Softer approach needed for Chinese firms to win hearts and minds

China's expanding economic presence around the world is no longer embodied by low-end products labeled "made in China," but by cross-national enterprises and infrastructure projects that are installed locally. The spillover of China's growing economic power has been pushing the conventional global economic structure to reform. Chinese enterprises are the basic driving force of this process.

The road is bumpy for Chinese companies. Problems and obstacles have kept rising and the troublesome part is that when negative information makes headlines, many groundless accusations grow sharply, saying how these companies, no matter whether State-owned or private, exploit local resources, cause serious environmental pollution and ruin local communities.

Chinese enterprises do not lack the energy or resolution to go abroad. What they need is guidance that can lead them to avoid mistakes and fulfill their mission without being misunderstood.

This challenge has attracted scholars, who can combine their theories with these companies' real-life experiences and propose pertinent suggestions.

Edited by Wang Huiyao, director general of the Center for China and Globalization, Report on Chinese Enterprises Globalization (2015) is a bluebook that aims at drawing a road map for Chinese enterprises that have ambitions to go abroad.

This book gathers the wisdom of many academic elites, front-line professionals and former officials who were in charge of the State-owned enterprises or business-related departments.

It also abandons the conventional single structure and selects multiple perspectives to explore the current situation Chinese enterprises face when expanding overseas.

For example, besides a general outline, the report uses subject studies, case studies and industrial analysis to give the readers a comprehensive picture of the challenges Chinese overseas enterprises face.

Unlike much similar research that will try to avoid digging deeper to divulge deep-seated problems, this report doesn't evade some sensitive issues. More significantly, it is trying to find answers on more general ground.

In the chapter of suggestions, it mentions how Chinese enterprises should augment their capabilities to integrate their own culture with that of local communities. Cross-cultural integration is one of the most effective approaches to reduce concerns caused by business activities such as mergers and acquisitions.

This cross-cultural integration could also trigger another major debate about soft power.

The report says that as Chinese enterprises have been narrowing the gap with their Western counterparts, it is high time that these companies resort to softer approaches to expand their influence instead of exerting blunt and aggressive business strategies. The wheel needs some grease to run well.

Chinese companies have charged fast enough to blaze a new trail of globalization. But they need to act smartly, otherwise, the more work they do, the more troubles they will get.