The Chinese Business ModelI have been here for one month now and have met some interesting people and accumulated some great stories. The following three stories will not be about Korea though, they will be about China. During my last semester I started a students run course titled “Discovering China: Culture, Business, and Politics”. Since I left, the course has continued and has been lead by my good friends, Paul,
Yifan, Rory, Chanel, and Simon. We have a class of 50 students. Sometimes in attendance are graduate students and a Norwegian Ambassador’s intern. This information is for them, should they decided to use it.
Even in this small city of southern South Korea, I have met amazing people. Across the hall from me are two people I would call missionaries. One is Dutch the other Canadian. The travel the world on a ship (
Doulos) used in both world wars. There was also Fred, the prior Iranian diplomat. Of course, President
Chun is extremely interesting. He lived on
Lackland AFB as I did, for military training. Later went through navy seal training and passed it! Another character of my Korean novel, is Barry. He just arrived a week ago. He will be here for three weeks. Barry traveled to Shanghai with me and has been a bit of an international teacher, who first taught here in Korea.
I have learned a lot from being in the presences of professors and professionals. They have taught me many things and since I am going to China soon, they have shared information about their experiences in China.
Fred was the first to tell me his opinions about relations with the Chinese. As I said before, he does a lot of consulting work, especially with cultural awareness and interaction. For many Bay Area businesses and even to Geneva and South Africa to present to UN organizations, Fred has a lot of experience in international relations. He now refuses to do business with the Chinese. In his last consulting job to China, he was scheduled to give a series of seminars on business management. Before he left, the coordinating Chinese businessman asked to see his slides, to preview the lectures and to possibly translate them. Fred
doesn’t usually do that, but decided to anyway. He had his schedule cleared, his bags packed, and was ready to catch his flight in the morning when the Chinese business canceled on him. They had just told him that it
wasn’t going to work out and another time might work out.
Months later, an associate of Fred was coordinating with that very business and came across some of the companies training material. Sure enough it was Fred’s. They were using it, so that they themselves could be the consultants. The funny thing is that they
didn’t bother to take Fred’s company seal off the slides! He thinks that they are still being used, but seeking justice would be costly and useless. So he just stays away from that market.
Another story comes from Jared’s experience in China. Before he came here, he was a missionary in
Hunan China. However, being a missionary won’t get you a visa. In fact, as a missionary, like unregistered recording devices and
RMB, won’t cross the border. So, Jared entered as a student. However, the school that he was a student of
didn’t accept foreign students. He was “an official unofficial student”. He had a pass to the cafeteria and was tutored by the schools faculty in the school’s classroom. He had to jump through policy loopholes to reach his goal.
And he had a good time doing it. He made many friends. One friend worked at a private English school, which are very popular throughout Asia. This man had helped out many of Jared’s friends. So, he
didn’t mind it when he was asked by this Chinese instructor to stop by the school. There, Jared was asked to have a few pictures taken of him. It’s a common occurrence and he
didn’t think much of it. Later
A few weeks later, Jared was contacted by his friends. They said that they saw him on a poster. It turned out that the school had made huge banners for bus stops that advertised the language school. It claimed that they have foreign instructors, though they rarely did. Jared’s large photo was the selling point of the marketing scheme. But, Jared was left in the dark (and on the street, so to speak). He was never asked to participate in the marketing campaign and definitely not offered any compensation. The only way he knew of what had really happened was due to his observant friends. I don’t think he minded, he’s a very forgiving person. It just illustrates Chinese business culture.
I promised two, but I just thought of another story and may share two here, in relation to Barry. Barry is a
full-time NPU professor. When I went to China last summer, he went to Shanghai with us. While we traveled he stayed in Shanghai for two weeks teaching the high school students. His second week, he taught at a different high school that I did not visit. The school had requested to have one-day lessons for their high school students. He would teach a different group of students each day for five days, starting on Monday. Early Sunday morning, his one of two days off, our driver came to his door and told him that he has been waiting for him. Barry was at first worried that he had lost track of the days, but no, it was Sunday. He told the driver that he could not go to the school. He
wasn’t ready and it was his day off. The driver explained that the students were assembled and he must come. Eventually, the driver retracted and allowed Barry to have his day off. I don’t think that this was a part of a scam, just another case of miscommunication.
However, the following day he met another surprise. Instead of a small intimate class, he found himself in front of a hundred students. Class size makes a huge difference, when preparing and delivering a lesson, especially a language course. So, he was flexible of course and gave the lecture. I think that it was a 4-6 hour lesson! He was expecting to do the same thing the following day, but he found that he was going to have the same group the next day and for the rest of the week. “So I said to myself, OK, I see. They are going to get all they can out of me. They are going to get a full lesson plan. ” Barry said.
He notified the heads of
NPU, Dr.
Hsieh and Robert
Zhong. They were both very upset. And asked Barry to just go along with it. By this time We were traveling from Xi’an to Hangzhou without Barry. I was busy having a good time and
didn’t know any of this until about 12 hours ago.
Barry finished on a Friday and was going to go back to his hotel to pack his backs, it being his last day in China. Everyday, we had a driver that would pick us up in the morning, take us to lunch, and drive us wherever in the evening. Barry, of course, expected to have his ride at the end of the day. One of the school’s faculty members came up to him and told him that “everyone is busy today, but someone will show you how to take the subway.” Barry finished by saying he had served their purpose and was no longer needed, nor considered.
I think that this behavior is rare with in the company of
NPU. (Pres.) Dr.
Hsieh would always tell me that because of his background Americans think that he is an expert on the Chinese and Taiwanese. Furthermore, the Chinese see him as an expert on Americans. I think that they are right, but Dr.
Hsieh contends that they are wrong. Point being, when under the flag of a international university you seem to be respected for the long term.
However, Barry also told a story of another
NPU professor, Kevin. During one of his many trips to China, an acquaintance asked Kevin if he would help him with a project. Kevin said that he could. The man later showed him a stack of papers. He asked if Kevin would read it for him because he needed help with the pronunciation of English words. He
wasn’t sure about all that reading, but wanted to help the acquaintance who had been very hospitable. He agreed and the man recorded his voice while he read the scripts. Months later, Kevin found that this man had published a book. It was an English language book. The book was also accompanied by a series of cassettes. You guessed it, a pronunciation guide with the voice of a native speaker, Kevin. How Kevin dealt with the situation, I have yet to find out. But this is a great example how you could easily be taken advantage of.
Though Robert and Dr.
Hsieh are Han Chinese and Barry, Kevin, and Fred are white and can be identified as American, I do not think that this is a case of racism. The communication barrier does play a significant role, but I think that the largest factor is culture. There is an instilled fear of the exploitation by foreign powers. Though the Chinese are very personable, friendly, and open people, it is not solely due to a humble nature. In a Western perspective: this is a method to obtaining a personal benefit. Personal relationships are much more communal; personal benefits flow back and forth. As Karma, things will work itself out in the end.
Albeit, they are not innocently bound to the culture and way of thinking. Despite its past 60 years’ history of isolated self reliance, China has a strong history of being cosmopolitan and diverse. Today, they undoubtedly understand individual’s desires to receive payment and merit for services rendered. They made an obvious point not to mention that Jared’s face would be posted around town, that Kevin’s voice would be published, and that Fred’s methods would be distributed and utilized. It is my belief that they would exploit and copy others’ ideas whenever and wherever possible, just as Americans will download free music whenever the chance is given. In China, the idea of personal merit for their ideas and work
isn’t valued as it is in our Western individual-based culture. Ideas and products should be widely used and made available to all. Concern for the originator comes second. Stemming from this lack of concern, added to the fact that it is still a developing nation, China just
doesn’t have the judicial infrastructure to protect most
IP infringements (even in major cases. read about Chevy). This is greatly due to their focus on the nation as a whole versus, individuals and the notion of their property.
You can’t put one society’s culture above or below another’s, but this aspect of dominant Chinese culture further discourages creativity. Furthermore, it makes it frustrating for a traveler, teacher, or businessman who is not equipped. So my friends, family, and fellow Bears, I hope that you are now better equipped for the Center Kingdom, 中国.
