chinese negotiators: long term partners or short term opportunists?
DESCRIPTION
Are Chinese negotiators long-term planners -- or short-term opportunists? Sometimes that depends on you.TRANSCRIPT
Long Term Partners – Or Short Term Opportunists?
Know Your Chinese Negotiating Counterparty
A Common Question:
• Are Chinese negotiators long term planners – or short term opportunists?
A Common Question:
• Are Chinese negotiators long term planners – or short term opportunists?
• “I’ve heard that Chinese businessmen think about business in terms of decades or generations …”
A Common Question:
• Are Chinese negotiators long term planners – or short term opportunists?
• “I’ve heard that Chinese businessmen think about business in terms of decades or generations …
SO HOW COME I JUST GOT DUMPED BY MY CHINESE SUPPLIER OR PARTNER?”
Chinese Dealmakers: 3 Options
• Plan A: A long-term, win-win, mutually beneficial relationship .
Chinese Dealmakers: 3 Options
• Plan A: A long-term, win-win, mutually beneficial relationship .
• Plan B: A one-off, win-lose transaction that maximizes the gain right away.
Chinese Dealmakers: 3 Options
• Plan A: A long-term, win-win, mutually beneficial relationship .
• Plan B: A one-off, win-lose transaction that maximizes the gain right away.
• Plan F… as in FAILURE. He invests the time, effort, and resources to develop a long-term relationship, but the deal is a failure and he gets nothing.
Chinese Dealmakers DO NOT LIKE PLAN F!!!
• Your counterparty will switch from Plan A (long-term partner) to Plan B (one-off transaction) quickly and without warning.
Chinese Dealmakers: DO NOT LIKE PLAN F!!!
• Your counterparty will switch from Plan A (long-term partner) to Plan B (one-off transaction) quickly and without warning.– He wants to recoup his time, investment and
opportunity cost.
Chinese Dealmakers: DO NOT LIKE PLAN F!!!
• Your counterparty will switch from Plan A (long-term partner) to Plan B (one-off transaction) quickly and without warning.– He wants to recoup his time, investment and
opportunity cost.– As far as he’s concerned, it’s your fault for
disappointing and/or betraying him.
What spoils the deal?
• Somehow, you didn’t live up to your end.
• There are 3 possible reasons:
1. Your product or service.
• You or your product offering were found wanting from the very first encounter.
• Not every first date ends in a marriage proposal.
2. It’s not me. It’s you.
• The Chinese side originally thought there was something there – but now it’s just not working out.
• Maybe you were too aggressive, too impatient, too greedy or too cheap.
• The Chinese side switches from Plan A to Plan B to cut losses and recoup costs.
• He may just stop returning calls.
3. You have outlived your usefulness.
• You started out with technology, processes or business methods that he didn’t understand, and needed you – even at inflated costs.
• Now he understands the tech and holds the IP (intellectual property), but you are still demanding most of the profit – and all of the respect.
Beware the “Downgrade”
• To a Chinese negotiator with a long-term perspective, it doesn’t really matter if your betrayal or disappointment occurs in the first five minutes or after doing business for years.
• You can be downgraded you from value-adding partner to one-off pest as soon as the circumstances require it.
Originally posted 1/2012ChineseNegotiation.com
• Know Your Chinese Counterparty: Long Term Planners or Short Term Opportunists?
• http://www.chinesenegotiation.com/2012/01/know-your-chinese-counterparty-long-term-planners-or-short-term-opportunists/
Guanxi for the Busy American
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@2012 All Rights Reserved. Property of Best Practices China ltd