The paper "The Differences between Chinese and Australian Management Practices" is a good example of a management case study. In the present settings, the world of business is experiencing the influence of free trade agitation. Caligiuri, Lepak and Bonache (2010) contended that as the 21st century unfolds, globalization is increasing at an overwhelming pace with companies crossing borders to invest in foreign markets. Local markets are getting saturated with little, a situation which has countries realize the importance of creating free trade agreements with other countries. For instance, Chinese economic growth in the last decade has led to massive products and services which have surpassed the local demand, hence the need to export or invest in other countries (Jayaraman 2009, p. 1).
Chinese venturing into Australia is proving to be a significant factor in creating a strong economic relationship between these two countries. The foundation of the economic relation between China and Australia has over the years the trade of products which has continued to thrive. Currently, China has surpassed Japan and the U. S. to be the number one trade partner with Australia with bilateral products or services.
Statistics demonstrate that between 2006 and 2007, exports from Australia to China reached to $A24.8 billion whereas Australia imported worth $A29.2 billion from China (Child & Rodrigues 2005, p. 381) As the trade increase, many countries from China has sort to invest in Australia so as to increase their profits. One of the search companies is Chinese Real Estate Company, Shanghai Greenland group. However, the company is likely to face different management challenges. Therefore, using the Shanghai Greenland Group as the company in focus, this paper will analyze the differences between Chinese and Australian management practices.
Some of the differences to be discussed include tax, technology, labor, brand differentiation, culture and organizational behavior. Chinese companies are used to investing in countries with a low tax or tax havens to capitalize on such opportunity and invest the profit back at their home countries (Peng 2011, p. 5). Some Chinese Multinationals look to avoid discrimination by the local companies by investing in the Caribbean (Yamakawa, Peng & Deeds, 2008, p. 67). The situation reduces the cost of operation and enabling the manager to maximize shareholders return.
The condition is so different in Australia with high taxes on foreign firms. Even though China is developed, its technology is not updated as Australia. In fact, Peng (2011, p. 5) stated that the technology of China is considered to be behind by two generations. This weakness makes the disadvantages of its competition in the real estate industry. In recent years, technology has become vital in the management of real estate in terms of marketing and sales. The customer currently needs pictures of houses and land the company is dealing with.
Technology provides an opportunity for the Shanghai Greenland Group to satisfy this requirement. This means the company must increase its budget to cover the cost of implementing technology (Peng 2005, p. 5). Other managerial issues which could affect Shanghai Greenland Group operation in Australia are the labour, brand differentiation and culture. China has cheap labor due to high population of both skilled and unskilled. This means labour can cheaply be acquired by companies hence reduction in the cost of operation. Many Chinese companies back at home including Shanghai Greenland Group are “ already enjoying cost advantages owing to low wages and production enhancements realized over the recent years” (Child & Rodrigues 2005, p. 389).
According to Zhang (2005), cost advantage is a comparatively significant competitive aspect for the simple products.
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