Lying Chinese Businesses, Oh My January 16, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in Blogroll, Business Culture, Culture, Doing Business In China.add a comment
I was wandering around one of my favorite blogs Silk Road International about a week ago and came across a good post, NO, a great post. To someone who knows little about business in China this post may come across as brutish, disdainful or even condescending, but it really isn’t. The posts author even takes special care within the body to defend himself, and diffuse any notion of racism.
The post is long but VERY worth the time necessary to read. The premise of the post is simple, “don’t lie to foreigners. Even if the news is bad, don’t lie or cover it up. That just causes more problems.”
My main take-away, which I personally see as the root cause for most China/US problems is culture difference. Things are very different in China than in the US and ignoring that fact is not only stupid but also a futile business practice.
The author really hit the nail on the head, at least to me, with the following comments:
“It seems to me that many foreigners are willing to “acclimate” themselves to the less than stringent legal environment in China way too quickly. There is no justification for cheating people just because its being done by others.”
“Don’t use the lower standards to justify questionable practices on your end. My friend Mike said it best: Many foreigners come here with the idea that China is risky and so they abandon all standards and safeguards and jump into bad deals and dangerous situations just because “hey, it’s risky” here. The opposite should be true-if there is really more risk here, the there should be more DD, more QC, more factory visits, not less.”
Source: Ancient Chinese Secret: Don’t Lie (to foreigners), it’s just not worth it.
Follow-The-Leader Part #2 January 14, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in Culture, Personal, Politics.add a comment
When I was living in Taiwan I heard countless times two very different, yet eerily tied, statements about modern society:
“我們生在這個年代是幸福的”
and
“世界很亂”
The first basically means that “modern life is better than life the past.” The second means that “the world is a mess!”
Why is life better now than in the past? Well if you ask the average Chinese citizen their answers would most definitely include cell phones, the internet, technology, pop culture, Hollywood, fashion and money.” If you were to ask the average Chinese person why the world is a mess they would most likely say the worlds obsession with all of the things listed above has led to a screwed-up sense of morality.
Where do you think all the things listed above came from? No need to guess, I will tell you, the United States. The whole point of this article is that much of what has made the world better has come from the US. In the US there is a freedom of time and beliefs and a focus on innovation and development that has led to the creation of great things. BUT, at the same time a lot of the “mess” has been created as an side-effect of these same developments.
China has done a great job of developing and taking what other countries have done well and making it their own. But I would say, beware when playing follow the leader.
As an ending note: Every time I am asked if I watch the “OC” or “Laguna Beach” when I am in China I want to say (other than puke) AMERICA HAS MORE TO OFFER THAN ORANGE COUNTY HOLLYWOOD CRAP!
Warning To China: Follow-The-Leader Is A Stupid Game January 13, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in Culture, Personal.add a comment
I was eating dinner with a friend of mine from Guangzhou, China in late November and he was telling me that he thought China needed to continue to emulate the US as an economic role-model. This despite all of the roller-coaster turmoil in the US economic sector. (Remember this was in late November!)
This friend is a very educated man and I strongly respect his opinion and insight, but I have done a lot of thinking about this lately. I remember when the US stock market dropped 97,000 points (or something like that) in a week, the big story line on CNN and all the other news stations was how the older generation was “in big trouble” but hopefully the younger generation would learn a lesson and bounce back from this better for the beating.
I really like this philosophy because if “the younger generation” doesn’t learn from the struggles we are going through as a nation, we won’t deserve to be anyones role-model. Oh, plus I am a part of that younger generation and I hate to lose!
China Has a “Human Flesh Search Engine.” A WHAT?! January 12, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in China, Chinese Government, Culture, Politics.add a comment
What happens when a mid-level salary Communist China official who earns, say $35,000 a year (that is a generous estimate, but let us just pretend for a minute) shows-up to a hearing wearing a 15,000 USD watch chain-smoking 22 USD per-pack ciggarettes? Sounds like corruption to me.
Here is an excerpt from the article linked to HERE:
The case illustrates how China’s Internet users, operating in groups, can go after people they think have done something wrong by putting information about them online and allowing others to join in the harassment.
The phenomenon, in a country that heavily censors the Internet, has an unusual name – “human flesh search engine”
“The searches can reveal corruption and corporate malfeasance, and issues that should be aired in an open society,” he says. “But it is by nature a sensationalist phenomenon that can invade people’s privacy.”
Sounds like power to the people!
Gift Giving – Part 2 January 11, 2009
Posted by Aaron Wong in Business Culture, China, Doing Business In China.add a comment
From the previous issue, I talked about the types of gift giving that exist in China.
The following are some basic gift giving guidelines:
• Similar to as in Western societies, occasions to give gifts include birthdays or wedding days, as well as for special holidays or parties. Often gifts are also given as a way of saying thank you. Just as anywhere else in the world, what you give depends on how well you know the recipient. And the ideal gift needn’t be big or expensive. It should, however, be something that the recipient would appreciate.
• Give gifts to people you visit, as a way to thank them for inviting you.
• When giving a “visiting” gift, find something the whole family can use. For example, give food or tea. Or, give something that is important in your home country or community. For example, you might give wild rice from Minnesota or a framed photo of your family.
• In China, tradition dictates that the recipient not appear greedy. Therefore, he or she will often decline a gift two or three times before accepting. If you’re the giver, offer again until it is accepted after the third time. At the same time, Gift-Wrapped Box, especially in business, your gift may be absolutely refused, so don’t press beyond several refusals.
• Don’t be offended if the person does not open the gift in front of you. Chinese people do not usually open a gift in front of the giver. It might embarrass them. They will open it later, then call or write to thank the person for the gift.
• Wrap the gift well. Do not leave the gift in the store’s bag. Use colored ribbons to wrap a gift using these colors: Red for general and happy occasions, black and white for funerals, gold and silver for wedding gifts
Business Gifts
• In business, show sensitivity to people’s status. Give the same type of gift to people at the same level. Or present a gift to a company or organization instead of one person. Giving a gift only to an individual is not acceptable unless it is being given in private as a gesture of friendship.
• Be sure the value of the gift is not extravagant.
• Unless it’s a symbolic event, don’t photograph the event of giving a gift.
• If negotiations are involved, gifts should be presented once they are finished.
Receiving Gifts
• Here are some general rules for receiving gifts in a Chinese way:
• Gifts should be received with both hands when presented to you.
• Chinese people who have had contact with Americans or other Westerners might expect you to follow the American custom of opening the gift in front of the giver. To avoid confusion, you can always ask, “Would you like me to open this now?”
• Call or send a thank-you note. And, if possible, offer a gift back on a suitable occasion.
Gifts to Avoid
• Scissors, knives, or other sharp objects can be interpreted as the severing of a friendship or other bond. As a gesture of friendship, if you do want to give these items as a gift, ask your friend to give you a very small amount of money, such as 10 cents or One RMB in return for this gift. By doing so, you would have ’sold’ it to him rather than given it to him.
• The following items are to be avoided as they are associated with funerals: Straw sandals, clocks, handkerchiefs, four of any item [the Cantonese word for “four” sounds similar, in the same language, to “death”], gifts or wrapping paper in white, black, or blue.
Gift Giving – Part 1 January 10, 2009
Posted by Aaron Wong in Business Culture, Doing Business In China.add a comment
Gift giving has been a necessary and influential part of history in all civilizations and cultures. Gift giving varies across cultures, especially in Western vs. Chinese societies. In the West gift giving usually is from superiors to inferiors. In China the opposite is usually true, where people of lower classes often give gifts to upper classes, or those in power. In this case power structures are rarely changed. The social make-up of China is more fluid in the West. Power is a direct product of guanxi, or relationships, rather than the strict relationship structures seen in the West. Power and influence based on relationships has created a complex system in China based on reciprocity and morality.
Gift giving in China is not only an important part of lubricating social structures, it is often expected and even demanded as a prerequisite for doing business, getting approval for social advances and other interactions. In many cases this has caused rampant corruption, especially in the upper echelons of the Chinese government. In China, even more than in the West, it isn’t about what you have or do, it’s who you know.
Two types of gift giving in Chinese cultures are expressive and instrumental. Expressive gift giving is where the size and value of the gift is determined by the strength of the relationship. These are usually family relations, like a son giving a father a gift. Instrumental gift giving is where the strength of the relationship is determined by the size and value of the gift. These types of gifts are more along the lines of ” bribery,” like someone giving a government official a gift in exchange for the right to do business.
It is important to understand the gift giving practices in China in order to create and foster the relationships you or your company need to be successful. It is also important to understand appropriate gift giving practices because of the legal and ethical ramifications that can come into play. Bribing an official is certainly illegal and a quick way to blacklist your company and hinder its opportunities in China. However, there are appropriate gift giving practices that can open doors and strengthen relationships and alliances that are essential to personal and business success in China as well as all Asia.
Chinese Power, Strategy BMW’s and Visa Cards? January 9, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in Business Culture, China, Culture, Doing Business In China.add a comment
I was eating breakfast a couple weeks ago in a stately “western style” hotel in Zhongshan China with a nice Chinese gentleman I had met the day before in the hotel lobby, Mr. Liu. Mr. Liu is a very successful business-man in the lighting industry. We chatted about business, life, politics, family, America, the United States compulsion to “bail-out” and BMW cars. In fact we talked a lot about BMW cars. Mr. Liu used to be a Mercedes driver, but has since switched to BMW. His question for me was, “what kind of power does a nice car like a BMW give a business person in face to face interactions.” Or in other words, “are people impressed and or more interested in doing business with me because they I have a nice car?” Good question. He even went further and told me that because of his BMW ownership he was able to apply for a BMW credit card. His second question was, “would using my BMW credit card when paying for meals with clients be impressive to them.” Another interesting question.
Asians have an obsession with Mercedes, BMW, Bentley, Rolls Royce and other nice cars. It all comes down to face.
I like a handsome new car as much as the next guy, but I don’t have a lot of personal experience driving nice cars. However, I do remember back in high school when my friend Luke Morrow got a brand new Honda Civic V-TEC us guys definitely thought he was cooler, and the girls sure did!
So my answer to Mr. Liu is, yeah, your BMW is probably not going to hurt, and yes, it probably will help. Your BMW credit card? I am not sure what my opinion on that one is just yet. Anybody have a thought on this one?
China Tells Google: “Keep Your Porn To Yourself” January 8, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in China, Chinese Government, Culture.add a comment
According to this CNET.com article linked to HERE, they told-off more companies than just Google. They focused in on the leading Chinese search engine Baidu as well as 17 other leading search engine companies. China has always been bent on keeping “vulgar” material (as well as any material they don’t like) off of the Internet.
I am usually a huge proponent of free speech (isn’t that what we call porn here in the US? So maybe not ALL free speech) especially in China where way too much is restricted by the government. I have heard way too many stories like the following:
At an international Internet summit in Athens, a government representative told an incredulous audience: “I’ve heard people say that the BBC is not available in China or that it’s blocked. I’m sure I don’t know why people say this kind of thing. We do not have restrictions at all.”
Stupid comment, sure. But this time I have to disagree and side with the Chinese government.
But first, the author of the article went on to make the following calculation:
“If this were simply political speech, no doubt members of the U.S. Congress would be tempted to convene ritual hearings where China, Google, and various other companies could be ceremoniously denounced in front of the cameras. (Google has since apologized and vowed to work with the Chinese government.) But because we’re talking about porn, a Senate resolution applauding China’s censorial policies is probably more likely.”
I say good. For some reason “us Americans” think that whatever we do is the “only” way to do things, and is the definition of what is “right.” I am not saying that China is always right either, far from it. I am not an expert on the constitution, but I am also not an idiot.
Do we really think that an out of control addiction to porn (as well as out of control spending, greed and an addiction to prescription pills) makes us as a nation better? I would chose a few different things that make the US a great nation. And I have digressed.
More on this next week…
China Has More To Lose Than Most Countries January 7, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in Uncategorized.add a comment
The Chinese government is old. I am not talking about their ideologies only, they are literally old in age.
First I need to digress. People love to say that China has over 5,ooo years of history compared to only a couple hundred years for the US. But remember that China as we know it and their current form of communist government has only been in power for a little over 50 years. On top of that I would argue that their “real” current form of government/economic system has only been around since 1976, so 30+ years.
Back to old China: A lot of China is not old. To this part of China capitalist communism is all they have known. The emphasis being on “capitalist.” A certain part of this group really has the Chinese government scared, their own kids. Young aristocratic Chinese are wealthy, educated (often times in the West) and are more inclined to democracy than their parents would like.
Now before I state my case (trust me, I have one) I need to digress a little more.
A big problem with Chinese capitalist communism (those words together sound strange) is that it only works when the economy is good, like throughout the past three decades. What happens to capitalist communism when the economy struggles? No one knows because it hasn’t happened before. However, we know from historical experience that the more people have, the more they want, and the Chinese people have more in the ways of affluence and freedoms than they have ever had. (Well at least in the past 70 years or more.) People will surrender freedom (i.e democratic choice) for security. Security they currently feel that they have, but could lose in the event of an economic collapse. (Or even prolonged down-turn.)
So now to tie the title of this post in with everything I have written so far.
China is gorging the economy with whatever it takes as far as financial stimulus because they know what they have to lose. My argument is that they literally have “power over their country” to lose. Political unrest is at astronomical highs in China right now. What will happen when unemployment jumps, wages drop and government benefits decrease? Those same people who were willing to surrender their freedoms for the “better life” the communist government was giving them will want change, and they will get it.
I am not trying to prophesy what is or will happen to the government in China, only saying what I think could happen. I guess we will have to wait and see.
An Interesting China/US Financial Phenomenom As Interpreted By Me January 6, 2009
Posted by jasonbarber in China.add a comment
IT ALL STARTS HERE…
- China buys US Treasury Bonds, so…
- Western financial institutions can lend Americans money, so…
- Western consumers can BUY, BUY, BUY, so…
- Chinese factories can keep making more stuff for us to buy, and…
- The East and the West are both happy.
UNTIL…
- Western consumers save -0.4% of their household earnings, which means…
- Western consumers spend more than they have, and can’t pay their bills, so…
- Western financial institutions are broke and stop lending money to those same consumers, so…
- Western consumers stop consuming, so…
- Chinese factories stop making stuff because Western consumers stop buying it, so…
- China’s economy struggles, because…
- China’s economy is an export fueled economy, and…
- See above #4
ON TOP OF THAT…
- Chinese nationalists save an average of 30% of their household earnings, so…
- Now that their export fueled economy is sputtering they do not have the consumer stimulus to fill the vacuum, so…
- The Chinese Government starts to BEG its citizens to spend more in the bad economy, but…
- In bad times many Chinese are saving even more than before, so…
- China buys MORE US Treasury Bonds…
This is extremely over-simplified but as far as I can tell, it is pretty right on.
Although I did read this morning at www.bloomberg.com in an article authored by William Pesek the following:
Feb. 2: China began using its hundreds of billions of dollars of worthless U.S. Treasury notes and bonds to sop up pollution in its rivers and lakes. The Chinese threw in the towel after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner renamed the 10 cent coin the dollar. Faced with a torrent of criticism about whether the White House had the authority to do such things, President Barack Obama said: “Yes, we can.”
So you can never be to sure what the future holds!
