November 1, 1999 - Bagels in Beijing It's not news that McDonald's is in every major country in the world and some minor ones, too. Nor is it surprising that DaimlerChryler, which already produces Dodge pickup trucks in southern Brazil, opened a Mercedes plant in Brazil in 1999. It's not earth-shattering to discover, that despite initial reservations and encounters with culture shock, American law firms have established themselves in countries with entirely different legal systems.
But bagels in Beijing?
Yes, of course.
Why not?
Lejen Chen grew up in Brooklyn and traveled to China to discover her roots. After trying a local bagel she discovered that it was merely a hamburger roll with a hole in the middle. Eventually, she organized her own company and now produces "American Style" bagels that the Chinese appear to appreciate.
A major issue for Ms. Chen was finding and training employees. She hired women workers because she "didn't want to deal with the smoking, drinking and the constant hacking" of men. However, she had to train the workers in every aspect of production including basic math for using a thermometer. More importantly, she had to find a way to persuade the female workers to show up on time.
Despite widespread unemployment in China, Ms. Chen continuously finds it difficult to find suitable employees claiming that "workers from the agencies never work out; their idea of work is drinking tea and reading newspapers." (New York Times,April 18, 1999 p. 7).
Web Exercise
Using a search engine such as www.altavista.com, www.yahoo.com, or www.dogpile.com, locate other culturally rooted items that have been transplanted and have an effect on organizational behavior or have the potential to change organizational or national values and behaviors. Another possible way to gather information on cultural transplants is to use www.broadcast.com which provides radio broadcasts through the Internet.
Potential items include the transfer of management practices from culture to culture, such as benchmarking, quality circles, downsizing, and telecommuting.
Once a cultural transplant is located, try to explore its impact by examining ways that it affects areas such as management techniques, worker training, customer attitudes, and if possible, the larger culture.
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