The Master Key to China

the other hand, giving face is highly recommended, and this can be achieved through such simple means as complimenting a city for its modernity, admiring some local cultural exhibit or architecture, and by making concessions before, during and often after negotiations. If you adopt a tough, take-it-or-leaveit approach in China, you are unlikely to succeed.

Better than that, he possesses the talents of a skilled negotiator and mediator.

Rather than try to learn Chinese in any depth at first, pick up some simple local phrases and expressions that can be dropped into conversation as an ice-breaker: such as normal courtesies and greetings, as well as an occasional sayings that everyone will recognise.

Remember the essential ‘4 Ps’ of doing business in China, and remind yourself of their importance every day:
•Patience: Remember that credibility and trust are key in China and they cannot be built overnight or even in a couple of years.
•Presence: Be there on a regular basis, always contactable in person, the face and the presence of your company.
•Presentation: Tailor your behaviour, communications and personal branding to your Chinese audience.
•Perspective: Look at things from the viewpoint of someone with another background, in a different business, social and religious culture to your own.

Don’t get involved in any political discussion or comments about the government (you don’t always know who is at your table or the next).

I recently heard a senior trade official from the West say on return from China, ‘you have to go back to being a child: inquisitive, curious, watching and learning, play-acting and role-playing.’ That’s exactly the mind-set.

To succeed in China, you must have a team that understands China’s business culture and can work successfully within that culture. Your business in China will depend on the ability of your team to develop effective guanxi relationships with Chinese partners, colleagues and employees.

As a speechwriter, I learned never to write exactly the same speech or presentation to be given in Tokyo or Kuala Lumpur, Seoul or Singapore. The same is true of China and its vastly different cities and provinces. The local context not only adds flavour to a speech, but it also determines whether the speech is successful or not.

However, quite often the opposite is true. In China, it’s important not to be lulled into a false sense of complacency by this aspect of Chinese culture, and you should keep in perspective the compliments paid by your Chinese counterparts.

If the person you hired because of their guanxi moves on, so does the relationship. You will have to begin again with someone new and, if you are replaced, that new person will have to build guanxi relations once again from scratch. The connection is exclusively between you and another Chinese person, not between corporations, government departments, subsidiaries or branches.