The series seeks to illuminate, highlight, and spotlight (intercultural) communication in the world of business. This second volume focuses on China in an intercultural business context. Due to China's growing importance in today's world, it is imperative to obtain some insights into Chinese culture in order to begin to understand Chinese business practices. By examining the issue from a Western and a Chinese perspective, a more comprehensive view becomes possible. What appears baffling to Western managers may become understandable after a comparison with and contrast to the Chinese perspective. This is what this volume accomplishes: Shed light on misperceived aspects of intercultural business encounters.

While the world of business may revolve around numbers, such as production and sales figures or profit and loss, no business is possible without people. In fact, all business transactions revolve around people. And when people interact, they need to communicate with one another. One could, thus, postulate that in essence no business is possible without communication. That is why an understanding of communication is critical to an understanding of business. And who better to explain what communication is and how it functions than some of the leading experts in the field of human communication who have contributed their expertise and knowledge to this volume. The topics of this book range from the general to the specific and from the practical all the way to the theoretical, covering a wide spectrum of communication aspects that include interpersonal, organizational, mass and mediated communication as well as communication technology. The topics focus on the sender and the encoding as well as receivers and the decoding of messages. Even future opportunities for communication are discussed in this volume. The multifaceted topics of this volume reflect the broad array of communication in a variety of business contexts.

This series seeks to illuminate, highlight, and spotlight (intercultural) communication in the world of business. In order to conduct any business, relationships need to be established which are primarily reciprocal relationships - whether between employer and employee, or provider and customer. Since business relationships are essentially human relationships, they rely on communication. Thus, an understanding of fundamental human communication principles serves to explain, comprehend, and foster business relationships. The texts included in this book cover various topics in general and intercultural communication that have direct relevance to the world of business.

Chinese culture has a very long and extraordinary tradition. With China's rapid economic growth and a population of more than one billion people, China has become a very important market for many companies. In order to conduct business in a particular country, it is necessary to also understand the culture of that country. After all, culture influences people's behavior and communication - also in the world of business. That is why an understanding of a country's culture is crucial when communicating with all relevant stakeholders including its consumers, businesses, employees, and government authorities. This eighth volume of the Freiberger Beitrage seeks to provide some essential insights into Chinese culture to help improve transactions and relationships with Chinese stakeholders. The contributing authors help explain the various facets of Chinese culture revolving around communication, business negotiations, and conflict management.

Without communication, business is not possible. It is, therefore, desirable and necessary that communication be integrated into all aspects of business if one wishes to truly comprehend and succeed in business transactions and relationships. The contributing authors of this volume are all acknowledged experts in the field of communication. Their texts demonstrate how communication influences, directs, and determines virtually each and every facet of the business world. In turn, a better, more comprehensive understanding of business is possible.

The series seeks to illuminate, highlight, and spotlight (intercultural) communication in the world of business. This second volume focuses on China in an intercultural business context. Due to China's growing importance in today's world, it is imperative to obtain some insights into Chinese culture in order to begin to understand Chinese business practices. By examining the issue from a Western and a Chinese perspective, a more comprehensive view becomes possible. What appears baffling to Western managers may become understandable after a comparison with and contrast to the Chinese perspective. This is what this volume accomplishes: Shed light on misperceived aspects of intercultural business encounters.