Culture as a Success Factor in Sino-German Joint-Ventures

International joint ventures, which are characterized by the encounter and the mingling of cultures, constitute the focus of this lecture. As an internationally active entrepreneur himself, Sievert uses his first-hand experience to draw attention to the challenges arising in cross-cultural cooperation from the perspective of intercultural management. Analysing whether and to what extent the factor of “culture” affects the net income of German-Chinese joint ventures, he argues that cultural factors make decisive contributions to the success of joint ventures. Given the big differences between German and Chinese culture, he therefore strongly advises managers of German-Chinese joint ventures to develop intercultural competence (for example through intercultural training programmes) to equip themselves for the intercultural challenges they might face and better understand the role culture plays in determining their success.

Professor Hans-Wolf Sievert studied economics and social sciences and has a PhD in psychology. After many years working at Deutsche Bank, he joined Sievert Corporation in 1980 where he is currently chairman of the board of directors.

Sievert Corporation is a mid-sized family owned business, producing construction materials in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in China. Professor Sievert is an honorary citizen of the city of Hefei in Anhui Province, PRC and, in February 2015, he was awarded the title of Anhui entrepreneur of the year.

Since 1993, Professor Sievert has taught courses in “intercultural management” at both Chinese and German universities and, in summer semester 2015, he taught at the Global Ethic Institute in Tübingen. He founded the Centre for International Research on Chinese Law and Economics (CIRCLE) at the University of Osnabrück in autumn 2015 and continues to support CIRCLE through the Sievert Foundation for Science and Culture.