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This paper revisits relevant approaches used for the study of language and intercultural communication, in particular, in the area of comparing English and Chinese discourse structures. Kaplan's (1966) work has a great impact on the various approaches in this area such as Kirkpatrick (1991; 1993) and Zhu (1997). This paper specifically investigates the approaches focusing on Kaplan's proposal on the circularity and linearity of rhetorical structures. It has been found that these approaches were largely based on rhetorical rules such as pianzheng fuju or the subordinate-main structure ( Kirkpatrick 1991; 1993). This paper then argues that the intercultural and language study should incorporate cross-cultural pragmatics and genre study in order to offer more holistic principles relating to cultural values, politeness, and communicative intent.

This paper sets out to examine the development of Chinese sales genres in relation to the changing social context. An approach embracing both social context and communicative purposes (Swales, 1990) is proposed and used in this paper. Fundamental changes have taken place in Chinese business context since the economic opening-up in 1978. In response to these changes, sales letters have emerged to meet the communicative needs of business. An introduction is given to sales genres in two different periods of business communication: the delinking period (1949-78) and the relinking period (1978 to the present). In the first period, sales 'qingshi' (requests raised by subordinates), and sales 'pifu' (official approvals) were employed. The second period is characterized by the use of the sales letters to reflect the change towards the market economy. In addition, the use of the specific sales genres is largely determined by reader-writer relationships under different economic structures of the country. While an equal relationship is shown in sales letters in the second period, a hierarchical relationship is exhibited in the sales genres used in the first period. The article explores how language can been used as a resource of cultural value and creative power in Australian English. The paper reveals how Australian politicians use political language rhetoric as a powerful tool in gaining political advantages. Several segments of so-called "public discourse" have been analysed, but the author mainly focuses on two areas of speech: how politicians use their language skills in gaining public support, and how they shirk responsibility. Special discoursal features of these speeches have been compiled and categorised. The speeches are studied from the various angles of discourse analysis and political rhetoric techniques.

In this special issue, we present a research forum on current issues in cross cultural management in New Zealand, Australia and the Asian‐Pacific Region. Our theme is new horizons in cross cultural management, which is reflected in both topic and approach. Our topics are related to the Asia Pacific Region and its relations with the rest of the world, such as with Africa (South‐Africa), America (US) and Europe (The Netherlands). They are interdisciplinary in nature; our approach focuses on promoting culture‐specific perspectives. Moreover, the research forum intends to push forward knowledge toward new boundaries by means of developing new models and paradigms for comparing cultures and management practices.

This paper aims to compare the Greek and Chinese rhetorical traditions and explore their influences on today's business and marketing communication across relevant cultures. In particular, it uses the Aristotelian persuasive orientations as reference points to introduce the Chinese rhetoric, and interpret cultural differences in persuasion from a historical and sociocultural perspective. It has been found that Greek and Chinese rhetoric and persuasion were developed to meet the needs of the social and cultural environments and this rule still applies to today's business communication. The logical approach has been emphasised in the English rhetorical tradition while both qing (emotional approach) and li (logical approach) are the focus of persuasion in the Chinese tradition. This difference is also the root of cultural differences in modern business communication. Findings from both English and Chinese texts and data are examined to substantiate our focal argument.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine, theoretically and empirically, the two time orientation dimensions – long‐term orientation (LTO) and future orientation (FO) – in the national culture models of Hofstede and GLOBE, respectively.Design/methodology/approachFollowing Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck's past‐present‐future theoretical lens, the Hofstede LTO and GLOBE FO measures are analysed to understand the conceptual domain covered by these two dimensions. Next, the authors empirically examine the relationship of Hofstede LTO and GLOBE FO with secondary data from Hofstede, GLOBE, and the World Values Survey.FindingsThis paper shows that Hofstede LTO and GLOBE FO dimensions capture different aspects of time orientation of societies. In particular, Hofstede LTO focuses on past (tradition) versus future (thrift) aspect of societies, GLOBE FO practices capture the present versus future (planning) practices of societies, and GLOBE FO values reflect societal aspirations and preferences for planning.Research limitations/implicationsA specific implication of these findings is that the three dimensions of time orientation are not interchangeable since they represent different characteristics of societies. A wider implication for researchers is to ensure high level of precision in and congruence among construct labels, definitions and measures to avoid confusion and misapplication of cross‐cultural concepts.Practical implicationsIn an increasingly globalized world, a clear understanding of societal time orientation will help managers deal more effectively with their counterparts in other countries.Originality/valueThe key contribution of this paper is in identifying and clarifying, both theoretically and empirically, the anomalies in the labels, definitions and measurement of Hofstede long‐term orientation and GLOBE future orientation national culture dimensions. It also shows a useful way forward for researchers on how to use these national culture dimensions to explain other phenomena of interest to cross‐cultural scholars.

PurposeNegotiating with the Chinese is an important topic in international business and cross‐cultural management since China is playing an increasingly active role in doing business with the western countries. The purpose of this paper is to study initial meetings with the Chinese during business negotiation processes. In particular, it seeks to explore the processes of negotiation between the Chinese, Australian and American cultures.Design/methodology/approachThe discussion is based on authentic cases collected from meetings which took place in both China and Australia, and the negotiation cases are analysed in the theoretical framework based on cross‐cultural negotiation processes and intercultural dimensions.FindingsThe findings indicate that success of initial meetings is an important key to determine success for business negotiations.Originality/valueThe paper is of value through highlighting the fact that initial meetings with the Chinese can be seen as essential to negotiation since the Chinese tend to develop relationship or guanxi first before the actual negotiation takes place.

This study aims to explore communication strategies for relationship building across cultures from a linguistic as well as a culture-specific perspective. Specifically, it sees business relationships as part of social capital and compares communication strategies used to build relationships in sales firms. The research method is based on a discourse analysis of interviews with business managers, which also incorporates their success stories. In the analysis, relationship building is divided into two stages: the initiating stage and the maintaining stage. It has been found that more interpersonal strategies have been employed by Chinese and Indian business managers when initiating a business relationship. In contrast, the New Zealand and South African managers tend to use more impersonal communication strategies to promote public relations. Similar interpersonal communication strategies are employed in all the target cultures for maintaining relationships. However, a stronger orientation for long-term relationships in the Chinese and Indian cultures has been identified. Furthermore, the communication strategies are dynamic in all the countries investigated since they are becoming more and more multicultural and increasingly globalized in international business and management.

Business is about building relationships and hence relationship building is becoming increasingly important for cross‐cultural management. Current research findings in this area have mainly focused on relationship marketing or on cultural dimensions of business relationships. This preliminary study attempts to break the boundary and aims to explore relationship building from a culture‐specific perspective while in corporating a social constructivist dimension. Specifically, it compares relationship building across four cultures including European, New Zealand, Chinese, Indian and South African cultures. The research method is interpretive, based on an analysis of interview results with business executives from the four target cultures.

Drawing on data from three New Zealand worksites, an analysis of transcripts suggests a pattern of regulation, compliance and resistance, in which small talk aids the exercise of power. To consider the implications of workplace dialogues for L2 workers, the study looks at recorded conversations in the light of Gee's (1999) concept of "building tasks" in discourse analysis, revealing the importance of "language and beyond" — language that carries constant reference to social realities, inside and outside worksites, that construct interactions among workers. The paper derives conclusions for language instruction, language learners and the personnel of workplaces, arguing that language instruction (e.g., teachers and curriculum developers) can benefit from an awareness of the above issues and include attention to social realities in language courses. Despite debate in the literature, the argument supports the analysis of authentic texts, "battered texts", and the findings of linguistic analysis in L2 teaching, and proposes consciousness-raising in workplaces.