1. Managing Cross-Cultural Clashes
October 24, 2008

2. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
1

3. I. The World is Changing
Globalization – the growing integration of economies and societies around the world –
has been one of the hottest topics in international economics over the past few years.
Globalization is characterized by four main economic flows:
Goods and services, e.g. exports plus imports as a proportion of national income or per capita of population
Labor/people, e.g. net migration rates; inward or outward migration flows, weighted by population
Capital, e.g. inward or outward direct investment as a proportion of national income or per head of
population
Technology, e.g. international research & development flows; proportion of populations (and rates of change
thereof) using particular inventions (especially 'factor-neutral' technological advances such as the telephone,
motorcar, broadband)
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4. a. The Past - Global Manufacturing
Twenty years ago, manufacturing was widely dispersed around the world, but the
employment of talent was only done locally.
Convenient Traffic Pipelining Production
Energy Exploitation Convenient Traffic Pipelining Production
Energy Exploitation
Standardized operations to
Advanced logistics network
Optimized energy resource
improve work efficiency
shortened the distance
structures and fully utilized
between countries
global resources
3

5. b. The Globalization of Talent and Information
In the past few years, talent has become utilized across regional barriers
Communication
Communication
Technology
Technology
Strengthens
cooperation ,
furthers
communication
Computer Science
Computer Science
Enables
communication and
information sharing
Talent Flow
Talent Flow
Talent accessibility
4

6. c. The Changing Face of Globalization
There are two important trends which have altered the nature of globalization.
Outsourcing has
Continual
increases in oil become more
prices prosperous
Increases in Decreases in
transportation information flow
costs costs
Development of
Manufacturing information and
has become communication
more localized technology
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7. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
6

8. a. Multinational Leaders
The cultural origins of top management influence their management style.
SmithStreetSolutions’ top management has a strong international background.
Franklin Yao is CEO of
SmithStreetSolutions. Franklin was born
in Toronto, Canada, and spent his
teenage years in Hong Kong. Franklin
received a B.A. in Economics and in East
Asian Studies from Yale University.
Franklin has spent his career advising
Financial Services, Insurance, and
Professional Services organizations in
both North America and Asia. Franklin
worked for two companies with Indian
offices: Opera Solutions, where he was
the Assistant General Manager, and
Inductis.
Robin Kerawala is Chief Client Officer of
SmithStreetSolutions. He was born in
Hong Kong from a Japanese mother and
an Indian father. Robin graduated from
Brown University with a B.A. in
Economics A career consultant, Robin
has extensive experience advising his
North American clients in the areas of
strategic procurement and outsourcing.,
Robin worked as a consultant at
Operations Management Group, Cap
Gemini Ernst & Young, and Silver Oak
Solutions..
7

9. b. Multinational Staff
SmithStreet’s employees come from all over the world, and therefore represent a wide
variety of cultural values and characteristics.
Michael Yeo is a Research Manager at Tiphaine Camus is a Senior
SmithStreetSolutions. Michael Associate at SmithStreetSolutions.
received his B.A. in Accounting & She joined from Shanghai
Economics from the University of University of Finances and
Reading. Previously, Michael was an Economics where she was
External Auditor at Ernst and Young teaching French and English.
and an Internal Auditor at Shell, Tiphaine speaks English, French,
where he helped implement their SOX Mandarin, and Spanish, and she
plan throughout the whole of Asia. holds a B.A. in Chinese studies
Apart from his native English, Michael from Bordeaux University.
also speaks Mandarin, Cantonese and
Hokkien.
Sudeshna Dey is a Project Manager at Cynthia Zhang is a Senior
SmithStreetSolutions. She has Associate at SmithStreetSolutions.
extensive marketing and sales Previously, Cynthia taught
experience in a Pharmaceutical Chinese as a foreign language at
Company in India where she served as the International Culture
a Sales Manager and a Product Exchange College, SHISU.
Manager ( marketing). She also has Cynthia received a B.A. in
experience at a financial advisory firm Chinese Education from
in Shanghai. Sudeshna holds a B.Sc. Shandong Normal University and
degree from the University of an M.A. in Chinese Modern
Calcutta, and received an M.B.A. from Literature from Shanghai
Utkal University in India. International Studies University
Nathan worked at UBS Investment Moritz Wang is a Senior Associate
Bank in New York, where he focused at SmithStreetSolutions. Moritz
on real estate debt and equity received an M.A. in the History
investments. At UBS, Nathan also Of Economic Thoughts from
worked in the Financial Fudan University and worked as
Sponsors/Leveraged Finance group a manager of the school cafeteria
and executed transactions totaling at Fudan. He wrote his masters
$10+ billion in financial services, thesis on the economic
telecom, tech and media. Nathan philosophy of Liang Qichao
holds a B.A. (magna cum laude) in
Economics from UCLA, where he
graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
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10. c. Multinational Clients
SmithStreetSolutions maintains an international client base, and interacts with a wide
variety of differing business cultures.
24 hours / 7 days
Management
New York London Shanghai
New Delhi
Our clients
Our office locations
Consumer Marketing (India) Pvt. Ltd.
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11. d. Multinational Management Philosophies
Combining different ideas and techniques inevitably sparks innovation, improvement, and
the creation of high standards.
Western Dynamics: Confucian Dynamics:
Principles of decency,
truth and integrity
Encourage to take risks
and try new things Intentional focus on
improving the well-being
American openness
of people in the workplace
High
Questioning
Standards Sensitivity to face
Creativity
Consensus
Innovation
Importance of
Openness to change relationships
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12. e. Multinational Projects
SmithStreetSolutions regularly engages in multinational projects for its clients.
New York Hotel Market Research
Data Data
What we’ve done
What we’ve done
Collection Categorizing
Client has a wide range of data Collected information was
NYC Hotel
NYC Hotel from worldwide sources categorized according to the
Industry Analysis
Industry Analysis specifics of MutualArt’s
Auction houses
project
Museums
Upcoming auction
Galleries
Auction catalogues
Publications
Consumer Hotel Categories Hotel Case
Consumer Hotel Categories Hotel Case Artist
Surveys Comparison Studies
Surveys Comparison Studies Upcoming events
News
Features
Press release
Full-service Limited-Service Extended Stay Collection
Full-service Limited-Service Extended Stay
Hotel Analysis Hotel Analysis Hotel Analysis
Hotel Analysis Hotel Analysis Hotel Analysis
Database Database
Outcome
Outcome Building Maintenance
Databases for data and Periodic update
pictures were established Database enrichment
With the help of our services, the client decided to enter the flexibly
With the help of our services, the client decided to enter the Data source enrichment
target market and gave us a follow-up project involving design of Excel
target market and gave us a follow-up project involving design of
Access
the company logo, company name creation and the formation of
the company logo, company name creation and the formation of
html
a market-entry strategy.
a market-entry strategy.
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13. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
12

14. III.Issues We Face (1/3)
Differing cultural expectations can cause miscommunication and conflict within the
workplace.
Misunderstandings
Different communication styles
Different values
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15. III.Issues We Face (2/3)
Differing cultural expectations can cause miscommunication and conflict within the
workplace.
Different work standards
Concept of time
Quality
Responsiveness to management
14

16. III.Issues We Face (3/3)
Differing cultural expectations can cause miscommunication and conflict within the
workplace.
Lack of communication between the
Chinese and expat staff
Language barriers
Fear of the unknown
Tendency for Chinese and expats
to form separate cliques
15

17. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
16

18. IV.How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
Our corporate philosophy, “Multiculturalism helps us to bridge cultures and to innovate,”
is incorporated into both our firm’s development and our daily work.
Area Philosophy Goals
High potential
There is a large multicultural pool of talented
candidates; Employee
labor
Recruiting
Recruiting
diversity
Local entry-level candidates seek experience in
a multicultural work environment
A significant pool of expatriate labor wants
direct exposure to local language and culture
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19. IV.How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
Our corporate philosophy, “Multiculturalism helps us to bridge cultures and to innovate,”
is incorporated into both our firm’s development and our daily work.
Area Philosophy Goals
Employee development
Being culturally agnostic, we believe that there is
more than one right way to do things
Training
Training
SmithStreet management strives to combine the
best aspects of all cultures
Chinese / English language training and
cultural training
Chinese employees sent to our US office
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20. IV.How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
Our corporate philosophy, “Multiculturalism helps us to bridge cultures and to innovate,”
is incorporated into both our firm’s development and our daily work.
Area Philosophy Goals
Better client service
Different skill sets from diverse cultures &
professional experiences are applied to our work
Quality
Quality
Diverse workgroups
Local and expat management
19

21. IV.How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
Our corporate philosophy, “Multiculturalism helps us to bridge cultures and to innovate,”
is incorporated into both our firm’s development and our daily work.
Area Philosophy Goals
Better internal
An environment incorporating multiculturalism
communication and
fosters cultural awareness
Environment
Environment
mutual understanding
Office decorations incorporate multiple
cultures
Social activities facilitate cross-cultural
communication
20

22. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
21

23. V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions (1/2)
Tiphaine Camus
Background Experience at Challenges and Solutions
SmithStreet Issues Encountered
B.A. in Chinese
Senior Associate Miscommunication Listen
Studies
English and Misunderstanding Be tolerant
In China for over 5
Cultural Training colleagues from Respect others
years
Corporate Culture different cultural
Can speak 4
backgrounds
languages
Former university
teacher
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24. V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions (2/2)
Cynthia Zhang
Background Experience at Challenges and Solutions
SmithStreet Issues Encountered
M.A. in Chinese Senior Associate Misunderstandings Respect others
Literature and Learning different between expats Stress the
language cultures from and Chinese importance of
Taught Chinese as coworkers colleagues communication
a foreign language Was trained in the Learn from other
for 2 years New York office cultures
23

25. Agenda
I. The World is Changing
II. SmithStreetSolutions: Uniquely Multicultural
a. Multinational Leaders
b. Multinational Staff
c. Multinational Clients
d. Multinational Management Philosophies
e. Multinational Projects
III. Issues We Face
IV. How We Solve the Challenges of Multiculturalism
V. Selected Members at SmithStreetSolutions
VI. The Future
24

26. VI.The Future
What is the future of globalization
and innovation?
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27. 26