Doing Business China

Pre-Negotiation:

Prepare written information about your company, product and service in English and Chinese but to avoid any negative meanings, have these materials printed in black and white.

Colour photographs and visuals will tell just as important a story as words.  This information will be dissembled to the many people behind the scenes who affect the process and decision-making. 

Make sure you have sufficient copies.

Establish who you are negotiating with and let them know your position within your organization, particularly if you are senior.  You want to encourage them to bring in as high-level people as possible.  Chinese often use different levels of negotiating teams and you want to avoid the time-consuming effort of working your way up to decision makers.

Decide how long you intend to stay, but tell the Chinese a shorter period as they will drag things out.  Ensure you allocate sufficient time for the essential relationship building.

Plan correctly the rules and roles of team members.  You need to define how you are going to communicate, how to call breaks, what concessions will be offered—and how to give them (tying a string), set your ideal/realistic/fallback positions, determine your must haves/would likes. 

You must also decide how much technical information you intend to give to avoid losing control over technology or intellectual property.  They will push you on this.  Have some last minute nibbles to give away to sweeten the deal and “face.”