EAST MEETS WEST: Yang Liu shares intercultural insights at BMI event

18.9.2009

 

Differences of culture and mentality between Asia and Europe are increasingly relevant for international business as Asian companies intensify their global activities. Author and designer Yang Liu, an international authority on the topic, shared her insights with the BMI community Thursday night at a public lecture titled “East meets West”.

 

“You are not likely to hear open criticism or negative opinions from an Asian,” noted the China-born Yang, who has spent more than two decades in the West, mostly in Germany. “No matter how angry they may be inside, externally Easterners tend to maintain a constant smile. Westerners on the other hand are much more direct, going straight to the point, in a way that may well offend Asian sensibilities.” So how can a European judge the tone of relations with a Chinese business partner? Intuition and telling details of behaviour would seem to be the key.

 

Even when problems are openly acknowledged, approaches to them differ. Westerners tend to “take the bull by the horns” and address a problem immediately to keep it from growing, noted Yang, who runs design studios in both Berlin and Beijing, with clients including ERGO Insurance, Swarovski, PepsiCo, Smart and others. Easterners, on the other hand, prefer to avoid problems, leaving them to one side until they resolve themselves or until circumstances change to make them easier to deal with, she said.

 

Other significant differences portrayed in Yang’s award-winning 2009 book “East meets West” include the role of the individual in society, which is much more pronounced in Western cultures than in Eastern ones, and the status of a manager in relation to his or her subordinates – Eastern culture tends to put the boss on a pedestal, while Western companies favour more egalitarian working relations. Then there are colours, which can provoke quite divergent associations in one place or another, hygiene traditions, attitudes toward children and the elderly, and so on.

 

Intercultural encounters are complex and enriching, demanding subtlety and a desire to understand, Yang noted, adding that if she focuses on the sharper contrasts, it is only in order to help people avoid misunderstandings.

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