The Chinese negotiation

Most Westerners preparing for a business trip to China like to arm themselves with a list of etiquette how-tos. "Carry a boatload of business cards," tipsters say. "Bring your own interpreter." "Speak in short sentences." "Wear a conservative suit." Such advice can help get companies in the door and even through the first series of business transactions. But it won't sustain the prolonged, year-in, year-out associations Chinese and Western businesses can now achieve. The authors' work with dozens of companies and thousands of American and Chinese executives over the past 20 years has demonstrated that a superficial adherence to etiquette rules gets executives only so far. They have witnessed communication breakdowns between American and Chinese businesspeople time and time again. The root cause: the American side's failure to understand the much broader context of Chinese culture and values, a problem that too often leaves Western negotiators flummoxed and flailing. American and Chinese approaches often appear incompatible. Americans see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest, while the Chinese see American negotiators as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Such perceptions have deep cultural origins. Yet those who know how to navigate these differences can develop thriving, mutually profitable, and satisfying business relationships. Four cultural threads have bound the Chinese people together for some 5,000 years, and these show through in Chinese business negotiations. They are agrarianism, morality, the Chinese pictographic language, and wariness of strangers. Most Western businesspeople often find those elements mysterious and confusing. But ignore them at any time during the negotiation process, and the deal can easily fall apart.