian Operations with Indian and Chinese managers in Singapore; also telephone conferencing within BP with partners in Hong Kong.

[Each of (a) – (c) accompanied by training manual.]

8. CI-CD Director John Twitchin is author of a 250-page training handbook “Doing Business in China: trading and investing - cultural sensitivity for success”, written for United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI) in 2004.

à see Doing Business in China: Contents page and Preface of the CICD Handbook

9. CI-CD houses the UK’s largest specialist research library on Intercultural Communication in trading, negotiating, managing with China.

10. Speaker at conferences and seminars on Trading with China organised by

§ London Chambers of Commerce;

§ UK/China Business;

§ Lloyd’s Marketing Association;

§ UKTI;

§ London Link;

§ UNICOM;

§ FreshBusinessThinking.

11. Teaching Chinese post-graduate students at University of Bedfordshire for ‘MA in Intercultural Communication’.

12. Research on how UK SMEs mishandle visits by Chinese executives and delegations (so damaging relationship and brand image and losing competitive advantage).

13. Cultural Communications Director to Criterion Consulting, specialist agency for preparing and supporting executives to cope with culture shock, directed by Cathy Tsang-Feign in Hong Kong.

à doing business in China: quiz

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