Local business owners have taken to expanding their knowledge of the business world in an eight-class course on international business. The Confucius Institute opened its corporate outreach program, teaching businesses the art of doing business in China, to companies in Research Triangle Park last year. Companies, according to Yang Yang, a professor of the course, jumped at the opportunity to send employees into the program.
“The companies are quite interested in how to do business in China,” Yang said.
The Confucius Institute currently offers two different courses related to business in China. One course is the corporate outreach program designed for current businessmen who want to learn how to improve their awareness of the Chinese culture. The second option is a “Doing Business in China” course consisting of eight sessions of an hour and a half, once a week. This option is for undergraduate and graduate students looking to learn the basic Chinese cultural practices and history according to the Confucius Institute’s website.
Realizing it had an opportunity to help local companies when it had to deny multiple businessmen access to the course, because only students were able to take it, Yang said the Confucius Institute started the corporate outreach program.
Ten employees from Lenovo have registered for the course along with other companies’ employees, according to Yang.
“They encounter difficulty communicating with the Chinese and want to attend a class to understand how they think,” Yang said.
Businessmen look to learn about the history and culture of China to understand business in the country. According to Yang, students learn to deal with government officials, set up relationships with local businesses and understand the typical Chinese businessman. The corporate outreach program helps increase cultural awareness through Chinese culture discussions, practical Chinese language applications and Chinese history lessons, according to the Confucius Institute’s website.
The Chinese business course and outreach program comprise about 80 percent culture and 20 percent language, Yang said. Even with a stable course curriculum, the outreach program can be more specifically designed if need be, according to the website.
The small amount of language taught in the course is mainly geared toward simple practical phrases.
“The Chinese language is very difficult to master so we teach phrases used to greet one another, show gratitude, and function in small meetings,” Yang said.
Most of the students or businessmen simply memorize simple phrases, according to Yang.
Guest lecturers also speak at the outreach program as well as the student course.
“Personal experiences really attract their attention,” said Jianning Ding, a guest lecturer for the course and Chinese university lecturer. Businessmen and students have different interests in that students act like a sponge, absorbing new information, whereas businessmen already have hands-on experience and ask a lot of specific questions, according to Ding, who has eight years of business experience in China.
“With China being such a huge market and important trade partner, knowing how to do business in China is important,” Ding said.
