Question

Describe what you would expect in negotiations with the Chinese and how you would handle various situations.

Answer 1

Cultural aspect plays a very important role in doing business at the International level. Subtle aspects of culture needs to be kept in mind while dealing with people from various cultural backgrounds. Chinese people are one of those set of people who are very culture conscious and they themselves have a particular culture, very close to them. They expect that we conform to their cultural ethos while dealing with them.

In China , we can expect following behavioral aspects:

• In China, during a discussion, we are expected to listen more and speak less.
• We are expected to leave our ego at home and not bring it in the boardroom.
• Indifference even in business is appreciated. People are not expected to be direct and free frank as in United States.
• Punctuality is not only a norm, but a virtue with Chinese people.
• Chinese view their currency differently, Generally in the United States, we try to view a dollar as a bigger currency, as it has a higher purchasing power than a Chinese yuan. We should understand that we must not relate in the same terms. In China, Yuan is a buck.
• Setting unrealistic deadlines is strict no while negotiating with Chinese people.

The situations that arise can be handled by the following ways:

• Understanding the expectation of our Chinese counterpart before going in for the negotiation.
• As said above, patience is a virtue in China. We must learn to listen first before speaking.
• Controlling our emotions and setting artificial deadlines must be avoided.
• Being reasonable and diplomatic can help us negotiate in a logical manner.
• Egoism and a sense of supremacy must be avoided in negotiation.
• We must remember that negotiation in China is a team sport. The real challenge is to identify the key decision maker in the group.
• We must gather few Chinese people as a part of our team and seek support from third parties especially the Government.