ユェXI著

中国は、1.3十億人および活気づく経済と、ほとんどのアメリカの会社に抵抗できない。 しかし夢は現実を作らない-長年かけて多数の中国の市場のミステリーを割ることを試みるためにおよび多数は失敗した。 試みた会社に話せばアメリカの最も尊重された会社の何人かを含んで、応答はである当然「それだった非常に困難」。 難しさは起こる典型的な問題を越えて行くビジネスを、言語、文化、規則、等の相違のような海外にするとき。 中国では、それへ多くがある。

これらの相違は私が中国のビジネスをする時間をますます使ったおよび最後の5年にわたる他のアジア地域、なったと同時に私により明らかに。 私は私が両方の文化で快適に感じること幸運である-私は中国で生まれたが、私が中学にあり、その後すぐアメリカの市民になったときに私の家族は米国に移住した。

従って、私の経験から、直面しなければ西部の会社が成功するならない5つの不愉快な真実はここにある。

1. 中国語は規則に続かないし、-実際は、それらのまわりで方法を見つける巨大な工夫を示す。 開く何が次の時間中国の公正な歩行を混雑した街角および腕時計に訪問する。 当然コーナーに立っていれば警官がなければ、誰も信号または印に注意を払わない。

従って契約上の同意の署名の用心しなさい。 アメリカの会社に機密保持契約(NDAs)のような法的契約でほとんど宗教的信念が、ある。 With their typical hubris, American companies expect Chinese companies to sign NDAs written in English, and enforceable in US courts. Chinese companies are happy to oblige, unlike for example Japanese companies. On the positive side, they want to get down to business as soon as possible and can’t understand why Western companies waste so much time conferring with their lawyers. On the negative side, Chinese companies generally never have any intention of actually honoring the agreement.

2. Chinese will copy anything. As part of their frantic drive to overcome the disasters of the 20th century, Chinese thirst for knowledge. They take pride in learning how to do new things, and duplicating them quickly and cheaply. There is very little respect for intellectual property - either from the West or home grown. A typical saying among Chinese is that “once we figure out how to make something, we will never buy it from you again.”

What that means for Western companies is that the Chinese will be very humble at first and will ask for training sessions to help with “knowledge transfer.” Once they get a product, they will take it apart piece by piece and figure out exactly how it works. There is nothing surprising about that - there is a long and rich history of reverse engineering in Silicon Valley - its a cornerstone of good engineering. But Chinese do it with the full intention of copying the product - and any parts that they can’t copy they will try to clone or buy locally.

3. The trap of joint ventures. Chinese love doing joint ventures with foreign companies and will tell you how profitable its going to be for both parties. Their logic is compelling - the Western company provides the cash and know-how, the Chinese company provides access to the local market and cheap labor. But want to know the real reasons Chinese love joint ventures? Its three fold. First, they get access to Western technology. Second, they get an infusion of cash overseas. Third, they get a nice tax break from the Chinese government. Needless to say, almost all joint ventures fail.

4. Expectations of high margins. When doing business in Chinese, most American companies expect to make the same profit margin as they do at home. Hah! This muddled thinking causes their products to be many times more expensive than local products. And it doesn’t take much insight to figure out that is not the path to success.

Even accepting lower profit margins, American products will still be more expensive than local products. Chinese companies have lower cost structures, and in extreme cases, can compete by giving away products for free and making up the revenue via services. And American companies simply cannot compete on services since labor costs are so much cheaper in China. So to succeed, you must offer a superior product that is worth its additional cost, but you must accept the fact you will not make the same margins in China as in the United States.

5. Last, and I hate to be so blunt, but the brutal truth is that most Chinese consider Americans stupid. Another Chinese saying sums it up nicely - “Taiwanese are old fashioned, Hongkonese are heartless and Americans are stupid.” Of course, they’ll never tell that to your face. In fact, many Americans love doing business in China because the Chinese will entertain them in a way that they’ve never experienced in the US. But don’t believe you are becoming friends, you are not.

Obviously, there are host of other issues you’ll run into, but these are the ones that have really struck me.

Yue Xi, Yue’s Yappings