0000000001166037
AUTHOR
Santa Stopniece
showing 9 related works from this author
Finnish–Chinese investment negotiation: power positioning and search for common ground
2018
This article explores what kind of a role ‘the rise of China’ plays in negotiation and searches for common ground between Finnish and Chinese representatives in the context of Chinese investment, t...
“Opportunities, but Nothing Very Concrete:” The Challenge Finns Face with Chinese Delegations’ General Level of Interest in Finland
2018
This paper explores the challenge of finding common ground between the Finns and the Chinese in the context of co-operation, trade and inward investment facilitation related to general lack of spec ...
Chinese ‘Enormous Hospitality’ Versus Finnish ‘Meeting Among Friends’ : Guest-Host Positioning in China Finland Delegation Visits
2017
The importance of co-operation with China has been growing in Finland lately in view of interest to attract Chinese investments and the increasing importance of China on a global scale. Finland has established governmental agencies to aid Chinese investment and ensured the co-operation of regional and local governments in the framework activities, such as town twinning. An important part of investment facilitation and wider co-operation comprises delegation visits by both interested nations to the other country. These involve enterprise interest matchmaking events, meetings with officials, company visits, etc. Based on interview and observation data, this paper elaborates on how the phenome…
Finnish-Chinese intercultural negotiation : power positioning and search for common ground
2018
‘Rising China’ is a term that has come to refer to China’s march to being number one, the speed of its economic growth, and its investment around the world during last two decades. In Finland, government agencies have been established to promote investment, trade, and co-operation with China, while regional and local governments are also actively involved. Meanwhile, much of the world is now competing for the attention of China, so the power dynamic is tending to shift in favour of the Chinese. This developing context has been examined in previous studies primarily from the perspectives of politics, economics, and management studies. The overarching aim of this study is to investigate emerg…
Language as a site of search for common ground and power positioning in Chinese-Finnish negotiation
2019
This paper explores some language-related aspects in investment negotiation between Finnish and Chinese partners, such as language choices, the role of interpreters, and overcoming misunderstandings. These are seen as sites of both search for common ground in terms of positive politeness (affiliation) and power positioning in terms of negative politeness (autonomy) (Brown and Levinson 1987). This study is based on data obtained by interviewing individuals who work for state investment attraction agency and local governments in Finland and observation in delegation meetings. While misunderstandings occur, overcoming linguistic, contextual and cultural differences in understanding is possible…
China-Finland Co-operation, Trade, and Investment: In Search of Common Ground
2015
The importance of co-operation with China has been growing in Finland and the rest of Europe in view of the rising global economic and political status of China and the interest in attracting Chinese investments. In Finland, government agencies have been established for this purpose, and regional and local governments are also actively involved. Delegation visits between China and Finland have been intensively on-going for some years, but matching interests and finding common ground for co-operation, trade and investment often still proves to be a challenging task. Based on interviews with Finnish representatives and on observing delegation visits, this paper explores the difficulties that …
“The Chinese Will Not Change; We Have To Change” : Adjustment of the Finns to the Chinese in a Chinese Investment Facilitation Context
2017
This paper explores the intercultural communication, cultural adjustment strategies and power relations between Finnish and Chinese representatives in the context of Chinese investment facilitation in Finland. The study is mostly based on interviews of individuals who work either for one of Finland’s state agencies tasked with attracting investment or local government. When analyzing aspects of power, the paper’s theoretical basis is the Positioning Theory of Harré (1991). Due to the phenomenon of ‘rising China’, the dominant discursive practice of the Finnish positioning is adaption to a communication and working style seen as typically Chinese. The results show the main aspects of Chinese…
The Simple and the Complex Nature of Humor and Laughter in Finnish-Chinese Negotiations
2016
This paper explores humor and laughter as sites of search for common ground and power positioning in the context of Finnish-Chinese co-operation. It is mainly based on the data obtained by interviewing individuals who work either for local governments in Finland or one of the state agencies responsible for attracting foreign investment. The study uses Positioning theory by Harré (1991) and Politeness theory by Brown and Levinson (1987) when analyzing expressions regarding humor between the Finns and the Chinese. Humor and laughter are seen as integral to co-operation and at times can assist in finding common ground and improving the atmosphere at meetings. At the same time, perceived differ…
“Opportunities, but Nothing Very Concrete” : The Challenge Finns Face with Chinese Delegations’ General Level of Interest in Finland
2015
This paper explores the challenge of finding common ground between the Finns and the Chinese in the context of co-operation, trade and inward investment facilitation related to general lack of specific interest displayed by the Chinese. The article is ethnographic in nature and is mainly based on data obtained from interviewing individuals working for local governments in Finland and one of the state agencies responsible for attracting foreign investment. The study uses Speech Codes Theory (Philipsen, 1997) when analyzing the cultural aspects of expectations regarding communication between Chinese and Finns. According to interviewees, lack of serious interest, vague government guidelines, t…