论文总字数：34268字

摘 要

企业文化是企业发展的驱动力，研究中美两国企业文化差异能够使中国企业充分认识到自己的优缺点。本文首先给出企业文化的定义，然后以中国的Lenovo和美国的IBM这两国具有代表性的公司为例，来对比分析其商标、环境、管理和价值观方面的异同。最后得出中美企业文化相似之处：都是顾客导向型，都注重创新意识，和都追求卓越；中美企业文化不同之处：两国企业文化的背景不同，管理模式不同，员工的价值观不同。

关键词：企业文化；对比研究；IBM；Lenovo

Contents

1.Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

3.Corporate culture 3

4.Corporate culture of IBM and Lenovo 4

4.1Corporate culture of IBM 4

4.2Corporate culture of Lenovo 7

5.Comparative Analysis of American and China"s Corporate Culture 9

5.1 Similarities between American and China"s corporate culture 9

5.2 Differences between American and China"s corporate culture  11

6.Conclusion 13

Works Cited 15

1.Introduction

Corporate culture is a cultural atmosphere and value concept gradually formed in the process of long-term production and operation of enterprises. As the soul of enterprises, corporate culture is an inexhaustible driving force to promote the development of enterprises. There are two functions of Corporate culture, they are internal integration and external adaptation. Enterprises emphasizing these two functions will achieve the best corporate performance and employee identity. For Chinese enterprises, corporate culture has special significance. On the one hand, in the times of economic transformation, Chinese enterprises are under pressure because they are facing increasingly fierce market competition. Building the core competitiveness of enterprises through corporate culture and gaining market competition advantages is an important issue for enterprises to achieve sustainable development. So Chinese enterprises should learn from western advanced corporate cultures, especially representative American corporate culture. On the other hand, Chinese enterprises and American enterprises are in different social backgrounds. How to effectively understand and use the corporate culture methods originating from the West is also a great challenge for Chinese enterprises. This thesis will analyze the differences between Chinese and American corporate cultures and make Chinese enterprises aware of their strengths and weaknesses. It is of great significance to learn from foreign advanced corporate culture so that Chinese enterprises can gain some beneficial enlightenment and useful information from foreign enterprises in the process of forming their unique corporate culture.

2. Literature Review

There are many scholars at home and abroad who have done some research on the comparative analysis of corporate culture between China and America. Corporate culture, which began in Japan after World War II, was regarded as a conscious business management activity. As a theoretical system of business management, it was founded in the United States in the early 1980s. William Ouchi, an American management scholar, first put forward the concept of corporate culture. He published "Z Theory: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge". In his book, he pointed out that the main factor that resulted in the success of Japanese companies was their advanced corporate culture(William 42). This view attracted more and more people to research corporate culture. Deal and Kennedy stated that corporate culture was a system which was made up of five factors, among which corporate environment was major factor affecting the development of corporate culture(Dealamp;Kennedy 68). Kotter and Heskitt carried out a research on several American enterprises, they found that corporate culture played a great part in the development of a company(Kotteramp;Heskitt 154). Pamela S.Lewis, Stephen H.Goodman and Patricia M.Fandt put forward a kind of structure named ‘Iceberg chart of corporate culture’. They believed that corporate culture is composed of the deep aspect under the iceberg and the behavior aspect on the surface of the iceberg. The behavior aspect on the surface is visible, while the corporate culture under the iceberg is invisible and perceptible.

In recent years, the number of literature on corporate culture in China is growing. Early studies on Chinese corporate culture mainly focused on traditional Chinese cultural values, such as relationship, face and social harmony. Recent studies have discussed more about the types and differences of Chinese corporate culture, and have compared the similarities and differences between Western and Chinese corporate culture. Liu Guangming said that the broad sense of corporate culture includes material culture, spiritual culture, etc., while the narrow sense of corporate culture is the expression of corporate values(Liu 37). Li Cunjin and Li Juan analyzed the formation and development of the enterprises and compared the characteristics of Chinese and American companies. They found there are many shortcomings in the cultural construction of Chinese enterprises(Li comparative 42). Zheng Hongyu thought that managers should combine production and management with ideological work and truly cared about the lives of employees and solved their problems. Only in this way could they offer a good corporate culture atmosphere and promote the stable development of companies(Zheng 324).

These researches either analyzed the similarities or differences of the companies in two countries. However, this thesis aims to compare two corporate cultures in China and America, taking IBM and Lenovo as examples respectively, and concludes both similarities and differences. What’s more, this thesis will also give some suggestions about how to give full play to the strengths of Chinese enterprises and effectively carry out cultural integration.

3.Corporate culture

Corporate culture is a new theory of modern enterprise management. Corporate culture is a unique cultural image of an organization composed of its values, beliefs, rituals, symbols, ways of doing things, etc(Dealamp;Kennedy 68). It includes three aspects: surface layer(material culture), middle level(institutional culture), core layer(spiritual culture). Material culture mainly includes corporate environment, enterprise logo and slogan, etc. Institutional culture includes ethics and code of conduct for employees. The core level is spiritual culture, which mainly includes culture spirit and corporate values. The most important part of corporate culture is corporate values with the corporate characteristics which are gradually formed in a series of political，economic and cultural practice activities in the enterprise. Corporate culture, or organizational culture, is a unique cultural image of an organization composed of its values, beliefs, ceremonies, symbols and ways of doing things. In simple terms, it is every aspect of the daily operation of an enterprise. Besides, corporate culture is also a combination of ideology of culture，historical tradition, common values, moral norms, standard of behavior after a long period of progress. If an enterprise wants to step in the market, to develop rapidly and stably, to improve its efficiency and overall quality, and to make the economy develop harmoniously, it is necessary for the company to popularize and deepen the construction of its culture(Zhang 93). Leaders change some part of corporate cultures based on the operation of the company and build up a management team who can convey the core idea of the new corporate culture. Corporate culture is the unique philosophy and characteristic of an enterprise. It is the leader that condenses employee spirit. It is also the invisible advantage of an enterprise and the core resource that is hard for other enterprises to imitate.

4.Corporate culture of IBM and Lenovo

4.1Corporate culture of IBM

IBM is located in New York City, USA. Thomas Watson, IBM’s former general manager, called the atmosphere of the company"s growth into an outstanding company ‘a culture of worship’ in the first half of the 20th century. The atmosphere began in 1914, when Watson"s father (Thomas J. Watson) became the manager of a small company which is struggling to survive. At that time, Thomas consciously began to work hard to create a conscientious and dedicated company. Today, many people know that there is ‘a blue giant’ in the world and its scope includes computers, ThinkPad, UNIX, servers, software, and also has deep knowledge in materials, chemistry, physics and other scientific fields. With the prosperity and decline of IBM, We can conclude that even companies that have dominated the IT industry will still make mistakes, and have crises and even be on the verge of bankruptcy. What does IBM rely on to turn the crisis into safety? It relies on the spiritual support of the team"s ideas and values, team"s innovation and service awareness and ability. Corporate culture is the most important strength to help the company survive that hard time. IBM"s corporate culture is considered as a model in the enterprises of United States. Like most growth-oriented enterprises, IBM"s corporate culture originates from the founder"s ideas and values. After several generations of practice and development, it has firmly established its foundation and constantly innovated. IBM’s corporate culture is its core competitiveness because it can increase IBM"s competitiveness in the highly competitive IT industry. As a result, IBM is widely recognized by the world.

4.1.1Corporate logo

Logo is a mark indicating the characteristics of things. With the development of economy and technology, logos of companies are becoming more diversified and personalized and IBM’s logo is especially unique. In 1958, Thomas Watson hired Paul Rand to design a logo which can convey IBM"s strengths and characteristics.

The logo of IBM is composed of the first letter of its full name (International Business Machines Corporation) and is represented by eight stripes. Each stripe is evenly spaced as if the radio waves are flowing, forming a vivid and rigorous new image, reflecting IBM"s high quality and sense of the times. Selecting blue as the standard color symbolizes the idea of "avant-garde, science, technology and wisdom". This design is easy to associate with the blue sky and the ocean, and makes people feel lofty and calm. Not only does this represent idea and hope, express modern science and power, but also reflect the strong technical background and economic strength of a high-tech company. What’s more, it has won the reputation of "Blue Giant" for IBM.

4.1.2Corporate environment

Corporate environment refers to the sum of all factors related to enterprise production and operation. It can be divided into two main categories: enterprise interior environment and enterprise external environment.

With the development of computer technology and the change of market demand, more and more enterprises have turned to purchasing more flexible personal computers, while the demand for large computers has been reduced. So the external environment is more fierce among several major computer companies. However, because of IBM"s monopoly in the market, IBM developed a sense of complacency and relaxation and underestimated the advantages of other competitors and did not take the initiative to adopt strategies in time because it did not recognize the changes in the market fully, which led to serious challenge of its main position in the computer market. IBM"s own problems are not rooted in business ideas, competitive strategies and its own culture, but in frequent cuts, transfers and reductions of staff positions, resulting in unrest in the workforce and loss of cohesion. Under the increasingly fierce market competition, IBM’s interior environment needed to be more stable. IBM didn’t focus on product development and innovation, expansion of sales fairs and competition strategy, but still stick to the eternal promise to customer service. As a result, IBM products are obviously lagging behind its competitors in products competition.

4.1.3 Corporate management

Corporate management is the general term for a series of activities such as planning, organizing, directing, coordinating and controlling the production and operation activities of enterprises. It is the objective requirement of social production. IBM adopted the ‘Management By Objectives’ proposed by American management scholar Peter F. Drucker. He stated that it was not the work that lead to the goal, but the goal that determined everyone"s work(Drucker 122). IBM attaches great importance to human resources and is good at using incentives. First, they pay attention to the security of employees and occupational security. Second, remuneration is highly stimulating and encouraging. The company has established a bottom-up system to understand employees" working conditions and to make a correct evaluation based on the nature, position and work experience of employees. IBM also care about the combination of material and spiritual means of compensation and incentives, which is fully in line with the characteristics of American culture that attaches importance to human needs and human values. IBM never loses a good employee because of money. Every employee who pays for his work will not be disappointed because of no reward. IBM has also established a sound education system. The company"s education permeates all levels, from managers to employees, receive 40 hours of formal training every year.

4.1.4Corporate values

Corporate values is the most important part of corporate culture no matter in which country. Corporate values refers to the value orientation of enterprises and their employees and the basic beliefs and goals that enterprises adore in the process of searching for business success. In 2003, IBM launched a sensational "value discussion" around the world, using 72 hours of impromptu online speeches. More than 300,000 employees of IBM took part in the discussion what is IBM"s core value and how to make the company develop better in the future. The main content focuses on what should be retained and what needs to be changed in corporate culture and values. After this discussion, the three new core values, "innovation that matters", "dedication to clients" success" and "trust and personal responsibility" have become IBM"s new core values. In fact, IBM"s values extend from "respecting individuals, serving customers and pursuing excellence" in the early stage and "winning, executing and teamwork" in the transition stage, to "innovation that matters, dedication to clients" success, trust and personal responsibility" today. These three new values convey a thought that the employees of IBM must have the courage to innovation and the most mission for them is serving customers. Not only that, they are both honest and responsible to customers. After these three new core values were established, they were strongly endorsed and approved by all the staff of IBM immediately. On the one hand, this is the result of hard discussions among all the employees, and naturally people keep these core values in mind and act on them. On the other hand, it is also on behalf of employers" judgment of IBM"s current situation and expectations of the future. IBM"s core values have been promoting the development of the company in its centuries of history. IBM"s most valuable asset is that every employee has the same values.

4.2Corporate culture of Lenovo

Lenovo"s corporate culture is very representative among the IT industry in China. As a giant of China"s information industry, Lenovo started from a small enterprise with only 11 employees and 20 square meters of houses. After nearly 20 years of rough development, it has reached almost thousands of employees and the number of it is increasing gradually. What’s more, its business scope has expanded to desktop computers, servers, laptops, printers, motherboards, mobile phones, etc., and it has become the third largest PC manufacturer in the world. The corporate culture plays a vital part in its success. In the words of Liu Chuanzhi, the leader of Lenovo, corporate culture is the foundation of Lenovo"s development and no matter what changes the company makes, they must be based on this. In the stage of enterprise development, corporate culture will transform with the change of resources. The newly developed culture not only has the advantages of the former culture, but also has strong guidance. Lenovo"s corporate culture is extremely successful in the construction of corporate culture in domestic corporations. Therefore, the research on the development of Lenovo"s corporate culture is of great significance to the corporate cultures which are under construction in China.

4.2.1Corporate logo

In 2004, Lenovo officially changed its name from ‘Legend’ to ‘Lenovo’. The pronunciation of ‘Lenovo’ is like that of the Chinese character ‘Lian’. ‘Novo’ is Latin,which means "new, innovative". Lenovo can be regarded as an "innovative association".

The whole logo uses modern "sans serif" font to achieve the purpose of concise design and readability. The upward sloping of "e" implies that Lenovo plays an important role in improving the quality of customer life and work. What’s more, the logo adopts modern blue, which means professionalism, entrepreneurship and technology.

4.2.2Corporate environment

In terms of interior environment, Lenovo"s IT technology is developing at a very high speed. Although compared with the developed countries such as America and Britain, China"s IT market is not mature. Because of this, information technology in China has enough room to develop. Therefore, with the acceleration of informatization progress of Chinese enterprises, China"s IT market will have great prospects for development. In terms of external environment, Lenovo, as a private enterprise in China, is facing the overwhelming majority of China"s economic environment. Since the 1990s, IT industry began to rise and develop rapidly. After the 2008 financial crisis, Lenovo"s situation is not optimistic, but China"s domestic economic growth and the gradual development of e-commerce also provide Lenovo with many advantageous conditions. But it also poses a huge challenge to Lenovo. For example, Lenovo has more competitors, such as Dell, HP, Acer, IBM and so on. Secondly, people’s the living standard has been greatly improved so they are not content with the simple material life and begin to pursue higher spiritual life. In particular, the thoughts of the young have changed.

4.2.3 Corporate management

Lenovo regards management as a house and divides it into three parts. The first part is the roof, which refers to the management of the product development, sales, etc. This part is different for different industries, different enterprises, Lenovo is innovating every year. The second part is the fence, means process management. Lenovo has standardized and scientifically managed a part of its operations, forming the management of logistics, information flow and capital flow. Compared with domestic counterparts, Lenovo has a competitive advantage in this area. The third part is the foundation, referring to the operation mechanism of enterprises, cultural construction and other deeper content. Generally speaking, no matter what industry, the essence of a good enterprise should be the same. In China, the environment of market economy is immature. It makes the construction of most enterprises in this part seem weak. In the 1990s, Lenovo strengthened its cultural construction, so there appeared a group of people who can devote all they have to the company, which is Lenovo"s most valuable wealth. This is the foundation of Lenovo management. This solid foundation is the core competitiveness of Lenovo and the most advantageous place for Lenovo to compare with other industries.

4.2.4Corporate values

In terms of value objectives, Chinese enterprises are mainly influenced by Confucianism, which emphasizes that employees should put collective interests first, and attach importance to individual responsibility, obligation and dedication to the collective. Individual value is mainly embodied by fulfilling their own work and obligations. Collectivism is one of the vital elements affecting Chinese corporate values. What’s more, Lenovo carries out "paternalistic" management, pursues "all actions are under command", and pays great attention to execution(Li,Yi 850). Such mandatory management will inevitably lead to communication barriers between Lenovo Group"s superiors and subordinates.

5.Comparative Analysis of American and China’s Corporate Culture

5.1 Similarities between American and China’s corporate culture

Although the cultural backgrounds and employees" thoughts in Chinese and American enterprises are different, there are many similarities in their corporate cultures in some aspects.

5.1.1Similar customers orientation

Enterprises in both countries attach great importance to their customers. They all think that only the consumption of customers can ensure the development of the enterprises and customers are their precious wealth. Innovation means doing things differently, exploring new territory and taking risks which isn’t just for high-technology(Robbins 45). For example, in order to make customers feel important, no matter what problems they may have, there is no doubt that the employees of IBM will solve them within 24 hours. Even if they can"t solve the problems immediately, they will give a satisfactory answer to the customers too. If customers call for service, they will usually send someone to serve them within one hour(Qi,Bai 20). In addition, customer service is the primary task of Chinese enterprises, because the most important mission to them is to create value for customers. No matter which company wants to have an influence in this industry, they must have customers and provide comprehensive services for customers.

5.1.2Similar corporate awareness

Companies in both America and China all focus on innovation and excellence. For example, in November, IBM launched a new business, IBM Talent amp; Transformation, which aims to help companies and their employees unleash greater potential in the era of AI and intelligent automation. In 2018, Yang Yuanqing showed the first mobile phone, Motorola z3, which can be upgraded to 5G all around the world. The product was released in August. In this competitive era, the atmosphere created by the companies should make sure to improve the competitive consciousness of employees and cultivate excellent talents. Some college students who have just entered the companies should receive necessary train and strict education before they work, which will lay the foundation for their future performance in the company.

5.2 Differences between American and China’s corporate culture 

There are many differences between corporate cultures of this two countries such as the background of culture formation and national values in the world, so the corporate culture in both countries is inevitably affected and restricted by these factors. Here are some representative differences.

5.2.1Different corporate backgrounds

The United States is a country with a lot of immigrants. The combination of national cultures brought by them from all over the world has merged into the multicultural society of the United States and formed the culture of the United States we know today. In 1620, the first Puritans came to New England because they couldn"t put up with the endless persecution of Catholicism. Therefore, they started the history of the United States. Puritans advocated abstinence, thrift, commercial and industrial activities, and they were confident in everything in their life, all of which affected American culture to a great degree. Therefore, Americans all advocate independence and freedom of personality. American society advocates such cultural values as equality, democracy, rule of law and competition. All of these cultural values have a profound impact on American enterprises, making American corporate culture have the individualistic characteristics of typical Western culture(Zhao,Mao 149). China is an ancient civilized country with a glorious history of more than 5000 years. Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism are the basic elements of Chinese traditional ideology and culture. They permeate all aspects of Chinese national thought and life, and Chinese corporate culture values are also deeply affected. Many viewpoints in traditional culture have great enlightenment to the development of corporate culture in China. However, due to the limitation of the overall environment, the construction of corporate culture in China is not perfect, but it also forms a corporate culture with the characteristics of Chinese traditional culture(Zhao,Mao 149).

5.2.2Different management models

American enterprises pay more attention to improving incentive system than Chinese enterprises. Moreover, the personnel departments of enterprises can strengthen the incentive to employees by constantly improving and perfecting wages and benefits. For example, in IBM, they believe that unreasonable wages can make employees disappointed with the company, and affect the enthusiasm and creativity of employees. However, Chinese enterprises lack incentives to promote their employees. As long as they benefit the company, employees can raise their wages no matter their work is well or not. What’s more, American companies pay more attention to details. For example, they do not set toilets, offices or other settings which are designed for special classes. Everyone will not be treated unequally because of their different positions. Another remarkable detail is that foreign employees call each other by their names, unlike Zhang Dong and Li Chu, who embody hierarchical differentiation in Chinese enterprises, this is a typical manifestation of individualistic values.

5.2.3Different employees" values

American employees have the thought that each of them is a part of the company and that they can create value for the company where they think is the place to realize personal value. Personal interests are above everything else. Aside from this, they also think that superiors and subordinates should respect each other. For Chinese employees, the company is a place to work as well as a place to express their feelings. They integrate their personal pursuit into the long-term development of the enterprises. Further more, Chinese employees will sacrifice their personal benefit for the benefit of the company. In terms of approaches to achieving goals, American employees believe that there is a competitive relationship between people and that there is a lot of struggle between people. Therefore, when there are contradictions, they usually express their views directly. They think that this way is conducive to solving problems faster and more effectively. The Chinese employees of Lenovo Group are deeply influenced by the traditional Confucianism and pay great attention to dealing with and adjusting the interpersonal relationship within the company. When they disagree with others, they will take into account the face of others. Generally, they will conduct appropriate emotional control, compromise and consultation instead of pointing out the other party"s mistakes.

6.Conclusion

Corporate culture plays an important role in the management of enterprises, and the difference between Chinese and Western corporate culture is one of the important factors affecting the cross-cultural management of enterprises(Yu 60). This thesis takes two representative companies, Lenovo in China and IBM in the United States, as examples to compare and analyze their corporate logo, environment，management model and values. Then it comes to a conclusion that there are both similarities and differences of the corporate cultures in both countries. The similarities are that all of the companies attach great importance to customers and they will spare no effort to serve their customers. Besides, the employees in both countries all focus on innovation and excellence. However, because of the background of two countries are different so that the employees’ thoughts and management models are different.

If an enterprise wants to gain competitive advantage, it must not only formulate a set of systematic competitive strategies, but also have corresponding specific steps to carry out, both of which are indispensable(Porter 237). China’s corporations should make a new corporate culture, which is innovative, vigorous and sustainable. It not only enables globalized enterprises to adapt to the cultural environment of different countries, but also is conducive to the development of enterprises, and will inevitably make enterprises in a dominant position in competition. Aside from this, We should take the initiative to recognize and adapt to this difference, which is the most effective means of communication, thus accelerating the process of enterprise globalization (Yu 61). Although the differences between China’s and American corporate cultures will bring some difficulties to managers, different corporate cultures must have their advantages and disadvantages. We should make the best of the advantage of corporate culture and promote the continuous reform and innovation of enterprises on the basis of the analysis of cultural differences, so as to enable Chinese enterprises to rise in this competitive era.

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