The National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) Major Project "Cross-cultural Data Platform for Chinese Enterprises Going Global" (15ZDA063), led by Professor Fan Zheng of School of Business and Management as the chief expert, has successfully completed its research tasks and passed the examination and acceptance of the National Office of Philosophy and Social Science. The project was established on July 29, 2015 and closed on September 14, 2021. It is the first major national project in the history of management discipline of our university.
The international experience of globalization shows that all the big failures of multinational companies are the result of ignoring cultural differences. "Chinese enterprises going global urgently need cross-cultural information services. Cultural information is multi-source, heterogeneous and massive, which cannot be solved by traditional technical methods, and the emergence of big data technology provides technical tools to solve this problem. With the help of big data analysis and platform technology, this project provides dynamic integration of multi-source data, multi-lingual translation and intelligent active services for "cross-cultural big data" according to the needs of enterprises' cross-cultural operation, which can help Chinese enterprises, especially those on the "Belt and Road" to Chinese enterprises, especially those on the "Belt and Road", can understand the local cultural environment of the host country well and "go global" successfully.
Unlike other big data platforms, this platform features: ① "Specialized and comprehensive" - specifically covers all the structured cultural data of the regional countries related to enterprises going abroad (specifically reflected in the "Cultural Glacier Model "(3 layers/8 categories/77 items); (2) "accurate and new" - accurate cultural data are obtained and updated regularly among the massive data; (3) "visualization "(3) "Visualization" - the project not only shows the cultural data of the relevant regional countries on the Belt and Road, but also provides "cultural risk assessment" The project not only presents the cultural data of the relevant regional countries on the Belt and Road, but also provides a series of analytical tools, such as "Cultural Risk Assessment", "Matrix for choosing the path of multinational business", "Cross-cultural Strategy Compass" and "Cultural Environment Guidebook for International Enterprises".
The most innovative feature of this project is the construction of a cross-cultural big data visualization platform system based on the "Cultural Glacier Model" proposed by Professor Fan Zheng, based on the existing literature and interview studies. It was recognized by Hofstede, the father of intercultural management, Viktor, the father of big data, and experts and scholars at the 14th IFSAM World Congress of Management. Professor Fan Zheng's "Cultural Glacier Model" not only opens the "black box" of culture, but also "visualizes" it. It not only integrates the "cultural onion model" and "cultural iceberg model", but also goes beyond the "Shane cultural model". The project has filled the gap in the global academic field and made the contribution of Chinese scholars to the theory of the world cultural dimension.
During the research process, the project team members also published, published and submitted a number of high-quality and innovative research results, which were also highly praised by the reviewers. They have published more than 20 papers in CSSCI/SSCI/SCI journals such as the authoritative journal Management World; delivered 5 keynote speeches in international conferences; published 5 monographs/collections such as "Top 10 Global Management Models" and "Cross-cultural Management"; received 5 approval and adoption certificates from the leaders of the State Network Information Office, Shanghai Municipal People's Government, China International Exhibition Center Co. Development Research Center, China Case Sharing Center, China Enterprise Management Research Association (national level society) and other research awards 5. Members of the project team have also applied for and received 7 projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, including national key special projects, in related research areas. He has supervised 20 PhD and master students, and one of them has been awarded a Fulbright program in the United States. The group has established an overseas data collection base in Mexico. Based on the major project, the group also successfully held the 14th IFSAM World Management Conference in June 2018, with the theme of "Country-Regional Management and Cross-Cultural Management", which attracted nearly 200 participants from the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Brazil and other countries. The theme of the conference was "Country Regional Management and Cross-Cultural Management", which attracted nearly 200 experts and scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Ireland, Australia, Brazil, etc. Professor Fan Zheng, the chief expert of this topic, was the chairman of the conference.
"Cross-cultural management" is an important academic direction of our School's School of Business and Management. The award of this national social science project has made important contributions to the construction of the first-level doctoral program in business administration, the post-doctoral station, the international accreditation of MBA by EPAS/AMBA, the award of the national first-class undergraduate program in business administration, and the participation in the fourth and fifth rounds of discipline evaluation by the Academic Degrees Office of the State Council. The successful completion of the National Social Science Foundation major project led by Prof. Fan Zheng marks the achievement of another high-level and landmark research result, which will continue to have a profound impact on the construction of business administration disciplines and the cultivation of talents in our School.
