Newsletter Week 35 2007 |
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Dear Reader, This week's edition is full of China Business how-to tips. How about, how-to: work with a Chinese partner; handle language barriers; avoid coming staffing mistakes; and do business by the ‘rules’. China Expert Guest Blog 18 Practical Tips on Working with a Chinese Partner  Businesspeople interested in doing business in China will benefit from knowing the Chinese mindset and practicing the following practical cross-border skills.Chinese Business Practices 1. Respect their business cards. The Chinese consider exchanging business cards the same way we consider a handshake. They exchange business cards the moment they greet you. People often present their business cards to you with both hands. Take them with both hands. Don’t put the card away immediately. Rather, place it on the table or hold it in your hand for some time. Make an effort to look at the person's title. Take plenty of business cards with you when you go to China. It's advisable to adopt a Chinese name. That will signal to people you’re culturally savvy. Ask a Chinese-speaking friend to help you. Print only your name and title in Chinese. The rest should be Read the rest or post a comment >> China Expert Guest Blog Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them  It’s a slow news day - besides that whole one-year-to-go thing - and while we were tempted to run with this story from the Shanghai Daily, the better angels of our nature prevailed and instead, we decided to republish an excerpt from our popular “Common mistakes and misperceptions when investing in China - and how to avoid them” China Briefing issue from July of last year.Common mistakes when using Chinese staff to set up or run your company Putting them in control of everything Yes, it may be very useful to have that ever-so-nice-and-efficient local Chinese person help you with all aspects of setting up your China operations, including all business licenses, offices, bank accounts, handling all documentation and so on. The language and bureaucracy are almost unintelligible and you’re a busy corporate executive. But wait Read the rest or post a comment >> Advertisement Source for thousands of quality products from verified China Suppliers at Global Sources.
China Expert Guest Blog Stupid is as Stupid Does: How Chinese Respond to Language Barriers  “Stupid. You’re stupid!” my Chinese friend accused me. I hadn’t felt I deserved that sort of abuse. I had negotiated a transaction in Chinese language and thought I’d gotten a pretty good deal. My friend persisted in calling me “stupid,” since I could have received the goods for a tenth the price in Beijing. I was near hanging up the phone on my friend in exasperation. The friend, confused, shouted, “Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I think I’ve made a mistake! In Chinese we say “shah” to close friends. It means foolish, stupid. I think I used the wrong English word.” I immediately cooled down once I understood the cultural and linguistic barrier that had blocked our communication – and friendship.One of the reasons Chinese resort to silence in Western companies is the fear of giving offence. A gaffe of language or culture is a tremendous loss of Face for the Chinese speaker and – the Chinese feels – for the Western listener. As we discussed in another part of The Bamboo Ceiling Series, Face is sometimes more important than money to a Chinese. Chinese will go to great lengths to protect the Face of others and to preserve his or her own as much as Read the rest or post a comment >> Facts & Figures Cable television You never know when these statistics might prove to be of value to you. So without further ado, here's our weekly top 10. Top 10 countries with cable television
(Source: International Telecommunication Union, 'World Telecommunication / ICT Development Report 2006'.) China Expert Guest Blog Tips for doing business in China  Now that the commercial and industrial infrastructure of Mainland China has reached a stable and sustainable level, many companies are considering establishing purchasing programs there. Drawn by the opportunity to lower costs, broaden supplier bases and localize supply for Asia-Pacific region manufacturing sites, there is a flood of RFQs rushing into China.China is now a great place to do business but entering any new market has its risks. Here are five steps to take before doing business there: 1. Pick your products carefully While almost any class of product can be purchased in China, not all make economic or strategic sense. Products which have a majority of their value tied to their raw material content rather than the value-add probably should be purchased close to home. A good example of this model is the bath and kitchen cabinet segment. Particleboard and veneers represent most of the value in cabinets. These raw materials most often Read the rest or post a comment >> Comments Language learner in reply to: Chinese Brand Name philosophy Click 廣東話 then click 即時發音, you'll find the difference of "Peugeot" and... Paul Cunningham in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them Good reading, thank you. Can you get more from Chris Devonshire he's a good commentator... Zhang Ying Jia in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them Some good material for foreign company HR departments. Adam Turley in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them Thanks for getting the staffing HR thing up that was a good read and a lot of... Peter Thomsen in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them China Briefing is an excellent resource and it's free. You can get the... Lars Neilsen in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them Thank you for this article, very interesting and useful. Good advice. Andrew Baldwin in reply to: Common staffing mistakes in China, and how to avoid them Very good and insightful article. You did well to get Chris Devonshire-Ellis to comment, he's... |
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