Assessment - Essay Task

Purpose: This assessment builds students oral and written communication skills, and gives the students real life understanding of the challenges and rewards of running a business.

Topic:

Mary, an Australian always knew that she would have a career to do with food, because her parents having worked as chefs, were continuously experimenting with new recipes for sauces and condiments, and bottling them for gifts. Growing up around this food loving way of life is what led Mary to start a small home business manufacturing a variety of condiments. Today, Mary owns 'The Aroma Shop' and a small factory in Wagga Wagga. Her products use organic ingredients, and are guaranteed to not make the use of preservatives Mary now wishes to expand her business to China as she is certain that her products will be popular, which include chilli sauces, pastes, chutneys and jams.

She believes that the best way forward is to fly to China to meet the manager of a popular store - Mr. Lau a fifty five year old Chinese man. Conversely, one thing Mary is not so certain of is how to conduct business with the Chinese, and especially how to proceed with a first meeting. You are to prepare a formal analytical essay of strictly no more than 1500 words on Chinese business etiquette and steps that Mary can use to make a favourable first impression when she visits China to meet with Mr. Lau. You will need to provide some research grounded recommendations for addressing these. You must also include a section on: areas of potential cross-cultural miscommunication, using one cultural framework Hofstede or GLOBE Models of Culture covered in this unit, and suitable adjustments Mary can make to increase the success of the meeting.

Task Details: This assessment is designed to allow students to develop good research and interpretation skills.