A Familiar Recommendation:
Sarah (Pi-Yin) is a Shanghai-based sales representative for a consulting firm who has been tasked by the corporate marketing office with identifying a local graphic design agency to assist in the creation of brochures for the Chinese market.
Her family is originally from just outside of Shanghai. As part of the process of identifying a design agency, Sarah spoke with her father and brother to see if there were any design agencies that they could recommend. Sarah's father was quick to remind her of the family friend who started the RMP Agency about a year ago. The agency had hired their cousin Ping for an internship last summer.
Determining that this was the best option, Sarah provided information about the RMP Agency to the marketing managers, recommending them as the local design agency, highlighting the value of the relationship with her family, and asking what the next steps should be.
Sarah was mildly shocked when the response from the marketing office arrived: "Please identify three or four other potential agencies. We need to make sure that RMP is indeed the best, the most experienced, and most cost-efficient. This project is too important to risk with such a new agency...especially given the fact that they are so dose to your family."
1. Name at least two of the values for each side which are apparent from the case
2. Under each value, note which specific comments/actions exemplify this value. US Marketing office’s values Sarah’s values
3. Identify at least one specific possible strategy for each side which might have prevented this misunderstanding.
4. One dimension: this case might exemplify which cultural dimension? Explain.