Part 1: Is guanxi a real thing? What is it?
China Law Blog recently posted on the basics of how to do business in China , and raised the issue of ‘guanxi’ relationships. It is a controversial point among the international community in China. Dan Harris and Steve Dickinson [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– August 31, 2010
Americans in general – but the hard-driving New Yorkers in particular – need to keep their eyes open during their first couple of China deals.
By Andrew Hupert
– August 13, 2010
Chinese negotiators often see the foreign partnership as a short-term tactic on the way to the real long-term goal of independent global competitiveness.
By Andrew Hupert
– July 21, 2010
To some Chinese negotiators, your gain is their loss and your loss is seen as a valuable asset.
By Andrew Hupert
– July 9, 2010
5 best practices for negotiating in a less-friendly China.
By Andrew Hupert
– July 7, 2010
Western commentators are once again connecting unnumbered Chinese dots to form the picture that they want to see.
By Andrew Hupert
– June 21, 2010
Unlike the first round of trade conflict between China and the West, this will not be a war of words between elites, but more of a bare-fisted brawl between street fighters
By Andrew Hupert
– June 16, 2010
We’ve looked at the causes of the Balance of Power Shift (BOPS) and how it affects Chinese negotiating tactics. Now we are ready to look at how American negotiators in China can prepare and protect themselves from the fallout of BOPS.
By Andrew Hupert
– June 9, 2010
Last time we talked about why US-China deals undergo a shift in the balance of power.
Shifts in the power balance have to be seen through the filter of your counter-party’s culture and experience. You might think that moving money or assets into China means that you have more power in the relationship with your [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– June 4, 2010
When the power shifts in a Chinese relationship, you’d better know it.
Introducing, the Balance of Power Shift, or BOPS.
Part I: What’s the Balance of Power Shift?
Part II: BOPS and tactics.
Part III: BOPS and counter-tactics
In every Chinese deal a little power must shift. There will come a time [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– May 28, 2010
Last week we talked about the perils and pitfalls of SUCCESFUL negotiations in China. One of the first rules of doing business in China is that a signed contract is a starting gun, not a finish-line flag. In China, negotiations don’t really get started in earnest until after the signatures are [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– May 18, 2010
In spite of public signing ceremonies including photographers, reporters, dignitaries and permanent commemorative wall plaques – the Western institutions are instructed to treat the agreement as a state secret. China celebrates the signing but hides the cooperation.
By Andrew Hupert
– May 11, 2010
Sun Tzu had his moments, but the best Chinese negotiating advice comes from Lao Tze in the Tao Te Ching. Deal with problems early – before they turn into crisis. (Or as he puts it in Chapter 63:
Deal with the difficult while yet it is easy;
Deal with [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– April 29, 2010
Negotiators often use the analogy of ‘jumping through hoops’ to describe the steps needed to reach an agreement. That’s certainly an apt description for the process of negotiating deals in China — but it’s not necessarily a prescription for success.
Jumping through a hoop for a pot of gold can make great sense.
Jumping through [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– April 19, 2010
It’s hard to criticize China for being arrogant in its dealing with the West when the US is kowtowing like a supplicant. Like most rational negotiating entities, China tends to repeat tactics that are successful – and it has been very, very successful in its management of this US administration. If there are [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– April 13, 2010
Team Obama just can’t seem to make a play in China. After 8 years of Bush/Chenney, Obama was supposed to be a stiff fresh breeze that blew out the cobwebs of war and nationalistic unilateralism. The Americans, however, can’t execute on the basics when facing China. This April Fool’s week announcement that [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– April 5, 2010
The policy of Engagement has run its course. The US had unreasonable expectations about the allure of Western systems and methods. China has always been wildly optimistic about the effectiveness of its soft power.
As China realigns its relationship with the rest of the world, growing tension and conflict between governments [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– March 30, 2010
China-as-negotiator has been enshrouded in a Mystique of Madness – the notion that it will behave irrationally if refused or denied a bargaining point. Observers tend to regard China as a hair-triggered, unpredictable powder-keg that is not bound by the principles of self-interest or civilized behavior. The latest spats over Google, censorship, [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– March 23, 2010
When Americans negotiate with Chinese counter-parties, they often run into the ‘Frenemies’ dilemma. US dealmakers in China are sometimes so concerned with building good relations that they don’t perform proper due diligence until it is far too late. They end up losing money, time, IP – and destroy the very friendships that [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– March 19, 2010
US-China relations are clearly spiraling downward, and the ramifications for business negotiations are dire. Only a year ago the international community had reason to hope that a new US administration and a successful Chinese leadership could cooperate to lead the world out of economic crisis and environmental ruin. Now the only example of [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– February 2, 2010
Everyone thinks that they know what Win-Win negotiating is, but what about Lose-Lose? Simply stated, it’s when both parties leave the negotiation worse-off then they entered.
There are two general categories of Lose-Lose negotiations:
The first is when a negotiation goes bad, and both sides lose time, money, assets or resources as a result. [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– January 25, 2010
Americans of a certain age still default to a negotiating model based on shareholder analysis. We like to know who the owner is. For us, the power structure of our counter-party is defined with a simple phrase: “Follow the money”.
Younger MBAs, Europeans and Asians prefer a stakeholder perspective. Stakeholders include [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– January 18, 2010
Dealing with the new Chinese negotiator.
If you’ve been making deals in China for a year or so, you may feel that the mood is getting frosty and a bit tense. Those that have been in the game a little longer should be familiar with the attitude since it is a return to the ‘old [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– January 12, 2010
China’s international negotiating style has been changing over the last 2 years, and those of us with commercial interests here have already glimpsed what the future will bring. China’s fortunes have been rising just the West’s have been falling – and in the new decade we will confront a more confident, assertive and monolithic China.
When [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– January 5, 2010
Don’t assume that all Chinese counter-parties negotiate the same way. Americans in China have a tendency to seek out primary decision-makers at private Chinese firms – but current trends favor Chinese entities that are either state owned or heavily influenced by government policy. A Chinese firm’s parentage or ownership structure isn’t as [...]
By Andrew Hupert
– November 9, 2009
