This dissertation sets out to investigate the management of relationships in British-Chinese business settings. Whilst set in the frameworks of politeness theory and accommodation theory, this dissertation studies the management of relationships in British-Chinese business interactions from a more comprehensive perspective. It examines the sociocultural as well as the communicative behaviour of the interactions between British and Chinese business people, to explore how relationship issues were handled and how communicative as well as cultural/sociocultural strategies affected the management of relationships. This work is based primarily on research conducted in Britain during November-December 1996, June 1997, and November 1997, when three Chinese delegations were visiting a local engineering company in the southeast of England. For the purpose of this study, three kinds of data were collected: 1) video recordings of authentic meetings between British business people and their Chinese clients (including training sessions); 2) comments from subsequent interviews and playback sessions held with the British and Chinese participants; 3) field notes. This study has shown that a variety of aspects can be held accountable for the management of relationships in intercultural settings. On a macro level, linguistic features alone can not adequately explain the process of negotiating relationships in fonnal intercultural settings, it also involves the non-linguistic perspective. From a linguistic perspective, attending to face needs is not the sole agent for relational management. Accommodation and respect for sociality rights also play an important part in it. The thesis attempts to distinguish the self-claimed face (self-image) and the perceived face (public self-image) and explore their respective functions in the management ofrelationships. The research also claims that group face is more likely to surface in group-versus-group. individual (group identity marked)-versus-group, or individual (group identity marked)-versus-individual (group identity marked or unmarked) settings. This study also argues that communication accommodation theory should incorporate convergence, maintenance or divergence along the line of culture specific behaviour. It proposes a new conceptualisation of CAT that should involve both speech and non-speech accommodative features. This study shows that a wider range of perspectives are needed in order to investigate intercultural communication.

<p>Introduction: Already in the 1970’s, internationalisation was noted as a striking trend in business. Since then, the speed of internationalisation has increased as infrastructure, communication, and IT have decreased space and time barriers for international trade. Today, companies must engage in international activities to survive in the competitive environment and researchers argue that firms’ international performance is determined by their ability to establish relationships.</p><p>Problem: In order to facilitate the search for business actors globally, Chamber Trade Business to Business AB offers a database in which companies can post business inquiries. Lately, the number of inquiries published in the database has decreased. Therefore, the question arose what other tools companies use instead when searching for business partners. This empirically driven problem is also matched by a theoretical need for more research about how firms establish international relationships.</p><p>Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how small Swedish B2B companies find downstream international partners.</p><p>Theoretical framework: In order to create a frame of reference for guidance in the collection and analysis of the empirical data, theory has been divided into three sections; Internationalisation theory, Business to Business relationships theory, and Means for international interaction.</p><p>Method: To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative study with an inductive approach was undertaken. Secondary data in terms of literature and academic articles were scanned to create a theoretical framework and to facilitate the collection of primary data. Primary data was gathered from ten small Swedish firms in order to find out how their downstream international business relationships had been initiated.</p><p>Conclusion: Our thesis concludes that many Swedish sellers start out their internationalisation to countries with close distance by responding to unsolicited orders from foreign customers. Over time, their proactiveness increases and they primary use the following channels in order to find international partners: networks, trade fairs, trade- and industry organisations, and the Internet. Databases have several defaults for being a useful search tool, mainly their lack of precise search criteria and personal interaction. Further, when companies offer a high quality product, a reputation is created about the company. Consequently, foreign customers pull the company into new countries and the need for external search tools is low.</p>

Introduction: Already in the 1970’s, internationalisation was noted as a striking trend in business. Since then, the speed of internationalisation has increased as infrastructure, communication, and IT have decreased space and time barriers for international trade. Today, companies must engage in international activities to survive in the competitive environment and researchers argue that firms’ international performance is determined by their ability to establish relationships. Problem: In order to facilitate the search for business actors globally, Chamber Trade Business to Business AB offers a database in which companies can post business inquiries. Lately, the number of inquiries published in the database has decreased. Therefore, the question arose what other tools companies use instead when searching for business partners. This empirically driven problem is also matched by a theoretical need for more research about how firms establish international relationships. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyse how small Swedish B2B companies find downstream international partners. Theoretical framework: In order to create a frame of reference for guidance in the collection and analysis of the empirical data, theory has been divided into three sections; Internationalisation theory, Business to Business relationships theory, and Means for international interaction. Method: To fulfil the purpose of the thesis, a qualitative study with an inductive approach was undertaken. Secondary data in terms of literature and academic articles were scanned to create a theoretical framework and to facilitate the collection of primary data. Primary data was gathered from ten small Swedish firms in order to find out how their downstream international business relationships had been initiated. Conclusion: Our thesis concludes that many Swedish sellers start out their internationalisation to countries with close distance by responding to unsolicited orders from foreign customers. Over time, their proactiveness increases and they primary use the following channels in order to find international partners: networks, trade fairs, trade- and industry organisations, and the Internet. Databases have several defaults for being a useful search tool, mainly their lack of precise search criteria and personal interaction. Further, when companies offer a high quality product, a reputation is created about the company. Consequently, foreign customers pull the company into new countries and the need for external search tools is low.

Ce projet de recherche décrit, analyse et propose une interprétation du processus par lequel les PME maintiennent leurs relations d'affaires dans des contextes culturels différents. La littérature en marketing sur la relation B-to-B part du postulat que les relations d'affaires durables améliorent la performance, offrent aux partenaires des niveaux de satisfaction plus élevés et un avantage concurrentiel sur le marché national et les marchés internationaux. Il a été démontré que le maintien d'une relation d'affaires requiert que les entreprises développent, selon un cycle de vie séquentiel, confiance, engagement et valeur de la relation. En contexte international, il faut surmonter des difficultés supplémentaires : gérer les importantes distances géographiques et faire face aux « frictions » inhérentes à la communication interculturelle, aux différentes échelles de valeurs et de comportements. Cette thèse se concentre sur le processus de maintien des relations d'affaires internationales dans les PME, qui est le type d'entreprise considéré comme le moins à même de surmonter les obstacles de l'internationalisation. La méthodologie choisie associe une approche longitudinale rétrospective et en temps réel afin de comparer et mettre en perspective quatre relations d'affaires internationales durables : une ethnographie focale – entre un fabricant Français et son distributeur Japonais - et trois études de cas – entre l'entreprise française centrale et un distributeur respectivement Sud-Coréen, Néerlandais et Belge. Ce travail décrypte la complexité du processus de maintien des relations d'affaires internationales à travers l'analyse et l'articulation de trois perspectives : la narration du cycle de vie de la relation reconstruit et objectivé, le processus de communication au cours de de la relation et le processus culturel de « sensemaking » des incidents critiques et événements saillants. Mobilisant l'approche interprétative, la thèse montre que les relations d'affaires internationales peuvent se maintenir bien que les expériences et les perspectives des acteurs sur leurs interactions soient différentes de part et d'autre de la relation. La communication interculturelle est le vecteur des représentations « recontextualisées » des partenaires i.e : modelées par les univers de sens inhérents aux contextes de perception distincts dans chaque relation dyadique. En dépit de recontextualisations asymétriques, les partenaires peuvent développer des attitudes compatibles d'engagement et de confiance l'un envers l'autre. Ce travail met plus particulièrement en lumière le rôle que jouent les visions mythifiées de la relation d'affaires - les représentations constamment élaborées, réinterprétées et recontextualisées de certains aspects de la relation, qui sont ainsi favorablement ou défavorablement déformés. Il apporte une contribution à la littérature en proposant un modèle du processus de maintien de la relation d'affaires internationale. Il suggère que les concepts d'engagement et de confiance méritent davantage d'attention en associant des approches processuelles, interprétatives, et psychologiques. / This research project documents, analyzes and offers a processual interpretation of how business relationships are maintained in SMEs across cultural contexts. The B-to-B relationship marketing literature posits that long-lasting business relationships enhance performance, offer business partners higher levels of satisfaction and a competitive advantage in domestic and international markets. Maintaining business relationships is shown to require the development of trust, commitment and relationship value between the firms through a sequential lifecycle. In international contexts, additional difficulties must be overcome due to operating at large geographical distances and facing frictions inherent to cross-cultural communication, value incongruence and behavioral differences. This thesis focuses on the relationship maintenance process specifically in SMEs as this organizational type is considered to be least able to overcome the internationalization hurdles. The chosen methodology combines a retrospective and invivo longitudinal approach, comparing and contrasting four long-lasting international business relationships among SMEs: the focal ethnography involves a French manufacturer with a Japanese distributor; followed by three comparative case studies between the French pivotal firm respectively with a South Korean, Dutch and Belgian distributor. This work deciphers the complex process of international business relationships' maintenance through the analysis and articulation of 3 perspectives: the narrative of the objectivized reconstructed relationship lifecycle, the relationship communication process and the dyadic cultural sensemaking of critical incidents and salient events. Using the interpretative approach, the thesis shows that international relationships can be maintained in spite of different experiences and perspectives from each side of the dyad concerning their interactions. The cross-cultural communication mediates the partners' representations, which are ‘recontextualized', i.e: shaped by the universes of meaning existing in the dyads' distinct perceptual context. In spite of asymmetrical recontextualizations partners can develop compatible attitudes of commitment and trust toward each other. This work particularly sheds light on the role played by the mythicized visions of the business relationship— constantly shaped, reinterpreted, and recontextualized representations of certain aspects of the relationship that are favorably or unfavorably distorted.. It contributes to the literature by proposing a model of the international business relationship maintenance process. It suggests that the concepts of commitment and trust deserve further attention through a combination of processual, interpretative and psychological approaches.

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