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Chinese Cultural Contexts and Business

ABC Translations recognized two features about knowledge management from the point of view of intercultural management and translation services. First, the process by which knowledge is created by managers from different cultures collaborating together may be complex. Knowledge creation and assimilation may have cultural aspects and an intercultural team should be aware of this. Second, the process by which knowledge is transferred from one cultural context to another can also be intricate.

These two points were grappled with by the Legend/AOL Internet partnership, with ABC in the middle. Legend is a Chinese home PC maker, and at the time that it entered into partnership with AOL in June 2001 had 40 per cent of the Chinese market. AOL Time Warner is an American conglomerate that has businesses in the Internet, movies, cable TV and communications areas. In June 2001, AOL Time Warner had Internet operations in 17 countries. The two corporations entered into a partnership to sell Legend home PCs that are Internet-compatible. This was to induce Internet users to subscribe to AOL Internet services. The partnership worked to ensure that the Internet services of AOL, developed in the American culture, were transferred to China, keeping in mind the reality of life in China. In China, the government frequently blacks out Web sites and there is censorship of information that is made available for public perusal.

Legend/AOL took into account that government regulations in China are different from those in America. Time Magazine (2001f) reports that AOL's CEO Gerald Levine pointed out at a press conference in Beijing that the company's insistence on autonomy only extended 'to the journalistic enterprises within our company from Time Magazine to CNN'. The implication was that the company practice of autonomy and freedom from government interference did not apply to Internet use. Levine went on to say that AOL's Internet services 'respects the cultures and different regulations in each country'. At that conference, a Legend manager observed that AOL had a filtering device that could block out Web sites or portions of Web sites. It was used in the United States by parents to block pornographic material on the Internet from children. It was to be used in China to censor information at the discretion of the government.

Another challenge to the transfer of AOL Internet services to the Chinese cultural context pertains to the habits already formed by Chinese Internet users. Chinese Internet users are accustomed to using Internet services in Internet shops and paying for its use by the minute. Legend/ AOL had to try to convert Chinese users to switch to monthly subscriptions.

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