Kinship and Business

What does the study of kinship have to do with business? Isn’t the study of lineage just the particular field of anthropologists? My answer is, understand the dynamics of families, of kinship, and you will find the key to communication, building relationships and eventually, a successful business.

In North America the subject of kinship is a non-starter and becoming more obsolete with each passing year. Fifty-percent of marriages end in divorce and a recent study concluded that half the women in the U.S. live alone. The family tree means little to us. We can tell you what we do for a living and what our interests are, but we can’t tell you a great deal about our great-great-grandfather, our heritage or even what country our forefathers came from.

Contrast this to my Indian neighbor, Mr. Jinghan. He is from Lahore in Pakistan. During the partition, because he’s Hindu, he had to leave his home and migrate south. Because of his caste and the region of his birth, all of his decisions in life revolves around his caste paternalistic family line, and he can trace it back as far as there is recorded history. Who Mr. Jinghan does business with, who he hires for business and for what jobs, who will marry his son or daughter, all revolve around family ties.

I’ve heard Kenyan’s say, with a certain amount of disdain, “Oh, he’s Luo, I don’t trust them.” Tribalism, maintaining business practices within the clan, is important in most parts of Africa. In China, Korea and Japan, lineage is so important that you can make or break a deal by not understanding the family tree. Even in Europe, name and location of family give clues on whether the person is from a family of prominence, a laborer or even a scoundrel.

So, the next time you are on the plane and someone gives you their card, or you’re at a party and meet a new client, inquire about their family. Ask them if their name is prominent in their country? Ask them what their name means? If you know the cultural dynamics of the country you may even inquire if their business is family owned and how far back can they trace that family business. By being interested in their family you may be touching the most important facet of their life. Not only will you make a friend, you might even be miles ahead in developing a strong business partnership.

Observations Of Kenya

I recently returned from Kenya, a country where we lived for fourteen years from the mid ‘70’s through the ‘80’s. I readily admit that my experience with the business community is limited as most of my time there was focused on non-profit work. My reflections in this post, therefore, are more of an observer of culture than insights on business practices. But knowing the language, as well as the rules of how they play the game of life, gives me an advantage that many others do not have. My observations

Progress is a mixed bag. If one measures progress by how many new malls or supermarkets that have been built in the past fifteen years, you’d have to say Kenya is moving forward. Kenyans today do not suffer the shortages of flour, cooking oil and cement, as was the case when we lived in the country. The shelves are well stocked and variety, though still not extensive, is prevalent.

Communication is another great leap forward in Kenya. It’s hard to believe that the little town of Kitale, where we use to live, has moved from “trunk calls” (making a reservation with the local operator for in-country and overseas calls) to cell phones. Internet, however, is another matter. Whether in Kitale, Nairobi or Mombassa, I found it nearly impossible to access my email. If one is diligent it can be done, but when you have to exercise the virtue of patience just to read your mail, you realize that the country still has away to go before being truly integrated into the rest of the world.

The shift of economic power is slowly shifting. In the “old days,” all of the economic control rested in the hands of the Gujarati businessmen from India. Though the Asian population still holds significant economic clout, there is a steady increase in Kenyan owned business. Of course this is a positive development, though it has its negatives due to the great bane of the society…corruption.

Every society has corruption and probably the corruption in Kenya is not as great as in other African countries. Corruption, in my opinion, is a result of two factors: lack of resources and ethnic discrimination. When a country is “emerging,” it means that economic growth is on the rise, but does not mean everyone is enjoying the fruits of expansion. Unfortunately, those who do possess the power or privileges exploit it for further gain. Financial aid from other countries does make a positive impact for the country, but by the time the funds “funnel down,” to the general population it is so diminished that progress moves at a snails pace. Corruption reaps corruption. Because the Shillings are few, everyone from policeman, headmasters and church leaders use their positions as leverage for self-promotion rather than societal development. What I observed in Kenya is that the rich are indeed doing well, the poor remain the same and there is virtually no middle class.

Ethnic discrimination is a universal dilemma. In India it’s caste, in America and Europe it’s race, in Kenya it’s tribalism. In was interesting, as well as disheartening, to hear my friends, when talking about others, say, “Yeah, but he’s Kikuyu,” (or Luo, Pokot or Nandi). Every district is dominated by ruling tribes and outsiders from other tribes are blocked from even doing good things because “they are not one of us.” A nation cannot advance when there is a culture of ethnic discrimination.

What Kenya has going for it is that it still is a democracy. The political system is less than perfect and I realize that corruption and ethnic discrimination has the potential of ushering in a strongman to right the wrongs where the government is failing. But, I believe Kenya is still a country of great potential and, therefore, still worth investing in their future.

Five To One

Daniel, my Korean friend who works for Samsung, picked me up at the airport last week and we talked about doing business in India. He made an interesting observation on the differences of the two countries.

“In Korea,” he said, “employees do everything as it relates to a service project. If it’s a television or washing machine, the employee writes the contract, sets up the operation of the product, receives the payment and writes the receipt. Here it seems that it takes five people to do the same the work.”

I told him I thought that part of the reason is a throwback from the caste system. I remember many years ago a director of school was building a dormitory. Pressed for time, he asked the carpenters who were hanging the doors, to paint them as well and he would gladly pay them extra.

“Oh we can’t possibly do that,” they replied. “You will have to find painters to do that job.”

I realize that caste is not all of the reasons why it takes five people to do a job that one person in Korea does. However, in societies where it is highly bureaucratic, such as Communism in the days of the Soviet Union, the distribution of labor is indeed community based. Family businesses in India, labor unions in France, are all systems to “guarantee” employment. It’s not an issue of efficiency as much as it is a social responsibility. Older people in Bulgaria pine for the days of Communistic rule where everybody was assured employment and the all-important pension when they retired. It didn’t matter that the economy was in shambles, community shared equally, even though under that system everyone was equally poor.

Individualism, free-market economy, is the survival of the fittest system. Competition is the name of the game, even in the corporate world. India is changing and those companies that are emerging as leaders are those who are throwing off the structures of hierarchy for a more collective but competitive approach. Can a company become efficient without destroying the community consciousness as well? Time will tell. But until that time comes, those working in countries that are emerging must learn the rules of the culture and not be too critical of those who see the TASK secondary to the RELATIONSHIP of the community.