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DiligenceChina
We Want You!
Are you Profile-worthy? Know someone who
is? Let us know. ChinaSolved is always
looking for new views on successful manage-
ment idesa in China.
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There is so much social pressure on Chinese people to make money that they will do literally anything and stop at nothing to keep up with their neighbors. Ethics go out the window. Life is a zero-sum game for most people here. Win-win, repeat business, good will – they are all still unfamiliar concepts. | ||
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Time lines can get skewed here.
Everything takes much longer than you would expect – and much longer than
it would take in the West. For everything.
Regulations are sometimes out of sync between the local and national governments. Local governments are never up to date with the national government regulations. When you go to do something that you know has been approved by law, the local regulatory bodies don’t know how to implement it so they play it safe by following the old policy and rules.
Building teams and retaining quality people is still a tremendous challenge. A lot of foreigners come here and assume that Chinese people are interchangeable from city to city, and they are simply not. They assume that their training and certificates are interchangeable and they’re absolutely not. The entire education system is based on rote learning and passing an exam not applying the body of knowledge and critical thinking skills to real world situations. A Chinese CPA from Xian and a Chinese CPA from Shanghai are not the same. There’s a huge variance. You can’t assume that just because someone has a CPA they even know how to do a cash flow statement.
People will jump companies for 500 rmb per month.
Regulations are sometimes out of sync between the local and national governments. Local governments are never up to date with the national government regulations. When you go to do something that you know has been approved by law, the local regulatory bodies don’t know how to implement it so they play it safe by following the old policy and rules.
Building teams and retaining quality people is still a tremendous challenge. A lot of foreigners come here and assume that Chinese people are interchangeable from city to city, and they are simply not. They assume that their training and certificates are interchangeable and they’re absolutely not. The entire education system is based on rote learning and passing an exam not applying the body of knowledge and critical thinking skills to real world situations. A Chinese CPA from Xian and a Chinese CPA from Shanghai are not the same. There’s a huge variance. You can’t assume that just because someone has a CPA they even know how to do a cash flow statement.
People will jump companies for 500 rmb per month.
Learned to build teams.
How to get Chinese people to work together. You have to remember that within China there are huge culture gaps. Older people – over the age of 65 – are very team oriented. Very loyal and devoted. The 45 year old from the Cultural Revolution era feels that they were ripped off. These people want to win at all costs. Very self-centered. The 30 year olds grew up playing team sports. Better education. Less worried about face. Very team oriented. And now, the products of the 1-child policy are very self-centered again.
A dichotomy and tension also exists between the hai gui, or Returnees and those who stayed in China. Figuring out how to put those people together and get them to work together took me a long time, but I finally figured out the nuances.
I had the patience to find a niche and stayed under the radar until I had our business model down. People who tried to look too big too fast often got more business than they knew how to handle. I was careful to grow slowly and maintain a low profile until I had our team working well and our systems in place. I didn’t’ take on more business than I could handle before I was ready – and that enabled me to deliver a quality product. I try to cherry-pick deals and concentrate on learning WHO to work with and what kinds of deals to do. We probably turn away as many deals as we take.
How to get Chinese people to work together. You have to remember that within China there are huge culture gaps. Older people – over the age of 65 – are very team oriented. Very loyal and devoted. The 45 year old from the Cultural Revolution era feels that they were ripped off. These people want to win at all costs. Very self-centered. The 30 year olds grew up playing team sports. Better education. Less worried about face. Very team oriented. And now, the products of the 1-child policy are very self-centered again.
A dichotomy and tension also exists between the hai gui, or Returnees and those who stayed in China. Figuring out how to put those people together and get them to work together took me a long time, but I finally figured out the nuances.
I had the patience to find a niche and stayed under the radar until I had our business model down. People who tried to look too big too fast often got more business than they knew how to handle. I was careful to grow slowly and maintain a low profile until I had our team working well and our systems in place. I didn’t’ take on more business than I could handle before I was ready – and that enabled me to deliver a quality product. I try to cherry-pick deals and concentrate on learning WHO to work with and what kinds of deals to do. We probably turn away as many deals as we take.
Build a good team.
Sell your team on your strategy and vision. Build your team as much as possible with women. Women in China still don’t get the same opportunities with Chinese companies as men do. They stay longer, are better team players, and seek out long-term stability and they want growth. Men care more about “face”, want to be the boss and will leave the first opportunity they get.
Sell your team on your strategy and vision. Build your team as much as possible with women. Women in China still don’t get the same opportunities with Chinese companies as men do. They stay longer, are better team players, and seek out long-term stability and they want growth. Men care more about “face”, want to be the boss and will leave the first opportunity they get.
