Myths about doing business in China
Myths about doing business in China
Directed learning: Text 3
1. What is meant by face?
Face is about mutual respect and behaviour towards favours and promises. It is about trust and personal relationships. In order to retain face you have to meet your obligations.
2. What are the difference between Guanxi and the western notion of networking?
Western networking is working and doing business with acquaintance’s and no need to build personal relationships, they can bind their mutual trust with contracts.
Guanxi is a network with personal and long term relationships. And they networking consists of mutual favours and loyalty to each other.
3. Chee says that it is difficult to do business in China without Guanxi. So how can western companies obtain, or build up the required guanxi?
First of all you need or your company to be well connected (have a network as well). The aim should be to do serious business that will benefit both. Since guanxi is about bulding relationships over long term, it will take a long time to build up guanxi. You have to know how guanxi works and let them know that you understand it as well. It will also be relevant to speak Chinese.
4. Chee gives two examples on how companies can actually suffer from the mis-management of the guanxi their employees.
Guanxi is a holistic ethos, which means it belongs to their way of living (perspective on moral values and attitudes towards each other) to manage your company it is important to involve not only the person but his/her surroundings as well, and build construct loyalty and good relationships within your company.
5. Wilfred Vanhonacker gives some advice for Western companies who want to avoid this kind of problem. But Chee thinks that Vanhonacker’s fourth bit of advice, about rotating jobs in e.g the sales department is like cutting off your nose to spite your face – meaning that Vanhonacker suggestion might in fact make the problem worse, instead of solving
Directed learning: Text 3
1. What is meant by face?
Face is about mutual respect and behaviour towards favours and promises. It is about trust and personal relationships. In order to retain face you have to meet your obligations.
2. What are the difference between Guanxi and the western notion of networking?
Western networking is working and doing business with acquaintance’s and no need to build personal relationships, they can bind their mutual trust with contracts.
Guanxi is a network with personal and long term relationships. And they networking consists of mutual favours and loyalty to each other.
3. Chee says that it is difficult to do business in China without Guanxi. So how can western companies obtain, or build up the required guanxi?
First of all you need or your company to be well connected (have a network as well). The aim should be to do serious business that will benefit both. Since guanxi is about bulding relationships over long term, it will take a long time to build up guanxi. You have to know how guanxi works and let them know that you understand it as well. It will also be relevant to speak Chinese.
4. Chee gives two examples on how companies can actually suffer from the mis-management of the guanxi their employees.
Guanxi is a holistic ethos, which means it belongs to their way of living (perspective on moral values and attitudes towards each other) to manage your company it is important to involve not only the person but his/her surroundings as well, and build construct loyalty and good relationships within your company.
5. Wilfred Vanhonacker gives some advice for Western companies who want to avoid this kind of problem. But Chee thinks that Vanhonacker’s fourth bit of advice, about rotating jobs in e.g the sales department is like cutting off your nose to spite your face – meaning that Vanhonacker suggestion might in fact make the problem worse, instead of solving