Question 1:
Why Michelin sent experts rather than managers to the joint venture in the beginning? What will be the likely situation if they sent managers to work at the joint venture? What would you do before you send your managers to China to work with their Chinese counterparts?

In 2001, STRC a Chinese company signed a Joint Venture with Michelin (70% stake for Michelin). This deal was an opportunity for the Chinese company to benefit from Michelin knowledge and technology and sharpen the competitive edge of Chinese tire producers. In the same time STRC had financials difficulties. For Michelin, this Joint Venture allowed them to create the largest tire production site in China.

It was clear that there were major gains to be made in China, but there were also risks and challenges. The main challenge was managing cultural differences and instilling Michelin's culture in China.
The main question was whether Michelin should adapt its management practices in Chinese culture or whether it should instead implement his global management policies in China.

In order to facilitate the integration process, Michelin has decided to keep “the original management team” and emphasized “the importance of nourishing local management talent”.

The Michelin expatriates realized that the management of human resources was one of the biggest challenges facing the Group. The fact that Chinese values and beliefs were different from their own could result in costly misunderstandings. If successfully managed, however, the differences in culture could complement each other and lead to better and faster knowledge transfer within the company.

And so, Michelin China CEO and chairman, Eric Jugier stated “that is why expatriates that joined in were mostly experts rather than managers”. This decision was a good strategy in order to proceed to transfer technology while saving the face of the management in place. When you realize that the Chinese education system placed fare greater