Prof. Andrew M. Williamson, Managing Partner, Minim Consulting

Who are your clients? Blue-chip multi-nationals
What is your mission? Improving understanding between Western and Chinese people
What problem do you resolve? Western ignorance and/or dismissal of Chinese business culture

What kind of problems between Western companies and Chinese manufacturers do you see?

Failure, even unwillingness, to understand, respect, recognise, appreciate and follow Chinese business culture, which is eons older and more sophisticated than their own

How a Western company can find a reliable Chinese supplier?

By personal recommendation via, say, their local embassy, Chamber of Commerce, China Business Association, or other «guanxiwang»

What is necessary for TOP managers of western companies for start-up business with China?

1. THOROUGH APPRECIATION OF AND RESPECT FOR CHINESE BUSINESS CULTURE: «Do (not do) unto others as you would (not) have them do unto you» (Confucius, Jesus, and Charles Kingsley)
2. GOOD GUANXI: «It is whom, rather than what, you know»
3. PATIENCE: «China is a much older civilisation, where people can afford to take time — if not in their lifetime, then their (grand)children’s»
4. HUMILITY: «Westerners still have a lot to learn from the Chinese»

What are the risks while working with a Chinese manufacturers and with what they are related?

1. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS: “Protect your IPR, and don’t hesitate to prosecute those who steal it”
2. QUALITY ASSURANCE: “Don’t rely on third party inspectors. Use your own eyes and checking procedures”
3. CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS: «Please understand that your personal relationship with the Chinese is more important than any piece of paper. When things go wrong, if you cannot reach an amicable mutually beneficial solution, what is to be gained by going to court where the reputation of one if not both of you is likely to be damaged?”

How usually do you prefer to conduct negotiations?

Simple: «Face to face, over a period of time — to build ‘guanxi’ — backed by exhaustive preparation of my own position and research into the Chinese party’s interests, in accordance with Sun Tzu’s ‘Art of War’ »

Who usually makes main decisions? International sale manager or director of the company?

By the rules of Chinese business etiquette, the most senior person possible

Could you tell us a short interesting story from your experience, which shows difference of the Chinese and Western business culture?

Read my book, «The Chinese Business Puzzle», for free online at:

http://www.howto.co.uk/abroad/chinese-business-culture/

What would you like to tell to our audience?

EXTRACT FROM THE INTRODUCTION TO MY CURRENT BOOK (STILL IN DRAFT FORM)

I have often read and heard it said that ‘business is business wherever you may be in the world’, by which the writers and speakers probably meant that the commercial activities of one person exchanging money with another in return for goods or services are similar the world over. For example: the equivalent Mandarin Chinese word for ‘business’, ‘măimai’, is the concatenation of two similar words ‘măi’ and ‘mài’ meaning ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ respectively, thus perfectly and succinctly summarising, defining and juxtaposing the core elements of national and international commerce

Indeed, I repeat this mantra to my International Business undergraduate students, but then always add the rider ‘within the context of the cultures where such business is transacted’ (or words to that effect). In other words, even if the principles are similar, the practices may differ widely between one country and another

THE INFLUENCE OF NATIONAL CULTURE ON GENERAL BEHAVIOUR

“The nature versus nurture debate is one of the oldest issues in psychology. The debate centers on the relative contributions of genetic inheritance and environmental factors to human development. Some philosophers such as Plato and Descartes suggested that certain things are inborn, or that they simply occur naturally regardless of environmental influences. Other well-known thinkers such as John Locke believed in what is known as tabula rasa, which suggests that the mind begins as a blank slate. According to this notion, everything that we are and all of our knowledge is determined by our experience” (CITATION PENDING)

Without rehearsing all the well-known and well-worn supporting arguments about nurture (i.e. upbringing) versus nature (i.e. heredity) to establish or disprove that we are the product of the external environment in which we are brought up or of the inbred legacy of our forebears, respectively: it is probably safe to start from the premise that how people behave in general — and, hence, in business in particular — is partly determined, to a lesser or greater extent, by their ‘cultural heritage’, whatever we decide that ‘culture’ may mean

Many sociologists have tried to define the term. For example: during the last century, Norbert Elias “focussed on national cultures as being the outcome of historical power struggles between different groups for dominance in different nation states”, whereby “the ideas and values associated with the ‘successful’ groups in such power struggles eventually evolve into ‘national’ cultures”. (CITATION PENDING) (Anyone already familiar with the history of China may readily echo such sentiments in the context of how Chinese national culture has evolved in general, and her attitude to Westerners in particular)

THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION ON GENERAL BEHAVIOUR

Max Weber described ‘culture’ partly in terms of people’s specific religious background.

For example: he attributed the work ethic of many North European countries (e.g. the UK and, by religious synergy, the USA) to the Protestant hallmark of “individualism, expressed as a preference for personal choice, autonomy and the pursuit of personal goals” (CITATION PENDING) due to emphasis placed by John Calvin during the European Christian Reformation (c. 1517- c. 1648) on hard work in response to, and as a sign of, personal salvation. Hence the term ‘Protestant work ethic’ often applied to modern Western capitalist cultures

In contrast, Confucianism, the historical and traditional bedrock of Chinese thinking and behaviour «is characterised by family and group orientation, respect for age and hierarchy, a preference for harmony and the avoidance of conflict and competition, and a set of cultural values quite unlike the acquisitive behaviours of Western capitalism” (CITATION PENDING)

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In particular, Edward Hall, Geert Hofstede, Richard Lewis and Fons Trompenaars have proposed academic models that purport to identify the constituent parts (or ‘dimensions’) that first determine and then distinguish between national cultures

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Meanwhile, my favourite definition of ‘culture’ is ‘how we do things around here’ — a common expression in Western business schools, albeit to explain corporate culture

Thus, I venture to suggest that a good starting point for trying understand how to conduct business with the Chinese in China may be to consider their determinant ‘cultural heritage’ that influences their behaviour in general — i.e. ‘how they do things around there’

What are you think about it? Please  leave a response in comment….