Cultural class: "Dissatisfied with the soil and water", how to treat it?

-Jul. 17, 2022 -

Cultural issues are slightly tortuous, and it is difficult to solve it with a fixed rule.

Text ｜ Shi Yi

Edit ｜ YOMI

Source ｜ 36 氪 Go to sea (ID: wow36krchuhai)

Cover Source ｜ UNSPLASH

For generations to go to the sea for generations, "not accepting soil and water" is always a blockbuster that is difficult to surrender. Stay away from the local, language, culture, laws and regulations, consumer psychology, etc. constitute a natural barrier, which repeatedly test the endurance, confidence and judgment of the company to go to the sea.

The representative of the new generation of overseas companies, Internet companies are uncomfortable to suffer from overseas because of "not accepting soil and water". For example, the contradiction caused by the "996 output" that has attracted much attention some time ago, and the Chinese native inertia "inner roll" model is transplanted into countries with relatively complete welfare and social security rules. The contradiction will be prominent. Criticized. For another example, after the acquisition of overseas companies, the strong cultural output and cadre airborne of large factories have caused personnel turmoil and local model replication failure, and the theory of "time machine" fails.

Behind the "Dissatisfaction with Water and Water", there is a crisis that must be overcome by the company that must be overwhelmed, but also means re -defining the needs of their identity. The culture on the way to go to sea is worthy of attach great importance to and alerting every practitioner.

Experience of the pioneers

On the road of "going to the sea", infrastructure companies that contract projects are one of the pioneers. A batch of Chinese foreign employees overcome various differences in language, culture, and life to travel to exotic, becoming the earliest seeds of Chinese enterprises to deploy overseas.

But this process is also accompanied by risks. Due to the dissatisfaction of cross -cultural management, conflict with local employees, conflict, delay project progress, or fall into legal disputes, and even considered "plunder" and "colonial", which affects Chinese enterprises' overall reputation overseas. Detabaging past experience, the company's contracted engineering enterprises have gradually become stronger to regulate territorial management, respect, and integrate into the local culture, and enhance the social responsibility awareness of corporate social responsibility.

With the continuous improvement of market opening and corporate strength, a number of Chinese enterprises have moved towards the international market by acquiring overseas brands. The most well -known Mo Ruo Lien's acquisition of IBM personal computer business, such as Geely's acquisition of Volvo and Haier's acquisition of GM's appliances, etc., have made Chinese enterprises the same for a while.

However, when Lenovo acquired IBM for ten years in 2017, McKinsey has reviewed the history of cross -border mergers and acquisitions of Chinese enterprises. The conclusion is that of more than 650 mergers and acquisitions of more than $ 100 million, 60%of the results are not satisfactory, and they have not created reality for Chinese buyers. value. One of the reasons for the failure is that they have not been integrated after investment. Most Chinese enterprises have limited capabilities to manage cross -border assets, and managers must also be familiar with the language and business culture of the country where the acquisition of the target.

For example, "China's first overseas mergers and acquisitions" -SAIC Group acquisition of South Korea's Shuanglong Automobile. Shuanglong Automobile's bankruptcy liquidation in 2009 caused a loss of RMB 4 billion in RMB 4 billion. One of the reasons was South Korea's strong trade union culture. After the acquisition, SAIC failed to negotiate with the Shuanglong Trade Union. , Shuanglong Factory workshop even hung a slogan: "Shaking SAIC's throat!"

With the development of internationalization, enterprises will inevitably face cross -regional and cross -cultural management issues. The United Nations Trade and Development Commission (UNCTAD) will carry out the number of cross -border indexes (Transnationality Index) in the world's largest largest multinational companies each year. The indicators include three ratios, namely foreign assets/total assets, foreign sales/total sales, foreign employees, employees abroad. Numbers/total employees, overseas assets, markets and talents are indicators to measure the degree of internationalization of enterprises.

From the compliance requirements of underlying laws and regulations, to the basic cultural environment such as language, religion and customs, to the consciousness of social issues such as race, gender, and environmental protection. Come on the problem and even conflict. The result of poor cross -cultural management may not only lead to the loss of talents, affect the company's reputation, but also affect the operational efficiency and business strategies of the enterprise, bringing economic losses. Even the embankment of thousands of miles was burst into the ant hole, and the cause of going to the sea was not completed.

How to operate from standard to architecture

Cross -culture is an ancient problem, and there are also conventional solutions for reference. For example, providing cross -cultural training to help employees learn language and culture, and enhance cultural sensitivity, adaptability and cross -cultural communication skills; or hire specialized corporate culture experts and cross -cultural communication experts within the organization. However, cultural issues are slightly tortuous, and it is difficult to solve it with a fixed rule, and the choices of different enterprises and different development stages are not the same.

Many out -of -sea companies have adopted a pragmatic path at this stage. Several companies to go to the sea for interviews in sea, although the products, markets and problems encountered are different, they have mentioned judging management at home and abroad with goals, data and results, and emphasizing the transparency of information. At the same time, in order to operate convenience and avoid risks, many companies going out of the sea also tend to consideration in reality, such as selecting "matching with company culture", "like -minded", "spiritual spirit" Essence

Fang Han, CEO of Kunlun Wanwei, told 36 氪 that when the company acquired the Norwegian company Opera, the latter was a mature company with hundreds of employees, and the importance of cross -cultural management was prominent. Fang Han's summary experience is that in the corporate culture, "the compatible, all seasons accurate parts as common, such as adherence to the result -oriented and wrong people; Methods', respect local employees and culture. " Wang Chao, a partner of eggplant technology, believes: "When human nature is made, execution will be deviated, and contradictions will occur. However, if the principle of consistent solving the problem is data and results, you can use the simplest way to open this lock."

In terms of management structure, how to balance the power of overseas, domestic, headquarters and divisions is also one of them. In order to understand the needs of overseas users and products, using China's products and R & D advantages, many of the operating functions of overseas enterprises are mainly overseas local, and production and research are dominated by domestic methods. On this basis The degree of decentralization to overseas is different.

For example, Kunlun Wanwei, local state managers are mostly supported by local people. The local HRBP is set up to report to the local state manager and headquarters HR. Rising channels. The functional line of eggplant technology and local operations are mainly overseas employees, and some overseas partners have participated in the company's decision -making. Wang Chao made an example, "From hands and feet, upgrade to eyes and ears, and then grow to the brain."

People's problems also need to be solved. "Globalization operation refers to you fully respect the local culture and delegate power to local employees, but there is a need for cross -cultural bond employees in the middle to serve as a 'transit", so that the resources of the Chinese headquarters can be passed out. "Liu Song, vice president of Pingcap, said. Essence

How to find key people in global operations to serve as cross -cultural "bonds" and "bridge"? Kunlun Wanwei CEO Fang Han believes that in terms of management, the company's management must be "cultural coordination officer". "Since there is an attempt to do overseas markets, management will become a global talent."

Overseas employees who have a sense of identity in the company can also be a bridge. Wang Chao, a partner of eggplant technology, mentioned: "Our colleagues in the Indian market before, after the ban on the storm, became our new wave of globalization, and went to Indonesia, the Philippines, the Middle East and Europe to become the backbone of our sales business line. . In them, they can also see the spirit of the first wave of international talents in Chinese companies that year. "

"If the company's business maintains a state of growth, employees will also trust the company. From ordinary employees on the business line, they will grow into bonds between China and executive layers." Homer, vice president of Akiko City International Market. "Compared with companies in Japan and South Korea and other countries, Chinese companies are only short after all. The biggest advantage may still follow the trend. Following the business advantages, patiently precipitate management and cultivate talents."

From mentality to concept, how to adjust

How to evaluate the success of cross -cultural management? As a commercial organization, the performance and results are one aspect.

Kunlun Wanwei CEO Fang Han joined the work in 1995. He personally experienced the process of foreign companies entering China, from the vastness to being defeated by Chinese companies. "In this process, it can also be reflected. What do foreign companies have done wrong in cross -cultural management?"

For example, it lost to Taobao. In 2003, EBAY acquired Easy Fun into mainland China, and its market share once reached 85%. At that time, Taobao was not even born. But the good times did not last long. EBAY's share was quickly overtaken by Taobao. In 2006, it was announced that it was considered a sign of the failure of entering the Chinese market. Looking back on Taobao, the competition from Taobao is on the one hand. EBAY Easy also defeats the localization strategy of failure. Managers from Germany, South Korea, the United States have failed to fully understand the Chinese market, and many decision -making benefits are not good. Relieving the technology platform to the United States by 100 million dollars did not improve the user experience.

Not only EBAY has failed in the Chinese market, but also an overseas company that does not lack financial resources and successful business models such as Amazon, Yahoo and so on. Some scholars concluded through the interviews of 40 high -level companies at home and abroad that the reasons for the dissatisfaction of these companies include insufficient understanding of the Chinese market, poor government relations management, the failure of the overseas business model in the Chinese market, and too centralized organizational structure. Slowly wait, no more localized adaptation to the Chinese market and culture.

When you come to the new market, the attitude of humility and learning is a necessity. "Self -Manchuria and Great are the root causes of many issues. Chinese employees sometimes have a mentality. I have experienced it in the Chinese market, so just listen to me. Monthly, it can be a reference and lesson to make strategies, but it cannot be the core principle of guiding work. Don't make Chinese experience a localized roadblock. "Wang Chao said.

Pincap Vice President Liu Song also said in an interview with 36 氪 to go to sea, "Many things used in China have seized the possibility of technology and traffic dividends. , Respect more localities. Today, China has faced the best global opportunities. If you do things, you can use a patient, humble, continuous learning, and constant reflection. Instead, the return may be greater. " Adult ceremony and compulsory courses

Compared with a single market, global development has higher requirements for corporate governance and operation capabilities. As Liu Song said: "Going to sea is an adult ceremony for Chinese Internet companies. This is a new generation of Chinese companies. If you want to cross the cycle and become mature, you have to cross -cultural and cross -regional organizational management capabilities through global exercises. "

When Tiktok was caught in the deep water between the Sino -US disputes in 2020, Zhang Yiming once issued an internal letter to explain the importance of "Mars Perspective" and "diversified compatibility" for bytes: "Do not stand on the perspective of Mars, and it will easily offend in unintentionally at work at work. The culture and values ​​of different countries, or impose their habit standards to colleagues with different cultural backgrounds, have many examples. This is why we add 'diverse compatibility' to the byte model. "In June this year Byte beating has adjusted the "always entrepreneurial and diverse compatibility" to the top two of the "byte model", which reflects the importance of cultural compatibility with the process of globalization of the enterprise. However, for the "one of the most successful overseas companies" and a company that depends on content products and regions that swept the world, it is still criticized for "cultural conflicts", which shows the difficulty of cross -cultural management.

"Some people have rivers and lakes." Cultural problems are fundamentally a human problem. The growth and expansion of regardless of cost may have allowed Internet companies to have the ability to win for a period of time, but it has also laid hidden dangers. It is not a long -term continuous model overdrawn employees. Essence This kind of problem is not only troubled by young Chinese companies, and relatively mature global companies are not exceptions. Amazon, Meta, etc. are often revealed "toxic company culture" news.

Perhaps more importantly, the scale of returning people. Employees are pursuing development, and companies are pursuing customers. The purpose is to meet people's needs and dignity. When the purpose of becoming a sacrifice of means, the conflict is created.

For the Internet companies in the new era, what needs to be faced at this moment is a more changeable market and the times. Regional disputes are more intense, and labor -orcked relations are more complicated. How to avoid these reefs while sailing by sailing is a puzzle that needs to be answered in front of the new generation of Chinese companies.

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