By Ron Cune

China is often referred too as the awakening dragon. People who have visited China acknowledge the dynamic atmosphere in the country and fully understand the definition of 24-hour economy.  Receiving a production order at Friday 21.30, having a meeting with the production manager on Sunday and realizing delivery at Monday 8:00 common practice in China. The Chinese are experts when it comes to improvisation. An advantage if you are dealing with tight deadlines but challenging for scheduling delegations or for people who are addicted to punctuality.

In most Western countries, confirming a meeting can be done months in advance with 1 telephone call. Operating in China, scheduling meetings can begin only 2-3 weeks in advance. Furthermore, this meeting has to be confirmed many times. Even at the day of the appointment, a final confirmation is conventional. Only by doing so, you and the other party are sure of no last-minute changes.
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Most of this paper has talked about Western companies in general, and aims to provide recommendations on how Westerners should seek to market and sell themselves to Chinese businesses. It is worth, however, considering how companies from different Western nations are considered. Figure 9 summarises the main strengths and weaknesses of companies from the four largest Western economies, as perceived by Chinese buyers and business owners.

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Chinese Buyers’ Experience Of Western Companies

By Matthew Harrison

It is clear that Western companies are doing their utmost to market themselves to Chinese businesses.  Over half of all companies included in our study state that they have been targeted by ‘20 or more’ Western businesses within the last year alone.  41% of companies maintain that they are targeted by Western companies at least as frequently as they are by Chinese companies.  Whatever the views we arrive at in terms of the execution of Western marketing and sales campaigns in China, the determination of Western companies is beyond doubt.  Chinese businesses are now being targeted on a large scale not only as low-cost suppliers, but for their burgeoning purchasing power.

Means of communication – How well do Western businesses perform?
It is true to say that the most effective way of targeting a potential customer is not necessarily the way in which that potential customer asks to be targeted.  Nevertheless, it is informative to compare the approach of Western
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Successful marketing communicates to a target audience that its needs can be met by a particular supplier’s offering. Any marketing campaign should have at its core the communication of the target market’s needs. With this in mind, it is essential to consider what Chinese businesses require from potential Western suppliers. We have excluded ‘price’ from our analysis, taking this as ‘a given’.

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The question of how to market and sell to companies based in China is one that is debated endlessly by foreign companies seeking to profit from the huge potential of the country. Views expressed by businesspeople claiming to know the secret of success in China vary wildly, from those (generally newcomers) who say that marketing and selling in China is ‘just like home’ through to those …

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