Business Class Skypes to China: The Business of Intercultural Communication

Left: Students in Tom Krzesinski's International Business class Skype with Sam Goodman, a Canadian-American businessman and entrepreneur who has lived in China for the last 20 years. 

Below: PEL Senior Becky Goodman introduces her brother, Sam, to the class. Sam, who Skyped in from Beijing, was just beginning his day as PEL students were just ending theirs.

 
By Amanda Hagood

What will be the impact of the recent relaxation of China’s one child policy on its aging workforce? To what extent has Chinese traditional medicine been integrated into its growing healthcare industry?

Kacee Quinn watches as Brijette Carter asks a question.

Students in Tom Krzesinski’s International Business 260 course recently posed these and other questions in a virtual town hall conversation with international entrepreneur Sam Goodman.

Goodman, who was introduced by his sister, Becky Goodman, a PEL senior Business Management major, spoke to the group via Skype from his home in Beijing. He offered insights on Chinese culture and economics based on a wide-ranging career that has included founding a corporate catering business, negotiating for Westinghouse Nuclear to build a nuclear power plant, launching numerous online platforms for promoting tourist destinations and production houses, and publishing Where East Eats West: The Street-Smarts Guide to Business in China, which has been included in the MBA curriculum for Boston College, Rutgers, and the University of Texas.

Goodman said that while some differences are obvious, many differences are more subtle.

For instance, Krzesinski remarked later, when Goodman was asked what the concerns were over infringing on intellectual property rights, Goodman appeared to stumble over answering the question to the point that it appeared the Skype connection was being lost.

Thomas Psyche watches as Calvin Marshall asks about pollution.

"It took a bit for us to 'get it,'" Krzesinski said, explaining that Goodman was attempting to avoid Tom's question, important to international business colleagues. "He basically was telling us the concept of 'infringement' didn't exist."

In response to student Calvin Marshall's question about China's environmental policies, Goodman recommended students watch Chai Jing's 2015 documentary Under the Dome, which explores the issue of air pollution in China.

While the lively conversation, which lasted about 75 minutes, covered everything from China’s education system, to environmental issues, to the growth of Starbucks in Chinese cities, Goodman’s message remained consistent: do your homework. For any enterprise to succeed, it must be grounded in knowledge of local culture, Goodman said. Do your research, ask lots of questions, and understand the “little differences” that make a significant difference.

Editor's Note: An earlier edition of this article misidentified the student asking a question in the last image and in the corresponding text of the article. The correction was made on 12/08/2015.