For our Cultural Differentiation Elective lessons these past few weeks, we were asked to come up with suggestions for Chinese companies which are considered successful within China but have very limited success overseas to break into the US market and make their products better suited for American consumers using our knowledge on the core American values and the American culture. This is an interesting task as it requires us to look into different aspects of the companies which made them have only limited success overseas, and come up with solutions to tackle their problems trying to break into the US market effectively.
My classmates' presentations are very interesting and provided insight into many successful Chinese companies (some of which I don't even know existed as there are just so many different companies for the same product in China) - their history, structure, products, success in China and also problems they face abroad. They also came up with many creative and innovative ways to help solve the problems and make their products more appealing to American consumers. One interesting solution is the gamification of a virus protection software which allows users to earn and accumulate points every time they scan their computers. However, nearly every group mentioned hiring experts from the US and employees from rival companies to learn more about the American culture and policies other companies are adopting which the Chinese companies are probably already doing and are not having that much effect. But all in all, my classmates' presentations are really interesting and I learnt a lot from them.
My group chose the popular smartphone messaging application WeChat. We chose this company as it has massive success in China, being one of the most used applications in China. However, in the overseas market, especially in the United States, it doesn't look as good as WeChat is just one of the countless messaging applications competing for users, and it also is not as well know as other apps that are more successful in the US like WhatsApp or LINE. Consumers from the US might also have stereotypes about Chinese products being lousy and untrustworthy and fears that their info are being sent to advertising companies or the Chinese government, which limit the success WeChat has as well. WeChat was also specially catered to Chinese consumers, and much less suited for Americans. To solve these problems, WeChat has to become less "Chinese", and adopt features which would be appealing to American consumers. WeChat also has a ton of functions, some of which very useful, and some of which not so much. So to make their product in line with the American core value of simplicity, WeChat should delete some of its features so as not to make the application seem too complicated. One other very important thing WeChat must do as well is to show consumers in the US and other countries that it is safe. In conclusion, this project was quite a fun and interesting learning experience for me, and I enjoyed thinking about different solutions very much.
All in all, the Management Consultant Scenario was a very meaningful activity as it allows us to explore the cultural differences between the US and China and how these differences will affect how businesses operate in these two countries. Chinese companies breaking into the American market will still have a lot challenges as they try to overcome American stereotypes about Chinese products and make their companies more appealing to American consumers. Chinese companies may have had success in China, but in the US market they would still have a long way to go.
