Special Issue on Cultural diversity: challenges and opportunities in China

Citation

(2008), "Special Issue on Cultural diversity: challenges and opportunities in China", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 15 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ccm.2008.13615aaa.001

Special Issue on Cultural diversity: challenges and opportunities in China

Guest EditorsAlan Au and Fangqi Xu

Doing business in China presents both opportunities and challenges. It is well-known that Chinese culture is very different from Western culture, and the way in which this influences their respective management practices and behaviour is difficult to analyze. For example, Chinese gurus always tend to hold back some skills and knowledge from their students in order to maintain an upper hand, whereas Westerners do not commonly employ such tactics; Westerners use eye contact to express honesty and attentiveness, but to the Chinese lowered eyes are a sign of respect and humbleness towards the speaker. How do such unique issues apply to doing business and working in China? Undoubtedly such cultural conflicts are discussed daily, both in specialized forums and broader spectra, but empirical answers are still missing from modern management literature.

Cross Cultural Management is pleased to announce a Call for Papers for a special issue of the journal focusing on Cultural diversity: challenges and opportunities in China. This issue will focus on identifying Chinese cultural issues to which one should be alerted when doing business or working in China. The issue will also focus on uncovering the complicated relationships between Chinese culture, consumers, employers, employees, organizations and markets. We are particularly interested in analyses at the provincial level or comparisons between provinces and cities within China. Studies that seek to understand Chinese-dominated markets, such as Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia, where the Chinese have mixed cultural backgrounds and values – traditional Chinese and their respective national cultures and values – are of particular interest. Common beliefs and misconceptions concerning individual worship of foreign nations, cultures, people and brands could be studied in relation to their own mixed cultures, values and history. We are interested in both theoretical and empirical papers. Authors may pursue, but are by no means limited to, topics such as:

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  One would argue that respect for ancestral ways keeps Chinese culture from changing. Have Chinese culture and values really remained consistent over time?

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  What are the provincial differences within Chinese culture, values, and consumers, including organization behaviour?

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  How should Chinese enterprises manage foreign experts and their working relationships with local employees?

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  Why are people in some Chinese provinces better able to adopt foreign management styles than others?

All submissions to this special issue will be put through Cross Cultural Management's formal review process.

For information on format, interested authors should consult Cross Cultural Management's submission style guide available at www.emeraldinsight.com/ccm.jsp

The deadline for submissions is 15 March 2008. Please submit manuscripts in MS-Word format by e-mail to: Alan Au, Lee Shau Kee School of Business and Administration, The Open University of Hong Kong. E-mail: kmau@ouhk.edu.hk