Global etiquette gaining ground

With more Chinese companies expanding their global presence, many business etiquette trainers say they also have their work cut out for them.

US-born Chinese Hedy W. Lee says first impressions of Chinese business people certainly last - including the ones that fall short of Western expectations.

"When Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, made an English speech at Columbia Business School, discussing how he defeated eBay in China, I don't think he looked as polished and refined as the head of a well-known Chinese company," says the native New Yorker.

"All the body language, facial expressions these can be improved."

Lee conducts her etiquette lessons for clients from Fortune 500 companies such as Chinese oil major PetroChina, London-based multinational Swire Group, the Grand Hyatt Hotel as well as individual CEOs in Beijing.

"For Chinese companies which have or will have more business exchanges with Western companies, they should know it is not only about cheaper prices, cheap labor and large markets," says Lee, who is also a writer, TV host and social critic.

Major cultural obstacles such as language, local laws and prices hinder initial stages in economic exchange between Chinese and Western business people, but these increasingly evolve to include seemingly superficial instances like dinners and cracking jokes, the image gurus say.

Arden Clise, a Seattle-based business etiquette consultant, says there are many differences between Chinese and American business etiquette practices and not knowing them can lead to major misunderstandings, lost deals and lost clients.

A US company trying to work with a Chinese partner once hired Clise, but her client felt bogged down by cultural differences and a lengthy negotiation process.

"The American company had been waiting too long and began to wonder whether its Chinese counterpart was serious in this deal," Clise says. "But for the Chinese side, this was quite common because it usually takes a long time to sign a contract."

Chinese companies are also known to avoid directly saying "no" when they decide not to ink the deal, Clise says.

"They will not say 'no', they will say 'maybe it is not convenient' or 'I will consider it later'. The American side will really wait for the answer after the Chinese side 'considers it'."

But Chinese companies are certainly wising up to the importance of business etiquette and more are turning to be trained in the ways of the West, Lee and Clise say.

"However, things won't be changed overnight. It still takes time for business etiquette training to be an indispensable part of Chinese business," Clise says.

In one instance, some of her clients insisted that certain aspects of Chinese table manners were culturally significant and should not be ignored, Lee says.

"They argued that the Chinese like to talk aloud during dinners because 'we enjoy the warm atmosphere, it is not misbehavior'. But we are in the global village now, they need to step up to the plate and act like civilized global leaders'," Lee says.

"What's more, Chinese companies want to expand overseas but most of their bosses or employees have never been aboard; some CEOs rather invest on how much they can make instead of hiring a qualified business etiquette instructor. Evidently to them, hardware is more important than software," Lee says, adding that there are few qualified etiquette schools in China. She once spotted a woman CEO from an etiquette school in a famous Beijing restaurant where her children ran amok, almost tripping over the service staff.

Lionel Vairon, who heads CEC Consulting, a Luxembourg-based "culture consulting company", says it is all about one party trying to learn more about the other one and appreciating the differences.

"Mutual understanding is what we are looking for," Vairon says.