A Speed Race: Benelli and QJ Compete in the International Motorbike Arena
CASE aNALYSIS P2-2
A speed race: Benelli and QJ Compete in the International Motorbike Arena
Alexandra Totoret
/2014
1. What are the cultural differences that may impede success after the merger and acquisition?
According to Hofstede Centre, between the two countries that merged in order to unite their economic strength to sell more motorcycles on the global market, there are a lot of differences which were involved in the merge and acquisition, and these could impede their success after the merge. The first and the main difference between the two cultures is their attitude toward their self-image as being: “We” or only “I”. While for the Italian the motivation in the business comes when they are open to follow their own personal ideas and objectives, Chinese are more “warm” when it comes to relationships, they are a highly collectivist culture . Employee commitment to the organization (but not necessarily to the people in the organization) is low. Whereas relationships with colleagues are cooperative for in-groups they are cold or even hostile to out-groups. Personal relationships prevail over task and company. The Chinese rules seemed to be strange for the Italians and this created a rift between the management and the staff. After the acquisition, the Chinese management went to Italy to work, they came with total different mentalities and business approach. The first cultural difference that may impede success was the fact that they had so different approaches, that it was almost impossible to understand one another. The second cultural difference is people’s approach to uncertainty: while Italian love certain situations, where they know exactly how to act, Chinese, based on their past culture experience, don’t care so much about certain situation. Even the Chinese words are full of uncertainty, they are very difficult to be understood by the other cultures. Taking Benelli’s example, having Chinese managers who could take a lot of uncertain
A speed race: Benelli and QJ Compete in the International Motorbike Arena
Alexandra Totoret
/2014
1. What are the cultural differences that may impede success after the merger and acquisition?
According to Hofstede Centre, between the two countries that merged in order to unite their economic strength to sell more motorcycles on the global market, there are a lot of differences which were involved in the merge and acquisition, and these could impede their success after the merge. The first and the main difference between the two cultures is their attitude toward their self-image as being: “We” or only “I”. While for the Italian the motivation in the business comes when they are open to follow their own personal ideas and objectives, Chinese are more “warm” when it comes to relationships, they are a highly collectivist culture . Employee commitment to the organization (but not necessarily to the people in the organization) is low. Whereas relationships with colleagues are cooperative for in-groups they are cold or even hostile to out-groups. Personal relationships prevail over task and company. The Chinese rules seemed to be strange for the Italians and this created a rift between the management and the staff. After the acquisition, the Chinese management went to Italy to work, they came with total different mentalities and business approach. The first cultural difference that may impede success was the fact that they had so different approaches, that it was almost impossible to understand one another. The second cultural difference is people’s approach to uncertainty: while Italian love certain situations, where they know exactly how to act, Chinese, based on their past culture experience, don’t care so much about certain situation. Even the Chinese words are full of uncertainty, they are very difficult to be understood by the other cultures. Taking Benelli’s example, having Chinese managers who could take a lot of uncertain