[School Post] - Just got back - Also an observation on Chinese dealings

What a LOOONGG DAY! I haven't slept in over 24 hours. I can't sleep on a plane. You should see Kelly S. though. She sleeps on planes at will...she walked off the plane in Seattle today looking like she just left a spa while I and a few others looked like the "Wreck of the Hesperus".

I am really groggy so I will post more this week when I am more coherent. Just wanted to comment quickly that the Seattle University China Tour was a bargain...that is to say, I don't think I ever spent money better on an eduactional/cultural experience. WOW!

I also wanted to comment that I feel that I think I got a much better perspective on the way Chinese operate and do business. Yes, it was only 2 weeks, but I took in quite a bit and listened closely and observed not only the company officials that spoke with us, but also other people who do business in China. Namely: Linda - our tour guide who also runs 2 consulting businesses (offshore drilling and Chinese business consultling), Joana Zhang - SU Alumna and A VERY AMBITIOUS YOUNG LADY, Resturant owners, Steve -The manager at "The Door", Hotel workers, shop keepers, taxi drivers and even the street people who were semi-constantly hustling you for a buck in some fashion.

I will make a very general statement and refine it in a later post:

"The Western business world will continue to struggle to compete with the Chinese and I honestly think that we may be giving too much leeway to the Chinese in terms of us having to repsect their "Asian ways." - hear me out before you are quick to jump to a narrow conclusion of xenophobia and shortsightedness on my part....please, anyone who knows me will attest that I am pretty opened minded about almost anything but I am thankfully also a realist. I am VERY impressed by the Chinese culture and drive...I have seen it in my Chinese friends from the U.S. but it was great to see it first hand in China.

Most notably, the idea that we have learned in class that Asian business people are "high-contextutal" and they prefer guan-xi and relationships before business is discussed. Then, when it gets down to business, they prefer honoring the word and talk loosely about details surrounding a deal. To me, this is where we should expect them to change a little more and have them become more formal more of the time in business matters. Please realize that I am not naive enough to think that big business in China or any Asian country will be (or is) conducted soley on the basis of napkin drawings and a handshakes. There will always be contracts to sign. However, all the details and small agreements leading up to a deal will be formed over informal and formal discussions that will undoubtedly be conducted with a mix of Mandarin, some Cantonese, English and English as a Second language. This is brings me to what I'm talking about. Situations that I observed during my stay may have been mostly due to language problems, but I observed MANY times that ambiguity and "don't worry about it" platitudes had together, laced deals of many sizes. This included figuring out why our bar bill was so high at the Door on our second visit there (that was a very interesting mix of "he said, she said" discussions that took about 45 minutes to resolve), the mystery of how much to "tip" (or is it "pay"?) the band at the Door for an encore, simple negotiating in a store and some of the out of band expenses that were part of the tourist activities we did (The Tea Ceremony for one). A Chinese National contact of mine who has lived in the United States and currently does business in China told me on the tour that "Chinese are very clever". Oh yes that is true. Clever.

All I can say, is that the US needs to focus on playing ball with China seriously while respecting their customs. However, if you smell something fishy, it probably is fish and don't let someone guanxi you into thinking differently. More on this later...I will go to sleep now. Until then, remember your experience of buying a new car and try to recall the math that the sales guy does. Remember how it was many times different from your math but the sales guy try to convince you that his way was the right way? Think about that...it is similar to what I am talking about.

I know, I know....2 weeks and I think I' expert. No, I realize I have a lot more to learn. I'm simply offering observations based on what I saw and experienced and only from a general perspective.

JP