It's time to round up the sacred cows

《中文版在英文的后面》

I was recently reminded of something my London Business School professor often used to talk about - those immovable institutionalised structures that are above criticism.

He called them an organisation’s ‘Sacred Cows’.

They are the ideas and systems once integral to past success but now stand as obstacles to future progress.

After years of exceptional local growth, many Chinese companies are looking abroad to new customers and new markets. Along with that comes a realisation that cracking the global market requires cracking the absolute belief in some of those Sacred Cows.

There is no shortage of Chinese companies making steps overseas: Bytedance, SenseTime, Anker, Li Auto just to name a few. For most, putting general plans in place to expand is pretty straightforward. Covering the obvious strategic questions, identifying the right markets, understanding market fit, prioritising resources, and creating go-to-market plans are all concrete steps that are very familiar to us all.

However, in my experience, the biggest challenge for any Chinese company to globalise a business is far less obvious. Yes, it’s those Sacred Cows.

I’d define them as any company structure, culture, process, or system that silently restricts the adoption, adaption, or inclusion of new ideas and new realities that will impede the internationalisation of the company.

These are subtle obstacles, often entirely invisible, even when executing the very best of marketing plans. For they tend to be deeply embedded within people and within the organizational structures and systems of the company.

The first of these revolves around company culture. Those core values and philosophies that worked so well at home, often won’t fit international markets. Overseas customers and employees usually have completely different viewpoints, behaviours, motivations, and working cultures.

Take the Chinese concept of chi ku 吃苦 (which literally means ‘eat bitter’); or the idea of ‘996’ (working from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week), made famous by companies like Xiaomi and Alibaba. Even when I was at Huawei, we foreigners had to adapt to the struggling spirit of fen duo (奋斗). All these ideas are founded on the basic Chinese notion of hard work and sacrifice.

That’s not to say Western teams are scared of hard work, but these principles struggle to fit with the idea of work-life balance, which includes post-work Friday night socialising and then relaxing over the weekend. Meeting agendas and concepts of efficiency also differ, not to mention concepts of decorum. Translating these ideas from East to West involves treading a fine line that capitalises on the best that both worlds have to offer.

Another hidden Sacred Cow that must be addressed involves communication practices and the ability to use them in international markets.

It is natural for Chinese workers to want to use the Chinese language with colleagues. It feels more comfortable and makes it easier and faster to get things done. International Chinese managers who are under pressure for quick results will naturally gather Chinese colleagues around them to make communication more convenient. Instead of email, they will inevitably use China’s most popular messaging app, the all-encompassing WeChat, as their core communication medium. If not considered carefully, these practices and tools can lead to their local colleagues feeling alienated and excluded from day-to-day interaction.

One of the biggest impediments to expansion is dealing with the differences in company operations and the impact they have on employees. Western teams have high expectations for their managers. They expect their leaders to display honesty, transparency, visionary thinking, and action - and to embrace a diversity of thought and opinion. They also expect a clear communication of company strategy. Chinese expat managers need to be prepared.

Expanding Chinese companies must also consider differences in HR and organisational policies. Although widely accepted and entrenched at home, Chinese organisational structures may not be appropriate for foreign markets. Policies, procedures, and handbooks may be unsuitable for managing employees and for legal compliance.

Developed Western markets require every market entrant to be deeply familiar with diversity and inclusion. This needs to be implemented throughout an organisation, from Board members to entry-level employees. Add in HR data privacy and access, labor practice codes, governance, environmental rules, employee misconduct protocol, wellness policies, and suddenly you have a host of issues that can catch Chinese companies unaware.

Finally, the entire mindset for an international expansion is critical for success. From the CEO down, there must be a clear demonstration of commitment to the very idea of expansion, which will naturally include changing some of these embedded ways of working.

Senior executives need to be prepared to accept changes to their standard procedures and policy. Some of these changes will inevitably shift company culture, which will no doubt generate resistance. That means any behavioural change in an organisation will be best carried out by senior executives setting the example.

Today, there are plenty of unique challenges facing Chinese companies looking for international market growth. The current state of China-US relations and the ensuing trade wars have the potential to create dueling ecosystems that could impact local government standards, consumer perceptions, requirements for localisations, and organizational attractiveness. And of course, the post-pandemic international workplace will be very different from what we have previously known.

As a result, many Chinese companies may feel less inclined to venture outside their comfort zone. However, those hungry for the benefits of international opportunities will find themselves perfectly positioned to establish new operations.

But first, they would do well to consider putting some of those Sacred Cows out to pasture.

是时候围捕这些“Sacred Cows”了

这几天我想起了我伦敦商学院教授经常提到的一件事——那些“坚若磐石”的制度化结构，让人噤声。他把这些结构称作组织的“Sacred cows”，它们曾经是获取成功不可或缺的理念和体系，但现在却成了未来进步的绊脚石。

许多中国企业在本土市场快速成长后，开始将目光投向海外，寻找新客户和新市场。同时他们也意识到，要想打开全球市场，必须打破对那些“Sacred Cows”的绝对信仰。向海外市场进军的中国企业不在少数:比如字节跳动、商汤科技、安克创新、理想汽车。对大部分企业而言，要想制定总体扩张计划很简单，只要提出一些明确的战略问题、选择目标市场、了解市场契合度、确定资源优先级和制定“go-to-market”计划，这些都是我们很熟悉的具体步骤。不过根据我的经验，任何一家中国公司要想实现业务全球化，最大的麻烦藏在冰山之下。对，就是那些“Sacred Cows”。我认为它们是任何公司的结构、文化、流程或系统，它们默默地限制采纳、适应或纳入新思想和新现实，从而阻碍公司的国际化。平时大家几乎看不到这些微妙的障碍，即使是在执行最优营销方案时。因为它们已经在员工和公司的组织结构和系统中深深扎根。

第一个“Sacred Cows”与公司文化有关。那些在国内行之有效的企业核心价值理念往往不适合国际市场。海外客户和员工的观点、行为、动机和工作文化与国内截然不同。就拿中国人的“吃苦”观念举例：上班“996”(从早上9点工作到晚上9点，一周工作6天)，被小米、阿里巴巴等公司搞得名声大噪。甚至我在华为工作时，我们老外不得不适应奋斗精神。这都是因为中国人辛勤劳作和个人牺牲的传统观念。这也不是说国外员工就害怕努力工作，只是这些工作原则与国外“平衡生活和工作”的理念相冲突，他们更愿意周五晚上下班后与老友相聚，周末放松一下。中西方的会议议程和效率概念也各不相同，更别说礼仪概念了。中国的工作理念要想在西方传播，需要把握好微妙的界限，利用好双方的优势。

另一个亟待解决的隐藏“Sacred Cows”是沟通实践以及在国际市场上运用它们的能力。中国员工自然想用中文和同事交流，这样交流起来更舒服，做起事也更容易更快。在高效工作的压力下，中国的外派的经理会将从中国带来的中国同事召集到他的团队，让沟通更加方便。电子邮件被无所不能的微信（中国最受欢迎的通讯应用）替代，成了他们的核心沟通媒介。如果不细想，这些做法和工具可能会使他们的当地同事感到疏远，还会被排除在日常互动之外。公司扩张的最大障碍之一是解决公司运营的差异及其对员工的影响。西方团队对他们的经理期望很高。他们希望领导诚实坦率、富有远见，做事成熟，思想多元化。他们还期望公司经理能够清晰地传达公司的战略思想。中国的外派经理可要做好准备了。

海外扩张时中国公司还必须考虑两者在人力资源和组织政策方面的不同。尽管中国公司的组织结构在国内被广泛接受，根深蒂固，但可能并不适合国外市场。政策、程序和手册可能也不适合管理员工和遵守法规。发达的西方市场要求每个市场进入者都得非常熟悉多样性和包容性。这需要在整个组织中实施，从董事会成员到初级员工。再加上人力资源数据隐私和访问、员工行为准则、治理、环境规则、员工不当行为协议、健康政策，突然间，你会遇到一大堆中国公司没遇到过的问题。

最后，国际扩张的整个心态对成功至关重要。从首席执行官到接任的，都必须明确表明对扩张理念的承诺，这自然包括改变其中一些固有的工作方式。高级管理人员需要准备好接受标准程序和政策的更改。其中一些变化将不可避免地改变公司文化，这无疑会产生阻力。这意味着，一个组织中的任何行为改变，最好由树立榜样的高管来实施。

如今，寻求国际市场增长的中国企业面临着许多独特的挑战。中美关系的现状以及随之而来的贸易战，有可能创造出一种决斗生态系统，这种生态系统可能会影响当地政府的标准、消费者的看法、本地化要求以及组织吸引力。当然，疫情后的国际工作场景 所将与我们之前所知的大不相同。许多中国公司可能不太愿意冒险走出舒适区。然而，那些渴望在国际市场获利的公司会发现自己完全有能力建立新的业务。

但是首先，他们最好考虑先放放这些“Sacred Cows”。

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