How Business In China Gets Done.
Posted by Dan on July 21, 2008 at 06:25 PM
For those who have never conducted business with China, this post will sound very strange, perhaps even unbelievable. For those who have conducted business with China, this post likely induce feelings of déjà vu. Either way, it is well worth a read because I can all but guarantee (and if I were not a lawyer, I would guarantee) every word is true, no matter how strange it all seems. The post is on the This is China! blog and it is entitled, "How to Waste Space in China."
The key takeaway from this is that the goals of your Chinese counterpart might be very different from the goals you would expect. In other words, "This is China!"
Comments
It's great to go with the flow in China. It's not great when it's your money flowing away. The legal protections we try to build into deals are no substitute for hard sense.
Posted by: Law Office of Todd L. Platek | July 21, 2008 9:12 PM
"This is China's" Bill Dodson writes: "Many of the schemes seem to involve the Chinese running different businesses under the same roof, including the joint ventures with the Westerners. That seems to also include splitting the attentions of the Chinese management staff."
Indeed, the company I worked for in Shenzhen operated just like this. It operated a very successful jewelery-making enterprise, a real estate business, a construction company that specialised in building department stores and residential apartment blocks, and of course, it bought 20 licenses to operate an Australian developed but American owned university preparation program. The gentleman placed in charge of the Shenzhen Engedunolgy Development Corporation (the education business that I was employed to work for as academic director) was expected to divide his time between the education buisness and the real estate business. He was employed to manage both, simultaneously, but had to operate from two separate offices, located in different districts of the city. He was absent from my office roughly 60 percent of the time. The company's education business simply went nowhere, and eventually collapsed. This was partly because the gentleman employed to manage the Engedunology Development Corporation had absolutely no understanding of or previous experience in the education industry. A large amount of the money injected into the business by the parent company was spent on rent for our luxury, salaries, banquets, provincial travel, kareoke bars and massage parlours. It was a rather bizarre, but fun two years, I must say!
Posted by: Mark Anthony Jones | July 22, 2008 12:00 AM
Mark;
I absolutely love your story! As you've well discovered, living and working in China is sometimes very much like an episode from the Twilight Zone!
Posted by: This is China! | July 22, 2008 6:02 PM
Thanks Bill (This is China),
Working in China most certainly does resemble, at times, life from the Twilight Zone.
All te best,
MAJ
Posted by: Mark Anthony Jones | July 23, 2008 12:38 AM