Uncertainty Avoidance In Hong Kong

The dimension of Uncertainty Avoidance represents the degree to which the people of a society feel uncomfortable with uncertainty and ambiguity. People from high uncertainty avoidance cultures prefer formal standards and strong social norms in order to avoid uncertainty or risk; while people from low uncertainty avoidance cultures depend on informal, unstructured, or fluid roles and behaviors. They tend to have a high tolerance in dealing with obscurations. Hong Kong has a relatively low score of 29 out of 100 on this dimension. People are comfortable with obscurity. For instance, in Hong Kong, there are many ambiguous words which are uneasy for foreigners to comprehend.

The dimension of Long-term versus Short-term Orientation focuses on how

In my opinion, Hong Kong has a highly sophisticated and cosmopolitan culture. With more than 98% of the Chinese population, people from Hong Kong are hardworking, highly educated and career-oriented. Just like other Asian countries, in Hong Kong, the actions, prestige, education, wealth of an individual can strongly affect the reputation of the entire family - positively or negatively. Non-Asian expatriates might be surprised by how diverse Hong Kong business culture is from back home. In this section, I am attempted to discuss the business negotiation style in Hong Kong using

Expatriates should address their business partners with their title and surname. “Mr”, “Madam”, “Mrs” or “Miss” follow by the surname can be used if a person does not have a professional title. Nevertheless, the safest way is to ask what the business partners prefer to be called to avoid mistakes. In order for a business meeting to succeed, expatriates should be well-prepared and support their business presentation with facts and figures to show a sense of seriousness. Businesspeople from Hong Kong prefer to conduct a meeting or negotiation in a spirit of cooperation and harmony. In most of the Asian countries, silence is a form of communication. Thus, impatience and aggressiveness are often perceived as negative character traits in the culture. Foreign expatriates have to understand the fact that most of the negotiations happen at a slow pace. Therefore, it is crucial to remain professional and be courteous in any type of business