I.  Introduction of Lenovo

      The company was founded in 1984 by a group of eleven engineers, headed by Liu Chuanzhi, in Beijing. Originally known as Legend Group Ltd and New Technology Developer Incorporated, the listed holding company was incorporated in 1988 in Hong Kong. The company had become the biggest PC manufacturer of domestic and distributed third party products through its wholesale business.

      The company underwent restructuring and separated into two entities. They were Lenovo and Digital China Holdings Limited. Lenovo became the personal computer manufacturer and Digital China took on the wholesale and distribution of IT products and services.

      In 2005 Lenovo purchased IBM’s PC Division which transformed it into a major international personal computer manufacturer. Lenovo paid $1.27 billion to IBM which consisted of $655 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo stock. As a result of the acquisition, Lenovo gained the rights to the product lines as well as licensed trademarks such as ThinkVision, ThinkPad, ThinkVantage, ThinkCentre, Aptiva, and NetVista.

      Nowadays, Lenovo is one of the world’s leading personal technology companies, producing innovative PCs and mobile internet devices. A global Fortune 500 company, Lenovo is the world’s largest PC vendor and fourth largest smartphone company.

II.   America market

    America is a low-context culture. People rely mostly on explicit verbal or written messages to transmit meaning, and pay less attention to contextual cues. The content, or words, are more important than how or when you say something. Communication tends to be direct, explicit, and fact-focused.

     Perhaps because it is and has always been a nation of immigrants from all over the world, a communication style has evolved which does not assume that people share the same assumptions and expectations. It is necessary to be very clear and explicit. People tend to ‘say what they mean.’

      An American who cannot fulfill a request will tend to say ‘no’ and explain why. This factual approach is not taken personally, but is regarded as efficient, as alternatives can be explored once the reasons for the refusal are known.

      As we all know, we mainly use English in America.

III.  The differences between China and America

      A.     Time zones

      China covers with 5 time zones, but all of us use the time of GMT+8 which is according to the time zone of Beijing.

      In contrast, America covers with 6 time zones, but different states use different time zones according to the geography. America has 5 times. It is EASTERN TIME(ET) according to GMT-5, CENTRAL TIME(CT) according to GMT-6, MOUNTAIN TIME(MT) according to GMT-7, pacific time zone(PST) according to GMT-8 and Alaska-Hawaii time according to GMT-9 and GMT-10. America uses 2 time systems which are Standard Time (ST) and Daylight Time (DT). DT is one hour earlier than ST.

      As a result, America is earlier than China. For example, CENTRAL TIME (CT) is 14 hours earlier than China when America taking Standard Time (ST).

      B.     Suggested modes of communication

      The modes of communication in both China and America include email, fax, letter, telephone, visit and so on.

    In my opinion, the biggest difference is about visit. In China, we prefer to communicate when we have meals. In America, they prefer to communicate in the meeting room or coffee shop. It may because we feel relax when we are having meals, that is benefit for communicate successfully. In America, the communication tends to be direct, explicit, and fact-focused. They may need focus on what the other is speaking, or they may miss or misunderstand the meaning.

      C.    Currency and exchange rates

      In China, we use RMB. In contrast, we use US dollars in America.

      In April, the exchange rate of RMB to US dollars is about 6.2yuan to the dollar. The exchange rate of RMB to US dollars tends to be lower these years. It means we can use less RMB to exchange US dollars. It is benefit for import, but it is bad for export. In order to keep the profit, enterprises have to raise the price of products. The core value of most Chinese products is cheap. The higher price is reducing the core value of Chinese products. The export products will have less market share and revenue. The enterprises which export to America will face big problems.

      D.    Politics and religion

      Talking about the politics, we all know that the United States is a capitalism country and our country is a socialism country. So their institutions are different. For instance, the United States is a federal country, which means that the is country consists of 50 states, each state has its own government, make its own law, manage its own economy and so on, the central government is consist of three parts: the Judicial Branch, the Executive Branch and the Legislative Branch. Each branch has powers that the others don’t have and each branch has a way of counteracting and limiting any wrongful action by another branch. This system is called Checks and Balances. This system is more flexible, however, the efficiency of the government is much low. Our country is a unitary state country, which means the whole country has only one government, has one constitution, all the laws and regulations should not have conflict against the central government’s policy, against the constitution. We can concentrate the whole country’s power to do the important and great thing. So, the government’s efficiency is much high.  Another obvious difference is the Political Party. America has two major parties: the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. However the two parties have no essential distinction, they all represent the interest of capitalists. In our country, the Communist Party of China is the major party, and there are other 8 parties, they all supervise our country’s affairs including political affairs, economic affairs and so on. The Communist Party of China is the leader party of the whole country. She is a great party and gains the whole country’s support. Both these two political have its advantages and disadvantages. We just hope that the two countries can peacefully co-existence, can make efforts together to make a more peaceful and harmonious world.

      Talking about religion, it plays an extremely important role In the Western life. In the Chinese view, religion is just an afterthought, if at times have no choice but to pursue a number of formal rules, it was only outside for some religious significance. Therefore, when the Westerners devote to God, the Chinese doubt if the gods can bring luck.

IV.   Monitor, maintain and improve the international client relationships in America

       Lenovo use customer relationship management (CRM) to monitor, maintain and improve the international client relationships in America.

     Customer relationship management CRM is the methodology to help businesses enhance or build relationships with their customers in an organised fashion. Approached correctly, CRM also helps customer acquisition by strong word of mouth (WOM) or referral from existing customers. Customer relationship management tools include software and browser-based applications that collect and organize information about customers. For instance, as part of their CRM strategy, a business might use a database of customer information to help construct a customer satisfaction survey, or decide which new product their customers might be interested in.

      A CRM system may be chosen because it is thought to provide the following advantages:

      1.        Quality and efficiency

      2.        Decrease in overall costs

      3.        Decision support

      4.        Enterprise agility

      5.        Customer Attention

      In order to implement CRM, Lenovo has call centers in America. That make Lenovo can deal with the information from customers. Then it can monitor, maintain and improve the international client relationships in America.

References

      1.     http://baike.haosou.com/doc/5330921-5566095.html

      2.     http://wenda.haosou.com/q/1379031420063761

      3.     http://www.lenovo.com/lenovo/hk/en/our-company.shtml

      4.     http://baike.haosou.com/doc/5405987-5643782.html

      5.     http://wenku.baidu.com/view/d849f68202d276a200292e78.html

      6.     http://wenku.baidu.com/view/9a18c697daef5ef7ba0d3cea.html

      7.     http://wenwen.sogou.com/z/q179869157.htm

      8.     Textbook