Intercultural trainings for German expatriates going to China

The increasing international interconnection of the world’s economics has the consequence that more and more German employees have to stay abroad for a longer time.The south-east Asian and especially the Chinese economic environment are gaining a bigger and bigger role – also for the German textile market due to a strong economic growth, the low wage level. Especially in the manufacturing branch this is an important decision factor - at approximately € 0, 32 per hour and the size of a potential market. The low wage level will not rise in the near future but the fact that China’s economic importance is growing requires a new kind of approach to enter the market in any kind of way. Since Germany is a country with only few raw materials the requirements of manpower have changed. During the last years the persons in the responsible departments became aware that China does require special skills regarding management, communication and intercultural interactions. A relatively new area of research has become more and more important for the human resource departments in German companies: the intercultural preparation of employees and expatriates who are the ones that fill the key positions for the exchange of information between the parent company and the office abroad. For a successful expatriation a profound preparation regarding intercultural communication and behaviour is needed. The better the preparation the better will be the expatriation for the company and the expatriate. A failed dispatch abroad can cost the company approximately € 125.000, - per employment. Furthermore the consequences for the expatriate can also be disastrous: social and professional decline and e.g. depression.This work has the aim to answer the following questions: How does well designed training programs look like? What kind of possibilities do exist? Who does offer intercultural training in Germany? How are employees in German textile and clothing companies prepared in practice compared to other industries? Is the investment in intercultural training useful, efficient and worth it?