Our Publications
COM CHINE
Leading expert in intercultural training for China
CHINE : CONNAÎTRE POUR MIEUX AGIR
– Guide interculturel pour entreprise (French)
By GRENOT CHEN Yao, December 2024
In an increasingly globalized world, understanding cultural differences has become essential for success in international business. My new book “CHINA: Understanding to Act Better” is a compact guide that explores China’s business culture, with an in-depth analysis of five fundamental cultural traits: the “We” and Guanxi, hierarchical distance, Face, holistic thinking, and Chinese pragmatism.
This book is the result of over ten years of training and consulting missions, illustrated with real cases to help professionals act with greater insight and respect in intercultural contexts. My perspective as a Chinese native allows me to provide a unique and pragmatic analysis, making intercultural challenges more accessible and easier to understand.
Discover how “China: Understanding to Act Better” can transform your approach to professional relations with China!
Xiàng Qián Jìn 向前进 (En avant), méthode de chinois B1/B2 (French)
By MERCIER LI Mei, Edition Elliopses, 2024
This new method of Chinese level B1/B2 is intended to be action–oriented and consists of 8 sequences that present 32 documents and their translation into English accompanied by photos and illustrations. This book is intended to meet the needs of students in CPGE, business schools, IEPs, ENS and universities.
L'écriture chinoise (French)
By MERCIER LI Mei (co-author), Assimil, 2024
This method of introduction to Chinese writing covers the 430 most frequent and combinatorial characters, as well as 106 common keys or components. On a daily basis, such a base of characters allows you to write messages and locate short written information (food, labelling, posters, transport, schedules, weather, etc.). Each character to be studied is built line by line, analyzed via its key and components to promote memorization, then contextualized by micro–dialogues in everyday language and exercises.
LE CHINOIS (French)
By MERCIER LI Mei (co-auteur), collection sans peine, Assimil, 2016
The themes of the 100 dialogues in this new volume by the Chinese company Assimil are aimed above all at access to everyday conversation. Particular attention was paid to the authenticity of the dialogues and their intercultural usefulness. Each fact of language is explained and exemplified as simply as possible. The grammatical and lexical progression as well as the variety of small cultural notes will gently take learners to new horizons.
Our other publications ...
Book chapter : Danone - Dumex in China : The First Drink of Milk, Market Entry in China (EN)
by Yao GRENOT and Li HUA, 2016, Springer Edition
On September 16, 2013, CCTV aired a 20-minute report accusing Danone’s Dumex brand of bribing hospital staff to promote its infant formula, adding to a string of setbacks for the French food giant that year. Although Danone had entered China as early as 1987, its real push into infant formula came in 2007 with the acquisition of Dumex, which quickly made China its largest baby nutrition market. Attracted by high demand, strong margins, and consumer preference for foreign brands, China initially looked like a golden opportunity. However, shifting regulations and government support for domestic firms have since reshaped the market, while the scandal dealt a heavy blow to Dumex’s sales. Faced with this challenging environment, Danone realized it could no longer rely solely on Dumex and needed to rethink its strategy in China.
For more information about this publication, click on : https://research.em-lyon.com/esploro/outputs/bookChapter/DanoneDumex-in-China-The-First-Drink/9917630309453)
Case study : Candia - Selling milk to Chinese (EN)
by Yao GRENOT, CCMP, 2021
Being approached by a Chinese trading company at the SIRHA exhibition, Candia, the famous French drinking milk brand decided to enter China. However, this most fast-growing dairy market worldwide turned out to be far more complicated than expected. What are the local consumers’ behaviors and expectations? How to work efficiently with the Chinese partner? How to cope with the changing regulatory environment in China? Which product to launch? And which distribution channels to cover? There were many questions that Candia needed to answer to succeed in selling its milk to Chinese. This case is developed based on a true story. It reflects in a very realistic way the challenges faced by a European company when expanding business in China.
For more information about this publication, click on : https://www.ccmp.fr/collection-ccmp/cas-candia-selling-milk-to-chinese)
Case study : The Road of Milk - Building sustainable business growth for a commodity product (EN)
by Yao GRENOT, CCMP, 2021
Belonging to Sodiaal, the biggest French dairy cooperative, Candia was one of the first marketed liquid milk brands in the world. Its leading position however has been greatly challenged in last decades. Profound changes have occurred in consumption trends in Western Europe. Price competition is fierce, especially after the European quotas were demolished. Candia is facing a strategic turning point. What does the brand need to do to revive? How to keep up with the changing trends and a new environment? And finally, how to market and bring added value to a commodity product such as milk? This case study intends to raise awareness amongst students regarding the marketing strategy needed by a mature “cash-cow” brand. It offers also opportunities to look at the challenges faced today by the business model of agricultural cooperative, which is not a very common topic, but its importance deserves our attention.
For more information about this publication, click on : https://www.ccmp.fr/collection-ccmp/cas-candia-the-road-milk-building-sustainable-business-growth-for-a-commodity-product)
Case study : Porcher Industries : La transformation dans la crise du COVID (FR)
by Yao GRENOT et Pierre TRUCHOT, CCMP, 2023
Le groupe Porcher Industries est le premier fabricant mondial de textiles techniques et de matériaux composites. Basé en Isère dans le centre de la France, le groupe a également implanté des usines en Chine, aux Etats-Unis et au Brésil. Depuis l’apparition du Covid, le groupe a dû faire face à une crise sans précédent : les commandes ont chuté de façon spectaculaire et les usines ont été menacées de fermeture. Mais cette crise a également permis au groupe de tester son adaptabilité en se lançant dans la fabrication des masques en tissue. Quels sont les défis rencontrés par l’industriel français ? Comment a-t-il réussi à gérer cette transformation difficile ? Pourrait-il poursuivre la même stratégie dans d’autres pays du monde ? Et enfin, est-ce que cette expérience va permettre à Porcher Industries d’entrer dans le secteur du textile médical à long-terme, qui est prometteur mais très réglementé et compliqué ?
For more information about this publication, click on : https://www.ccmp.fr/collection-ccmp/cas-porcher-industries-une-transformation-difficile-dans-la-crise-du-covid)
Case study : Porcher Industries : A difficult transformation in the Covid crisis (EN)
by Yao GRENOT et Pierre TRUCHOT, CCMP, 2023
Porcher Industries group is the world’s leading technical textile and composite materials manufacturer. Based in Isère in Central France, the group has also established factories in China, the Unites-States, and Brazil. Since the outbreak of Covid, the group has faced an unprecedented crisis as orders dropped dramatically and factories were threatened to be shut down. But this crisis has also allowed the group to test its adaptability by starting to manufacture tissue masks. What challenges did the French manufacturer face? How did it manage this difficult transformation? Could it pursue the same strategy in other countries as in France? And finally, will this experience allow Porcher Industries to enter the long-term medical textile sector, which is promising but highly regulated and complicated?
For more information about this publication, click on : https://www.ccmp.fr/collection-ccmp/cas-porcher-industries-a-difficult-transformation-in-the-covid-crisis
Academic Article : Between the "present self" and the "absent me", a new reading of the Renjian Cihua人间词话 (Commentaries on the poems to be sung here) (FR)
by MERCIER LI Mei
In « L’auteur dans son œuvre, entre présence et effacement », L’Harmattan, Paris, 2021, p. 221-233.
The presence of the self or its obliteration is a complex question in ancient Chinese poetry, because the self can be polyphonic and is not simply determined on the formal plane. This article illustrates, through a new reading of Wang Guowei‘s Renjian cihua, what the universe of the present self and that of the absent self could be.
For more information about this publication, click on : https://hal.science/hal-04108879
Academic Article : The Concept Zhiyin 知音 (Perfect Connoisseur) : from Imagery Intuition to Poetic Intention (EN)
by MERCIER LI Mei,
Asian Studies, The Twelfth International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS 12), June 2022, volume 1, p.442 – 452.
This article conducts historiographical research of the concept of zhiyin 知音 (perfect connoisseur) and explores the empathetic relationships between nature and creators, as well as the relationships between creators and their viewers. He attempts to clarify the role of pictorial intuitions (xingxiang zhijue 形象直觉) in the grasp of a creator‘s intention (zhi 志) by shedding light on the meaning of the utterances “zhi zai gaoshan 志在高山“ (to think of “high mountains“) and “zhi zai liushui 志在流水“ (to think of “flowing streams“).
For more information about this publication, click on : https://hal.science/hal-04108879
Book chapter : Qiansou yan 千叟宴 (Banquets for a Thousand Patriarchs): from the Kangxi Period (1661-1722) to Xi Jinping (2013-) (FR)
by MERCIER LI Mei
Vieillesses en Chine et en France : mots, textes, images. Peter Lang, 2023
Since ancient times, the Chinese have revered their ancestors and the elderly. The emperors Kangxi, Qianlong (1735–1795) and Jiaqing (1796–1820) successively organized “banquets for thousands of patriarchs“ (Qianshou yan 千叟宴) in Beijing, to which people over 65 years of age were invited. At their peak, the elderly guests numbered 5900. This article proposes a study of poems, parallel sentences, texts, iconographies and speeches devoted to banquets for patriarchs, from Kangxi to the present day.
For more information about this publication, click on : https://www.peterlang.com/document/1305240