Building successful business relationships with Chinese firms: Bridging culture gaps between New Zealand and Chinese firms

Abstract

The interaction between New Zealand firms and Chinese firms is an important focus for the New Zealand Government, who, in early 2012, launched their NZ Inc China Strategy. The objectives for this strategy include improving science and technology collaborations and increasing bilateral investment and trade. This research has aimed to outline the cultural gaps that exist between New Zealand life science and biotechnology firms and their Chinese partners, in an attempt to make recommendations about strategies that may be utilised by firms wanting to build these collaborative relationships in the future. This exploratory research has taken a qualitative approach using multiple case studies to explore the relationships between New Zealand based life science firms who have successfully partnered with Chinese firms. Four firms were included in the sample, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with two senior level staff members from each firm. All the interviewees were chosen because they were heavily involved with building the relationships between the two firms, and would be able to provide the most detail about the issues the firm experienced. Cultural differences were identified from the interview data collected and the suggested methods of overcoming these differences have been outlined. Hofstede’s model of national culture differences has been used to analyse the cultural differences in the findings, and non-cultural explanations for the differences have also been considered. Traditional cultural constructs play an important role in Chinese businesses, and the recommendations for industry include hiring Chinese individuals to bridge the culture and language gap effectively, and to gain a deep understanding of the socio-cultural, political and regulatory environment before approaching potential partners. Though the research utilises a small sample size, the findings are believed to be generalisable because there are very few New Zealand life science firms with Chinese collaborations. Future research could consider expanding the scope of the study to include Australian firms in the life sciences industry.