IBMers sip spring water, wear suits and go on low-carb diets.

Workers at Lenovo, China’s biggest PC maker, favor fish head soup, open-collar shirts and smoking.

Lenovo on Dec. 7 agreed to buy Big Blue’s PC, laptop and notebook unit in a $1.75 billion deal. But in acquiring the unit — and 10,000 U.S. IBM (IBM) employees — Lenovo also is acquiring a very different corporate culture.

There’s been a growing number of Chinese giants buying key business units from Western firms.

Most analysts say such East-West marriages can work if parties address cultural or managerial issues quickly. And in a rapidly globalizing world, fusions between giants on opposite ends of the world may be the only way to go, they say.

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