Intercultural Trainings for German Expatriates going to China

Inhaltsangabe:Abstract: The increasing international interconnection of the world’s economics has the consequence that more and more German employees have to stay abroad for a longer time. The south-east Asian and especially the Chinese economic environment are gaining a bigger and bigger role – also for the German textile market due to a strong economic growth, the low wage level – especially in the manufacturing branch this is an important decision factor - at approximately EUR 0,32 per hour and the size of a potential market. The low wage level will not rise in the near future. China as a market is not interesting at the moment because the purchasing power is not large enough at the present. The fact that China’s economic importance is growing requires a new kind of approach to enter the market in any kind of way. Since Germany is a country with only few raw materials the requirements of manpower have changed. The requirements regarding the qualification of the labour rise and the so-called ‘human-capital’ develops into one of the factors with the biggest influence on economic growth and employment. China does require special skills regarding management, communication and intercultural interactions. In the last years the persons in the responsible departments became aware of this. A relatively new area of research has become more and more important for the human resource departments in German companies: the intercultural preparation of employees and expatriates. Expatriates fill the key positions for the exchange of information between the parent company and the office abroad. For a successful expatriation a profound preparation regarding intercultural communication and behaviour is needed. The better the preparation the better will be the expatriation for the company and the expatriate. A failed dispatch abroad can cost the company approximately € 125.000, - per employment. However, the consequences for the expatriate can also be disastrous: social and professional decline and depression and others. This work has the aim to answer the following questions: How can well designed training programs look like? What kinds of possibilities do exist? Who does offer intercultural trainings in Germany? How are employees in German textile and clothing companies prepared in practice compared to other industries? Is the investment in the intercultural trainings useful, efficient and worth it? To find answers to these questions the second [...]