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TAIWAN
Demographic aspects.
Taiwan, also name The Republic of China, has a population of 23,299,716 people of which 70% comes
originally from China. Mandarin is the official language, although the native language for the majority is a
Chinese dialect, the Amoy. The main business language in Taiwan is Mandarin Chinese. The population of
Taiwan is for the most part Buddhists, Confucian, and Taoists.
Political aspects.
Taiwan was ruled until 1938 by the Japanese, for this reason a portion of the population can speak Japanese
and has a Japanese cultural background. From the 25th of December 1947, Taiwan has his own constitution.
It establish a centralized republic with 5 branches of government. The state plays an important role in the
Taiwanese economy. During the ‘50s the government of Taiwan pursued a strategy for the development of
the economy creating his own state company. For this reason large government owned corporation are very
common. The Taiwanese government is directly involved in the management of the businesses that are
conducted there. It is necessary to take in consideration that it’s important to have key relationship with
government officials to obtain access to the business environment.
Business environment.
People of Taiwan usually consider the west people like outsiders and for this reason they don’t trust them.
It’s important to develop relationships with local people to have access to the local business. Generally
speaking, Taiwanese people prefer to build and run their own firms and this created a big portion of small
and medium companies into the local business environment.
Although many efforts have been done, the corruption is a critical problem in Taiwan. Unfortunately, on a
scale from 0 to 100 arranged by International Transparency, Taiwan scored 61. The government tried to
improve the law enforcement system to fight corruption but it didn’t manage to remove the “triads”
(organized crime syndicates that absorb around 30% of total government expenditure from public work).
It’s important to be careful navigating the Taiwanese business environment. In a place where it is crucial to
build relationship and connection, exchange favors and bid gifts, the line between what is legal and what is
not is very slim. Taiwan is deeply inside the so called “guanxi” system. The “guanxi” system origins from
China and implies a series of close relationships and connections among people with the same social status.
For this reason, the concepts of “face” (social status, prestige) and of relationship are very rooted in Taiwan.
leads people to have a strong propensity to save and invest money.
SOURCE: Globesmart, geert-hofstede.com
