17 Chinese miners dug up Canadian xenophobia

There is no secret that Chinese want to live and work in Canada. In fact, nearly 30,000 Chinese migrated to Canada in 2011. However, while it is a tabooed racist topic to rule out visible minorities from immigration list, unions and some Canadians are more willing to jump into the topics “to protect Canada”, ruling out Chinese from doing business in Canada. In 2011, there are 39,825 foreign workers in primary industry, but unions decided that 300 Chinese miners are simply too many. In addition, several deals of Chinese acquisition of Canadian companies are either blocked or significantly delayed by the Canadian government due to political pressure. Opposition to those deals argues that Chinese purchase of Canadian companies will threaten Canadian security and intellectual properties. While few will openly criticize Chinese Canadians, many are jumped into the fray of China bashing: citing pollution, abuses of human rights, greedy, sly, senseless consumption, etc.

 

While China certainly has a lot of problems, we are talking about real money and real business here. Canadians should be rational and objective to maximize profits and mutual benefits for the good of Canadian public interest and economy. Yet, some Canadians view things very differently when the word “foreign” are replaced by “Chinese”. Somehow, it is a bad deal that Chinese companies buy tar sand mines, while Husky Energy was once owned by the richest man of Hong Kong (still partially owned by his son, Victor Li) and most of tar sand oil will eventually go to the USA, freeing up Gulf supply for East Asia buyers, aka China, at a much cheaper price (largely due to the price difference between Brent Crude Oil Futures (price benchmark of China) and West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures (price benchmark of the USA)). Somehow, it is dangerous for Canadian companies to buy cables and internet equipments from a Chinese company, while most consumer electronics, daily products, toys, apple juice, etc come from China. No one complained when ATI, found by three Chinese Canadians in Markham, Lee Ka Lau, Benny Lau, and Kwok Yuen Ho, are sold to an American company in Sunnyvale, California, AMD, which almost ended Markham high-tech growth overnight. Now, no Canadians worry the lost of intellectual property to China when AMD graphic cards are quietly moved to made in China instead of Canada. Like all good stories, we love to have an antagonist, but crying wolves will just make us look stupid.

Drastic changes to make no change

After months of delay and numerous typhoons from political rumour mills, Xi Jinping, the latest Chinese top leader, has succeeded the presidency with new the military and executive wings. With over 70% turnover rate in both the Central Military Commission and the Executive Committee of the State Council, evidences suggest the internal differences were finally set aside and the settlement was set to make everyone happy (at least, all sides could find quiet compromises.) Aside from normal rhetoric, Xi assures continuity and respect to the previous leaders and emphasis on better the lives of ordinary Chinese. That meant no dramatic u-turn of the macroeconomic policies of suppressing inflation, increasing minimum wages& labour benefits, and achieving both goals through gradual Renminbi appreciation against the USD. With dramatic solutions to the political infighting, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China paves the way to stronger conservatism and patriotism. A new team with new leaders may need more time to act on an economy that shows signs of slowing down. Wealthy Chinese Canadians tend to have over sea assets and businesses in China. The continuation of Renminbi appreciation and suppression of inflation could increase their purchasing power in Canada. Recently, Chinese companies and business owners show signs of increasing interest in investment and migration to Canada. While the leadership swap may be bad news for those who want to seek business opportunities in China, it can be positive news for Canadian market.

Hong Kong's 2012 Chief Executive Election

Today marks the day where Hong Kong is in the process of electing for a new Chief Executive to govern over the next five years. Most of the Hong Kong Chinese community, both locally in Hong Kong as well as here in Canada have been very tapped into recent news of the candidates.

There has been ongoing debate about the future of Hong Kong and how much of its "one country, two system" structure will be kept in the years to come. There has been rumours and opinions that China's central government has been intervening and exerting pressure on the elective council, a body of professionals and individuals who are eligible to cast their vote for the next Chief Executive.

It is pertinent for multicultural marketers to understand not only the purchase behaviours of Chinese consumers but also to understand the political landscape on the macro level. Brands wishing to target this community needs to understand the importance of China's historical and modern day government structure in order to genuinely understand the factors that influence and ultimately drive consumer ideologies and behaviours.

In the next blog post, I'll explore more in depth into the political landscape of China, how it shapes consumer values and ultimately drive consumption preferences. Moreover, we'll look into how to leverage this understanding to target the ethnic Chinese consumer here in Canada.

Losing face is serious business, it's no joke!

After reading the article titled, “The Cult of Face”, I realized just how crucial and impactful the concept of “face” was in the Chinese culture.

To recap, the article compares the West and China based on how they perceive the concept of face. According to the West, face is how one views him or herself – more individual-based – opposed to China, where face means how others would view oneself. It describes actions, which are common or “the norm” in the West, to be losing face if performed in China. For example, to Westerners, raising a question would seem common at meetings; however, in China it is seen as “uncultured, overbearing, and rude”. Ultimately, the way Westerners do business, is definitely not how the Chinese do business.

My attention was further drawn when “truth” was added into the discussion. As stated in the article, being truthful – regardless of the shortcomings – automatically gains respect in the West. In China, on the other hand, this is a different story. The truth can be disguised with a lie, when the intention is to save one’s face.

“In fact, it’s perfectly acceptable to tell a lie—even a bald-faced one—if it serves to protect face. China’s culture of shame doesn’t think of lies in terms of “right” and “wrong.” Instead, the goal of Chinese truth is often to protect the face of an individual, group, or even nation.”

After reading this article, I learned a lot more about the Chinese culture (on top of learning more about “saving face”, of course). From the above statement, which further explains the acceptability of telling a lie to save face, it also explains the concept of “shame” in China. What I didn’t know was that, the basis of being truthful revolves more around saving face than it is around being “right” or “wrong”.

“The Cult of Face” really opened my eyes to the importance of understanding another’s culture before doing business with them. At the end of the article, there are extremely helpful hints for giving or losing face situations – a must-read for conducting business in China. One of the points, under losing face situations, mentions “calling someone out on a lie”. Now, this is another area where the West differs from China. In the West, as the article states, “we don’t like to be bull-sh*tted” and therefore, will call one out on it! Keep in mind; however, this is an example to losing face in China!

This article proves just how different one culture can be from another. We are not all the same. What’s a big deal to you may be meaningless to someone else and vice versa. For that reason it’s crucial to understand these minor, yet impactful, actions because it could definitely make or break a relationship.

Reference: http://www.china-mike.com/chinese-culture/understanding-chinese-mind/cult-of-face/

Culture breeds character, diversity shapes communication.

I grew up knowing that people are different. Being one of the very few students from the city in my high school, I noticed how little kids already started labeling each other "suburban" or "urban". Afterwards having spent most of my adolescent life in international dormitories, from Shanghai to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong to North American, from North America to Europe, the two words "culture" and "diversity" no longer stop at being definitions on my Sociology textbooks. In my mind, they take forms in stories, pictures, travel journals, body languages, tears, dances, hugs, and even the smell of morning grass I enjoyed when staying at my friend's farm in Scotland.

I didn't realize there even exists culture differences between mainland China and Hong Kong until I actually lived in this mysterious little SAR (Special Administrative Region). I was surprised to witness how its civic culture brings out the city's organized social pace, how its family culture forms the adults' attitudes towards love, how its business culture stores everyone's confidence in performing fair and square, etc.

If say I already experienced a Chinese culture shock when moving from mainland to Hong Kong, then my multiple Asian and western culture shocks definitely broadened my entire world of cultural perception. I was amazed by the similarities between me and the Japanese and Korean, every understanding smile that we had simultaneously when facing a western dilemma reminds me of the Asian cultural roots that we share. I loved the moments when my dutch friends joking about the Germans and could even rap about the two countries' differences without a breath.

So many cultures are described with characters, while at the same time they gave us our very own characters. We walk around without knowing exactly what those characters actually mean. However, when we encounter each other, something called "diversity" starts to make us become aware of who we really are.

Difference exists when there are dissimilarities, it is often a neutral and factual concept being independent from human relationships. Diversity, however, exists not only when there are dissimilarities, but also when there are implications to give such 'diversity' further meanings. Put aside the political debates between the two terminologies, diversity is considered more emotionally involved and associated more with the aesthetic and social perspectives.

Practically grew up in international dorms, I was constantly amused by communications result from diversity in cultures. Completely aware of the different characters that we each has to offer, everyone tend to more openly express confusions or appreciation regarding others' values and opinions, or even question themselves! Stereotypes usually work in the first and create communication platforms for diversity. Conversations and debates exchange for a nice sense of understanding with both one-selves and others. With no doubt, diversity brought us more reasons to believe in this world's broadness and tolerance, as well as a more powerful motivation in continue to learn about the culturally unknowns.

Today, I am still walking in between cultures to experience their characters while forming my own. And I believe for a very very long time, the diversities that happening around us would not stop generating wonderful communications for this big lovely world.

"The whole world wants to do business with China"

...Nothing better than getting straight to the point. When I first came across this quote in an article called, "Telefilm, Canadian movies to tap Chinese Market", I thought it was pretty bold at first, but nonetheless true.


The growing Chinese market in North America has shifted many marketers' eyes and has triggered the makings of Chinese-focused campaigns. While some businesses are just tapping into this prevalent market in Canada, others are already going straight for the homeland, China.


For example, Canadian film makers, Telefilm Canada and the Whistler Film Festival Society (WFFS), are trying to collaborate with film makers in China with goals of creating films that can be released in both countries. By Canada and China working together and targeting both markets, each one can benefit from this partnership. As the article states,


“The China Canada Gateway project would see the Chinese get exposure to Canadian filmmaking expertise – screenwriting, visual effects and post-production in particular” … “[Canadians would] gain access to the huge Chinese market which currently allows only about 20 foreign films into its theatres each year.”


This plan for a Canadian business to work in partner with China is simply an example of whats to come in the future. Be on the lookout for more Canada-China initiatives!


Reference: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/telefilm-canadian-movies-to-tap-chinese-market/article2259572/page1/

Sensu Adds One More!

It is with pleasure that I officially announce the newest addition to our agency team - Ms. Dolly Shao

Dolly is a Partner Consultant here with us at Sensu Communications and we are very happy and fortunate to have her on board with us. Bringing over 10 years of marketing and strategic planning experience from Shanghai, China, Dolly is a strategic individual with an abundance of both industry AND cultural expertise. Canada is now home to Dolly, having been here for about 2 years, she has successfully completed her MBA program at the Schulich School of Business @ York University.

We are very happy to have Dolly join Sensu and did I mention...SUPERR excited for all the innovative work that we are going to bring to the multicultural marketing space as an agency! Dolly be also be a regular contributor to the Sensu blog, so follow closely to see what she has to say about multicultural marketing!

Future of Multicultural Marketing

The recent hype around Western imitations in China (Apple, Ikea, Subway etc.) have stirred up quite the controversy in China's ability to build global brands.

My POV:

1.) China definitely has the ability to build brands
2.) Western consumers aren't aware of Chinese brands simply because they aren't the target market
3.) In the long run, the Chinese has the ability to not only build brands but INNOVATE brands
4.) China has a high pool of information workers, combined with skilled labour & lower production costs - this will enable them to go to market faster and more effectively than Western firms
5.) It's just a matter of time, the tides are set to change. Perhaps Western brands are reacting because they feel the emerging threat?


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A discussion on LinkedIn has led to this thought provoking article: http://blogs.forbes.com/panosmourdoukoutas/2011/08/03/why-china-imitates-western-brands/

Here is my response, that can be found on LinkedIn as well:

"I would beg to differ from the author of this article, perhaps the words of 'inability of Chinese business to develop their own brands" and "that's why Chinese brands flip" come too strongly and overgeneralized.

1.) Chinese businesses definitely have the ability to develop their own brands, more than you think they do.

Some of the top Chinese brands enjoy the same successes (if not more) than "western brands", i.e.) China Mobile, China Life, China Construction Bank, ICBC, Bank of China, Ping An, China Merchants Bank, TENCENT, MOUTAI, China Pacific, Lenovo, Tsingtao Beer ... and the list goes on. This is according to a brand value study conducted by Interbrand and Forbes China (really should question the degree of research that was placed into the article of our discussion here).

Many leading Chinese brands are not known to Western consumers simply because they choose not to enter the Western markets. To me, that’s smart business strategy – to focus on building domestic market share and penetration before stepping into someone else’s turf. Wait and watch how the tides will change when these Chinese firms finally decide that “the time is right”.


2.)"A supply side approach to entrepreneurship" - my understanding of this statement is that "Western brands are good at conducting consumer research while Chinese are known for supply of labour/finance, and this fundamental difference is the reason why Western brands succeed while Chinese brands fail."

If I understand correctly, then I must say I disagree with the statement. The success of western brands as they translate to ROI and sales revenue is largely related to the balance between production costs vs. advertising expenditures. Taking advantage of low wages and operation costs in China and other APAC countries enable Western brands to reap profits and hence, allocate more advertising budget towards brand building and research. This is not a matter of chicken vs. egg - it is simple, producing a viable product comes before building a brand, for what good is a brand that does not deliver on its core promise? China helps to lower production costs, which ultimately gives rise to advertising budgets and the ability to actually “build a brand”.

Conversely, if Western brands can take advantage of China's low labour costs and resources - then I dare ask: why is China in the midst of such scrutiny for leveraging the brand expertise of Western countries and customizing it to fit the local markets?


3.) To wrap up my comments, I urge everyone to read another article by Shaun Rein – “Chinese Companies Can’t Build Brands? Think Again.” http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2010/gb20100126_512186.htm"