Preventing issues in China business

 Preventing issues in China business

 

Advice,Business,Consumer As well as filling in lots of beautiful balance sheet predictions at the start of the project, spend some time planning around problems that may arise during the course of things. Develop a full set of contingency plans for each and every eventuality including practical solutions to be used for workarounds. Ensure you have set milestones for each stage of the project, and an exit strategy for every place in that plan too even if you don't intend to use one. Never forget that business in China is based around personal relationships and Chinese suppliers may mislead or even outright lie to yo

u if there is another personal business relationship (outside of yours) that would be damaged by the truth. Many Chinese businesses are also not unconstrained entities as they are in the West and local political issues may have a significant impact on their capacity to do business with foreign organisations. This may be very difficult to gain visibility of and enquiries in to what's happening may be brushed off, particularly if there is any "loss of face" associated with keeping you in the picture. Ideally you should develop

 contacts and relationships in local government and central government who may be able to intercede on your behalf if things look to be progressing towards failure. The complexity of the business culture in China means that you need to spend more time and effort understanding working practices before you move into partnership and it makes a risk business management strategy an essential part of managing relationships successfully.