Abstract: The tide of economic globalization has swept the world, and there are more and more Sino-foreign joint ventures. Cross-cultural management has become the key to the success of Sino-foreign joint ventures. Firstly, the differences and conflicts between Chinese and western cultures are analyzed, and the cross-cultural management of Sino-foreign joint ventures is systematically studied.

[Keywords:] Sino-foreign joint venture cultural conflict and cultural integration

First of all, the questions raised

Since the reform and opening up, there have been many Sino-foreign joint ventures in China. Sino-foreign joint venture is one of the basic ways to attract foreign direct investment, and it is a trans-regional, trans-ethnic and trans-national enterprise jointly operated by two or more enterprises in the host country. The essence of joint venture management is cross-cultural management. Cultural differences are extremely important and complex variables for joint ventures, and the influence of cultural factors on joint ventures is all-round, systematic and whole-process. In a joint venture, the culture of the host country and the culture of the home country cross each other, and they often hold different attitudes on some basic issues, such as business objectives, market selection, raw material selection, management style, working methods, business arrangements and reform requirements.

Because of this, joint ventures have their inherent instability. Canadian Professor Lin Kai found that the failure rate of joint ventures is very high, accounting for about 30% ~ 40% of all joint ventures. How to maintain the advantages and characteristics of local culture and absorb the essence of foreign culture has become the survival way of joint ventures. This requires managers of enterprises to have more cultural sensitivity, change roles and reshape ideas in time, and master management skills under cross-cultural conditions. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study the cross-cultural management of joint ventures.

Second, the differences and conflicts between Chinese and Western cultures.

Chinese and western cultures are two different cultural systems. China culture once occupied an important position in ancient Japan, Korea and Southeast Asian countries. The western cultural system, which originated in Greece and prevailed in Europe, is fundamentally different from the culture of China. This has greatly influenced the formation and development of Chinese and western management models, and penetrated into all aspects of management, as shown below:

1. Western management emphasizes strict organizational structure and control means.

Because of advocating self and emphasizing independence, the western management system is strong. Many enterprises often rely on strict organizational structure and sound control means to implement management, in order to prevent over-emphasis on their employees to go their own way. Although China's enterprise management also emphasizes strict organizational structure and control means, it is actually difficult to do so. In fact, due to the vague property rights of most state-owned enterprises and the existence of multiple structures in the economic system, many enterprises in China are in a state of overstaffed and lax management, and it is difficult to achieve the expected results in organizational control functions.

The main feature of western culture is not only its individuality, but also its radicalism.

This radical cultural feature permeates enterprise management, which is manifested in the enterprise spirit of encouraging innovation, being brave in competition and striving for strength. China's traditional culture has instilled in people the values of contentment, taking things as they are, and eclecticism, so that people have learned a way of life that is pure and inaction, resigned to fate, drifting with the tide, and not impetuous and mean. Ruthlessness, ruthlessness, fear of competition and lack of change have become the negative aspects of China's national character. In this closed, rigid and conservative cultural environment, it is difficult for people handed down from generation to generation to have a pioneering attitude and to adapt to the all-round openness and high creativity required by modern society.

Modern western culture thinks that people's spiritual life and social life should exist outside the workplace, so it opposes the intimate relationship between people in the workplace.

Based on this view, western managers tend to keep a certain distance from others in their work, and they regard the relationship between superiors and subordinates as the relationship of purely completing tasks. China culture emphasizes groups, attaches importance to the factor of "harmony between people" and coordinates the relationship between people, thus forming a relatively harmonious interpersonal environment in enterprises. Compared with the western management model, this cultural feature is indeed easier to reduce interpersonal friction and conflict. However, this cultural feature is also prone to some negative effects, such as "one person fights in his throat", "three monks have no water to drink", networking, finding acquaintances and other social atmosphere, which impacts and destroys the efficiency of enterprise management.

In a word, the cultural differences between China and the West have influenced people's different values, management methods and methods in enterprise management, and the resulting cultural conflicts may even lead to the failure of Sino-foreign joint ventures. Specifically, cultural conflicts in Sino-foreign joint ventures are manifested in the following aspects:

1. Conflict of mainstream culture

The most common and public cultural conflict in Sino-foreign joint ventures is the explicit cultural conflict, that is, the conflict between the symbol systems of the two actors, that is, the conflict caused by the different meanings of the expressions. These expressions are usually expressed through language, manners, gestures, expressions and manners. People with different cultural backgrounds may have different meanings symbolized by the same cultural symbol.

2. Conflict of institutional culture

Western enterprises generally operate and manage in a strict and perfect legal environment, and naturally take legal provisions as the basis of their words and deeds. China's enterprises, especially state-owned enterprises, have long relied on national plans and instructions from superiors, and regulations, instructions and documents are the rules and decision-making basis for enterprise members. Because of the different standards and foundations of both sides, conflicts are inevitable.

3. The conflict of value culture is manifested in the following four aspects.

(1) In terms of risk concept, China entrepreneurs, influenced by government actions and China's industrial culture, generally lack risk awareness and adventurous spirit, are afraid of failure, and it is difficult to seize the opportunities in the rapidly changing competitive environment. Western entrepreneurs, on the other hand, believe that winning or losing is a common thing for military strategists, dare to innovate and take risks, have no worries, and are full of competition and adventure spirit in new product development, new market development and new method application. ② In terms of work attitude and achievement, China enterprises can't expect to get material satisfaction through hard work at present, and lack flexible incentive mechanism. In western enterprises, employees can get more material satisfaction and fun from their own efforts; (3) With regard to the attitude towards superiors and authorities, the subordinates of most western enterprises have certain rights to make suggestions and questions to their superiors, and have greater autonomy within the scope of their duties. At the same time, local government departments have no direct control over enterprises within their jurisdiction. The actual situation of China enterprises is more inclined to the other extreme; In the way of expressing different opinions, if China people have different opinions on something, they usually don't state their opinions directly in person, but talk behind their backs. And the foreign side is also straightforward to tell the truth.

Third, the cross-cultural management of Sino-foreign joint ventures

Cross-culture, also known as cross-culture, refers to the communication between two groups with different cultural backgrounds. Cross-cultural management means that when there are contradictions and conflicts between different cultural groups related to enterprises in the process of interaction, corresponding cultural integration measures are added in the management process to effectively solve these contradictions and conflicts, so as to realize enterprise management efficiently. The cross-cultural management of Sino-foreign joint ventures needs to start from the following aspects.

1. Conduct cultural dimension analysis to identify different cultural differences.

Different cultural backgrounds determine that people hold different values and codes of conduct. To manage employees with different cultural backgrounds well, we must understand their different needs, values and behavior patterns, that is, analyze the two cultures existing in enterprises and find out their cultural characteristics, so as to take targeted measures in management, reduce cultural contradictions and conflicts and promote cultural integration.

Hofstede's cultural dimension system. Hofstede is a famous cross-cultural expert in the Netherlands. He did the earliest research on the dimension of cultural decomposition, and the system he developed was the most widely accepted and used, so it had the greatest influence. Hofstede's five dimensions include: ① power distance (big/small); ② Uncertainty avoidance (strong/weak); ③ Individual orientation/collective orientation (strong/weak); ④ masculine/feminine elasticity; ⑤ Long-term orientation/short-term orientation. The analysis of cultural dimension is helpful to grasp the characteristics of culture from all aspects, so as to find effective ways to solve cultural conflicts and contradictions.

2. Conduct cross-cultural training

Cross-cultural training is one of the most effective ways to deeply understand each other's corporate culture. Some cases of failure of Sino-foreign joint ventures show that foreign employees did not know much about China culture before being sent to China, which led to "acclimatization" in China and eventually returned home. On the other hand, managers and employees of enterprises in China are more unfamiliar with the theory, knowledge and methods of cross-cultural management. This situation has brought great difficulties to the management of Sino-foreign joint ventures. Therefore, it is an urgent and arduous task to carry out cross-cultural training for enterprise managers and employees, and it is also an effective means to succeed in cross-cultural management. Generally speaking, the main contents of cross-cultural training include: ① language training. Language is the main method and way of human communication. Knowing and mastering the other language can greatly improve the communication efficiency, which can be done by inviting foreign teachers to hold training courses and study abroad. ② Training of national cultural knowledge. You can use books, websites and other media for learning and discussion. Employees with different cultural backgrounds can exchange roles for simulation drills, and they can also hire cultural consultants to explain the national culture, so that employees can understand each other's national customs and habits and improve their understanding of each other's culture, thus narrowing the cultural distance they may encounter and allowing employees to adapt to the environment quickly. ③ Cultural sensitivity and adaptability training. Its purpose is to enable people to master the ability to cope with and adapt to different cultures and promote exchanges and understanding between people with different cultural backgrounds. By sending employees to the other country to study and experience different cultures, employees can better cope with the impact of different cultures, reduce their distress, inadaptability or frustration in different cultural environments, and avoid their prejudice against local culture; ④ Training of cross-cultural communication and conflict handling ability. Establish various formal or informal cross-cultural communication channels to improve the ability of managers, especially senior managers, to deal with cultural conflicts and ensure the stable development of enterprises.

3. Cultural integration and innovation

The so-called cultural integration and innovation refers to the process of forming a new management model with cross-cultural characteristics through mutual contact, exchange, absorption and infiltration between different cultures in Sino-foreign joint ventures. Specifically, it is necessary to combine the positive factors in the two cultures and create a new culture. To carry out cultural integration and innovation, we must first find out the similarities (intersections) between the two cultures as the basis of cultural integration, because the first condition of cross-cultural communication and cultural integration is to achieve * * * knowledge. Only when the two sides of cross-cultural communication reach a certain understanding can they tolerate each other on this basis. Then, according to the characteristics of the enterprise, decide which way to integrate culture. If the cultural characteristics are quite different, cultural conflicts should be reduced in the initial stage of integration and cultural integration should be reserved. When the enterprise operates for a period of time, it will turn to other cultural integration methods; If there are small differences in cultural characteristics, it is necessary to investigate which management mode represented by cultural characteristics is more efficient in the market economy, and mainly integrate it with this cultural characteristic. After integration and innovation, the original corporate culture of all parties has lost some of its own characteristics, and absorbed some new characteristics from heterogeneous cultures, thus forming a new corporate culture system. This new system will present some new features in value goals, behavior norms, interpersonal atmosphere and so on.