One2One: Alan Brown Chairman, Unilever China.

PositionInterview

It must have been a bit of a culture shock when you moved to the Far East in 1998.

For an Irishman in China the cultural differences were obviously enormous. But, contrary to what you might think, it's a surprisingly straightforward culture to work with on a business level. The Chinese tend to be clear and open about what they want, so, with a little experience, you can read when they are happy and when they aren't. It's not anything like Japan, where the route to getting a decision can be very complicated. Respect is also important in China--as is money. Career development and learning are high on the agenda, too.

How did you overcome the language barrier?

That's obviously an issue, but if you're working in a multinational company--particularly here in Shanghai English is really the first language in business. The standard of spoken English and the number of people who speak here it are high. Our English speakers prefer to e-mail in English, because it's less complicated.

What other differences have been problematic?

The cultural issues are more about business values. We're operating in a country where you can't assume that even the most basic ones are understood. For many years people survived on relationships because the rule of law wasn't very effective. One of the most common difficulties concerns conflicts of interest--there's no common understanding of this concept over here. A company salesman might have a financial interest in one of his customers, yet he won't think anything of it, for example. So we have put a lot of effort into communicating and discussing values and behaviours--not only laying down rules, but motivating and inspiring our people.

Not having to work as a joint venture must make life easier.

At first, foreign companies in China could operate only as joint ventures, but this has been relaxed and wholly owned foreign enterprises (Wofes) are the way to go for most businesses, although there are still restrictions in important industries such as banking. Joint ventures meant joint management practices, which made things harder. That has changed now and western firms can set up their own management structures. Wofes have really opened the door for foreign direct investment in China. Now there's something in the region of $55bn (29bn [pounds sterling]) foreign direct investment a year--much bigger than for any other country. It's an exciting time to be here.

Do local companies resent their foreign competitors?

Two...

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