PROPOSED RESEARCH PROJECT - EDBA DAUPHINE

To trace back my interest on cross-cultural issues and the rationale behind my proposed

research project on “Cross-cultural issues faced by mainland Chinese expatriated managers

& experts in leadership positions working within European companies in South East Asia,

mainly in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand”, one needs to be aware of my personal

background and its connection with the above-mentioned topic.

My personal origin and history is deeply related to cultures crossing each other as I come

from a family which roots are straddling Europe (France & Spain), Asia (Turkey) and North Africa

(Algeria), so I was exposed to a cross-cultural environment with different type of

cuisines, religions and languages since my birth. Due to my parents’ occupations [...], I was

lucky enough since I was born to travel to many places (I have been so far to 70 countries and

territories) thus creating a keen interest in different cultures, languages and people.

I took the decision to learn Mandarin Chinese language and Chinese’s civilization at

[...] in the mid-eighties upon graduation from high school. I already wanted to move to Asia

since I was fifteen, my first visit dating back to my very early years in 1971 in Hong Kong

followed by additional visits to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand and I wanted to learn an Asian

language. Back in the mid-eighties, it was rare to make such a bold move and many people I

met often question that choice, considering me to be someone rather original but I had the

intuition that Asia was to play an increasingly leading role in the world affairs, especially

China and consequently enroll in a Chinese language and civilization studying programme. In

addition to that, a few years later, I started studying International Business at another school

and a few years later I was accepted in a M.Phil programme in Human Resources Management with [...].

One of the unexpected consequences was that I met and married a mainland Chinese lady

studying in Paris and we moved to Beijing in the early nineties.

Back then, it was highly ground-breaking to combine Chinese language with Business

then HR studies and later it helps me to build the foundations of the company I set up: [...], a HR

consultancy in China. Following an intuition and a will to be independent, I decided to

become an entrepreneur after several years of corporate experiences with companies from

Scandinavia, France and the United Kingdom.

After jumping in the sea of entrepreneurship in China, not an easy task for a foreigner, I

had and still have to remain creative in developing new services to clients in order to survive in

the extremely competitive environment and keep on developing my boutique firm. Starting from

recruitment and executive search of Chinese and foreign talents for positions in China, we

stretched our business model to include individual and group assessments as well as coaching,

innovation and cross-cultural trainings. Constant interactions with clients from a vast array of

industries helped to develop new products to fit with their ever-changing requests on people

acquisition and engagement.

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Always interested in acquiring new knowledge that could be turned into new competences

and new services for our customers, I decided to further my studies by enrolling in an Executive

Master in Innovation Leadership at [...]. After 15 months of intense over-the-weekend studies

and mind broadening exchanges, ever more interested in doing research, I decided to pursue the

idea I had considered for years : going for a doctoral degree. Back then the issues were

twofold: finding the right subject and the right programme that must be a part-time one. Today, I

think that I have found the core of the topic I want to develop research upon as mentioned

above and that I could eventually turn into a book as well as the programme [...]: the

Executive Doctorate in Business Administration.

Following this brief presentation of myself, I would like to explain the rationale behind the

choice of my proposed research project on “Cross-cultural issues faced by mainland Chinese

expatriated managers & experts in leadership positions working within European companies

in South East Asia, mainly in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand”. Through my work as an

executive coach and HR consultant, I have been talking to senior people within Western companies

operating in China as well as in Asia (including South East Asia’s ASEAN group (The Association

of South East Asian Nations: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, The

Philippines, Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam).

I was repeatedly told that their experience of transferring Mainland Chinese managers and

experts - in leadership positions - to these Western companies’ Southeast Asian subsidiaries - a

career move initiative triggered as a part of leadership development programme to give them a

more global exposure and to foster leadership capabilities, a strategic objective for these Western

companies, striving to develop the new global Chinese leaders of tomorrow - was a failure.

What I have noticed while talking to a few European clients is their recurrent feedback on

the problems faced by their mainland Chinese colleagues being expatriated to ASEAN countries

in terms of adaptation to the local culture and realities, behavior change and leadership. One may

hypotheses that being from the Middle Kingdom and being sent by the company (Western or

Chinese) overseas has a huge influence on their behavior towards locals (a high power distance

culture, Confucean values and the historical suzerain-vassal relation between China and these

countries, and well as the Chinese psychology seems to exert some impact on their behaviour to

the point where in several cases I was told to, they had to be repatriated to China or even dismissed

by their respective companies).

In parallel, I witnessed that Western companies, especially European ones, have been

investing mostly in 3 Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand consequently,

though Indonesia and Vietnam are developing at a very quick pace, I have decided to focus my

research on the 3 countries mentioned above.

My goal is to conduct a research on this specific topic that is emerging and may be a “blue

ocean” in the field of Chinese/Asian leadership development and cross-cultural management,

especially in the light of China’s ever growing influence and its new development strategy of the

“One Belt, One Road”.

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Proposed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, “One Belt, One Road” “ focuses on connectivity

and cooperation among countries primarily between the People's Republic of China and the rest

of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt"

(SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR). The strategy underlines China's push to

take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in areas such as

steel manufacturing. It was unveiled in September and October 2013 in announcements revealing

the SREB and MSR, respectively and was also repeatedly promoted by Premier Li Keqiang during

the State visit in Asia and Europe”.

One of the consequences of the “One Belt, One Road” (aka OBOR) strategic initiative will

be the growing expatriation of Chinese managers and experts overseas and it will trigger some

cultural shock and a necessary adaptation for Chinese nationals involved in this undertaking.

One recurring question of my research topic lies in the criteria required to be effective as a

corporate leader and their connection to the leader’s culture. We can posit that each leader’s

original culture, from his/her national culture down to his/her family culture has shaped a world

vision and a system of mental models and behaviours constituting this leader’s personality.

The leader-follower relationship, as known as the leader-member exchange (LMX) can

help clarifying the behaviours of Mainland Chinese leaders operating in European companies in

Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as the expectations of Chinese leaders are different from their

respective Western counterparts while interacting with subordinates, local and international.

Another area of my research will address the international mobility issue and the culture

shock and cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese expatriated managers in the physically close yet

culturally distant environment of the afore-mentioned South-East Asian countries. What are the

keys of success and the risks facing Mainland Chinese expatriates working within European

companies’ South-East Asian subsidiaries? How to prepare these managers and experts to

facilitate their personal, professional and their companies’ experience in relation with their

overseas’ undertaking?

The topic of expatriation has been well researched whenever it focused on Western

expatriates and due to the globalization of business, an increasing number of non-western

individuals are now being sent overseas either by companies from their home countries or by

western companies as well. Their expectations may or may not be similar to their Western

counterparts and the problem of adaption may be perceived through a culturally different eye. Is

there any culturally-specific expatriation model or does a one size fits all model prevail?

Developing Mainland Chinese global and regional leaders is a key strategic objective for

the corporate level of European companies. This area is still in its infancy and not yet well

investigated by the academic, the corporate and the consulting worlds hence my interested in

contributing to the increase of knowledge on that specific topic that will have repercussions in the

management of the most innovative global companies in the years to come.

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Elements of my Research Plan and Methodology

Pilot Study

The purpose of this pilot study is to identify any difficulties linked to the expatriation of

Mainland Chinese managers and experts working within Euroepan companies and the leadership

behaviours these people adopt while in South East Asia.

Sampling

The sampling aim of this study is to survey European companies with a population of Mainland

Chinese managers and experts expatriated to Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. This aim will be

met by collecting data from mainland Chinese expatriates through survey and interviews.

I have already contacted several of my clients that are open to participate in such a survey and I

also have a long list of companies to be targeted for such survey. My local partners and network

in the 3 countries will also be helpful in such an undertaking.

Data Collection

Questionnaires will be administered via face-to-face interviews to ensure a high completion rate.

Data will be collected by me with the possible assistance of Mandarin-speaking interviewers

(research collaborators) at each location. I may rely on indigenous interviewers, based on my

experience, these collaborators will probably be colleagues based at local human resources

consultancies or at universities rather than employees of market research companies.

Some references

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Library of Psychology

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Ellipses

- Church, Peter (2009), ‘’ A Short History of South-East Asia’’ John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte

Ltd

- Chhokar, Jagdeep S., Brodbeck, Felix C and House , Robert J (2012), ‘’ Culture and Leadership

Across the World : The Globe Book of In-Depth Studies of 25 Societies’’ Routledge Taylor &

Francis groupProj

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- Cooke, Fang Lee (2012), ‘’ Human Resource Management in China : New Trends and

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Thais: A Guide to Managing in Thailand’’ White Lotus Press

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China” The Journal of Management Development, vol 21 no 1

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- Lombardo, Michael M and Eichinger, Robert M (2011), ‘’ For Your Improvement: A Guide for

Development and Coaching ‘’ Korn/Ferry International

-Luksawn Kridbhudhitham, Chalong Tubsree, Anong Wisessuwan (2016), “The Overseas

Expatraites of Human Resources Development Practices: A Study of Thai Expatriate Managers

in Multinational Corporations (MNCs)” HRD Journal

-Martin-Chua, Elizabeth (2009) “Maximizing Human Capital in Asia from the Inside Out” John

Wiley & Sons (Asia)

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- Ng, Aik Kwang (2001) “Why Asians Are Less Creative Than Westerners” Prentice Hall

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of culture on the Leadership Behaviours of Expatriate Managers” Center for International

Corporate Governance Research (CICGR) Victoria University, Australia

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Performance in International assignments: The Role of Cultural Intelligence as Dynamic

Intercultural Competency” International Journal of Business and Management

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China ‘’ Routledge Studies in the Growth Economies of Asia

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People : Leading Leaders’’ American Management Association

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Eastern and Western Cultures” Hong Kong Polytechnic Research Paper

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SAGE

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Imitation to Innovation ‘’ The MIT Press

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future HR practices in the industrial sector’’ Routledge Curzon Taylor & Francis GroupProjet

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