China and France. Cultural Difficulties and Business Opportunities in Cosmetics Industry.

Business opportunities in Chinese cosmetics industry.

Discussing business opportunities in cosmetics industry in China, we should first review macroeconomical factors influensing Chinese economy most. Chinese economy quite so associated with some “sweeping statements” like “China will be next economic superpower; its economy is still government run; foreigners don’t make money there; relationships count, so a partner is needed. But they are hyperbolic, misleading, out-of-date, or just not true”(Woetzel J.R. (July 2004) A guide to doing business in China. P.)

So, what the situation is really about in China and what cultural and economical differences has Chinese business environment in comparison with French? At first, I French and Chinese societies have totally different basis. If we look back to sociology, we remember, that all societies can be divided on two main categories: High-context(China) and Low-context(France). In high-context society words may not mean what they really mean. For example “yes” may not be “yes” at all, opposite to low-context society where “yes” always means “yes” and “no” always means “no”. It results in a need for deeper understanding the position of the people you’ll have to work with and sphere you’ll have to work in, because in high-context society it is easy to miss the cue, if you haven’t obtained enough information about the problem. Secondly, one of key chinese cultural concepts is “Guanxi”, which literally translates to relationship. It may draw us to an assumption that having partner may be really important in China, but McKinsey consultants conclude that it was key winning concept in early days of foreign investment in China. Now, they say, “Those that fail to bring tangible advantages, such as new capabilities, technologies, or business models—as well as a record of success—are unlikely to win the deal, no matter how good their relationships”. So we can see how different Chinese business culture become year by year and...