Archive for March, 2007
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Friday, March 30th, 2007Technorati Profile
Negotiating in China: Split the Difference
Wednesday, March 28th, 2007Here’s another gem that you’ll run into in your Chinese negotiations, which I like to call, ‘Split the Difference’.
Al and Bob are negotiating the price of Product X. Al, the seller, offers a sale price of 500 – knowing that he will be satisfied with a price between 450 and 470. Bob, the buyer, counteroffers […]
Negotiating in China: Ignorance is Power
Friday, March 23rd, 2007If your China business model involves B2B selling, there is a good chance that you will spend a lot of time negotiating with people who don’t know – or care – about how your product or service works. You are an expert in something that your counter-party is unfamiliar with. In the US, […]
Hide the Bride
Wednesday, March 21st, 2007American weddings have a charming custom of not letting the intended groom see the bride until the ceremony is well under way. Chinese negotiators have a similar custom – though it’s a good deal less charming. In many companies, the real decision-maker never takes part in the actual face-to-face negotiation. Instead you deal with a […]
Negotiating in China: Swiping the Cab Fare
Tuesday, March 20th, 2007Western business people put a lot of faith in Win-Win negotiation. They believe in the notion that if both sides are willing to accept less gain now, they can increase the overall profit potential of the relationship and both come out ahead. That can lead to problems when negotiating in China, because not all Chinese […]
Negotiating in China: Trust is just the beginning
Tuesday, March 13th, 2007Negotiating in China requires you to make a wide range of judgments about your counter-party. If you are negotiating with a local Chinese business person, you have to deal with a host of cultural traditional business practice issues. The issue of TRUST is going to come up early and often, no matter who the counter […]
Negotiating in China: Checking References
Friday, March 9th, 2007Professionals and experienced managers know to ask for referrals before hiring a service provider or consultant. But like everything else, getting referrals in China is slightly different from referrals back home.
In China there is still a tendency to judge businesses by very low standards. An expat who has been living in China for 5 years may […]
Negotiating in China: Due Diligence Questions for Service Providers in China
Thursday, March 8th, 2007You can’t go it alone in China — and shouldn’t try. Once there were few options for the Small or Medium Business looking for service providers in China, but now there is a wide range of options. Some are great values — others are money-pits. Due diligence becomes more important the less you know about your potential market.
But the rule in China is: […]
Successful Negotiating in China: Be Yourself
Wednesday, March 7th, 2007I’ve been in China long enough to have gotten into the habit of handing people my business card with two hands, the way they do it here. Whenever another ex-pat sees it, we both laugh. It’s more or less a holdover from earlier times.
Now I council clients and other newcomers not to do that. I […]
Negotiating in China: Getting the Deal vs. Doing the Deal
Tuesday, March 6th, 2007Negotiating with Chinese service providers is a 2-step process. First, you must agree on terms, pricing, measurement, delivery methods, etc. Next, the service provider must actually execute the services or deliver the product that you both have agreed to.
Unfortunately, those two steps are often wholly unrelated. Experienced managers in
China will tell you that the […]