A broken promise or display of anger or aggression causes mutual loss of face-disastrous to any deal.Ĭhiku nailao (endurance, relentlessness). They expect both sides to make concessions-often after weeks of haggling. Chinese bargain intensely over price, padding offers with room to maneuver and using silence and patience as tactics. This holistic thinking contrasts with Westerners’ linear approach-and spawns the greatest tension between negotiating teams. Chinese discuss all issues simultaneously in apparently haphazard order-emphasizing the whole package over details. Any attempt to do business without first establishing harmony is rude.
Relationships of equals are cemented through friendships and positive feelings, generated during months of home visits and long dinners. Sending a low-level representative to a high-level negotiation can kill a deal. Casualness about social status doesn’t play among people who value obedience and deference to superiors. They-not the negotiators-first raise business issues for discussion, and often settle differences. Intermediaries interpret negotiators’ moods, body language, and facial expressions. This trusted business associate connects you with his trusted associate, creating a personal link to your target organization or executive. An intermediary is essential during meetings with strangers. Ignoring reciprocity is considered immoral. Favors are always remembered and returned, though not necessarily right away. Chinese businesspeople prize relationships among friends, relatives, and close associates. Millennia of external and internal strife have yielded a mistrust of strangers and cynicism about rules. Because Chinese words are pictures rather than sequences of letters, Chinese thinking tends toward more holistic processing of information and emphasizes the big picture over details. The best compromises result from the ritual back-and-forth of haggling.Ī pictographic language. Taoism-seeking “the way” between yin (passive) and yang (active) forces-encourages compromise in business and allows both sides to maintain valid positions. Adherence to hierarchical relationships yields social harmony. Chinese traditionally revere the “root” (agriculture) and slight the “branch” (commerce). This agrarian culture emphasizes cooperation, harmony, and obedience to familial hierarchy. Two-thirds of Chinese live in rural areas. By understanding these-along with eight resulting elements of negotiation-you can boost your chances of developing thriving, mutually profitable business relationships.Īgrarianism.
The consequence? Business communications repeatedly break down.įour cultural threads underpin the Chinese negotiating style. Westerners may see Chinese negotiators as inefficient, indirect, and even dishonest. Often, Chinese businesspeople see Americans as aggressive, impersonal, and excitable. Deep cultural differences have created seemingly incompatible contrasts between Chinese and Westerners’ approaches to negotiation. To do that, you need to understand the broad context of Chinese culture and values and their impact on the Chinese negotiating style. These may get you through the door at your Chinese counterpart’s company-but they won’t help you forge the long-term associations Chinese and Western businesses can now achieve. You’re preparing for a business trip to China-armed with a list of etiquette how-tos, stacks of business cards, and that conservative suit.
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