Discover How To Import Goods From China WIth Know Any Other Effort

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Foreign business visitors are often deadline-driven and unwilling to slow down to the Chinese pace when discussing business. But in China the pace can be quick and slow at the same time. Those involved in negotiations know how long they can drag on when the Chinese side is consulting internally or has other reasons for delay. But Chinese negotiators can move with great speed on other occasions. Part of this feeling is subjective. Any chess player knows how long you have to wait for the other player and yet how fast you must move yourself. Nevertheless, Chinese negotiators use time more consciously than their Western counterparts.


Understand to separate fact from fiction

Almost everything you hear about China is correct, and so is the opposite. Western thought is centred around linear logic whereas Chinese thinking is influenced by early philosophers, who saw a paradoxical balance of opposites in all circumstances. Where Westerners tend to look for exact alternatives (option A instead of option B), the Chinese may examine ways to combine both option A and option B. This difference in approach may make a foreigner think that a Chinese negotiator is being implausible, evasive or devious, when they believe they are actually being straightforward.

Build relationships

Foreigners generally build transactions and, if they're successful, a partnership results. However, the Chinese believe that prospective business partners should build a relationship first and, if successful, commercial arrangements will . This difference underlies many misunderstandings arising from business negotiations. Almost all successful transactions in China result from careful cultivation of the Chinese partner by the foreign one, until a relationship of trust evolves.

Cultivate 'guanxi'


The logical development of tight relationships is the Chinese concept of guanxi, pronounced gwan shee. According to business analyst Tim Ambler of the London Business School, the kernel of guanxi is doing business through value-laden relationships. In a very centralised, bureaucratic state, the use of personal contacts was the only way to get things done. Guanxi is the counterpart of a commercial legal system. Where the latter is relatively weak, as in China, the need to rely on guanxi will be strong. As long as the partnership is more significant than the transaction, it is logical to honour it. The thought of a relationship leading to business is . But Easterners who are familiar with guanxi are more cautious than Foreign converts. The accountability of guanxi are very real. In the incorrect place, at an inappropriate time, with unsuitable people, the obligations can become a trap that is hard to escape.

Exhibit extra caution with contracts

Chinese and Westerners often approach a transaction from different ends. To a Westerner, starting with a standard contract, changing it to fit the different circumstances, and signing the revised version, seems fine. Commercial law is built intoour thinking. But traditionally, commercial law rarely existed in China and certainly indicated bad faith. The early appearance of a draft legal contract was seen as inappropriate or, more likely, irrelevant, because it carried no hint of commitment. The business statements might form a useful agenda, but obligations came from partnerships, not pieces of paper. Today, returning home with a signed piece of paper is a symbol of progress, but that is all. The Chinese may be signing a contract to humour their guests. To them, a completed contract may merely be the proof that both sides have become close enough to develop a trusting partnership. Further concessions may then be requested - a difficult prospect for the Westerner who has reduced his margin down to barely.