Archive for the ‘China’ Category
It’s an election year here in the United States. 2012 will also mark changes in the Chinese government as well. The backdrop to all of this is a seemingly constant stream of rhetoric from the U.S. that China has unfair trade practices. President Obama made reference to that in his State of the Union message this past Tuesday calling for the creation of a new trade enforcement unit that will be tasked with investigating unfair trade practices in countries, he said, “like China”. Both President Obama and the Chinese government know that any punitive action as a result of this investigation is highly unlikely.
I’ve been to China a handful of times over the past two years and our company is doing business by helping Chinese companies in the U.S. as well as helping U.S. companies enter the Chinese market. I’ve learned a great deal and have much more to learn in the coming years. However I have learned a number of very important things. Here are three to think about:
1) The Chinese will not be pushed around. It’s like when you are being yelled at by someone and you eventually just tune out. Jumping up and down demanding that China accede on trade practices and currency valuations will have little or no impact on how China will act.
2) Win-win does not mean the same thing to the Chinese as it does to Americans. I can hardly count the number of times I’ve had a Chinese businessperson tell me Win-Win right? With a smile and a handshake. Win-win to the Chinese means the company wants you (the U.S. side of the venture) to take all the risk in helping them develop their business in the U.S., and for the most part, non-major Chinese companies are unwilling to invest any money in developing the U.S. market. This should not be all that surprising given that just a little over thirty years ago the notion of marketing and advertising was as foreign as – well, a free society.
3) It is an understatement to say that it takes patience to have your China market strategies bear fruit. When I tell my Chinese associates and U.S. expatriates that we’ve been able to gain client engagements in China in less than two years they are amazed and impressed. For me it feels as if it’s taken a really long time with constant work, some missteps and changes in strategy. I’ve been told repeatedly that having success in anything less than three years is unusual.
I believe most Americans are smart, smart enough to realize that starting a trade war with China will not help the U.S. get its goods and services into the fast-growing market any faster. Yes of course we all desire a level playing field and at the same time it’s frustrating to have to deal with the subsidization of Chinese enterprises by the PRC government. However the U.S. and other western countries will be far more successful if they try to find more collaborative methods to effect policy when it comes to the Chinese.
The Chinese are not focused on helping the west rebound from its financial difficulties. China has its own problems. But the Chinese are aware that they are holding the right cards at the moment. That China will continue to try to exploit its hand should come as no surprise to anyone.
But somehow that doesn’t seem to be the case. Do you think I am being naïve? Practical? Neither? Both?
It goes without saying that with more than 1/5th of the world’s population China will be at the top of many lists. As the world’s #2 economy it is just a matter of time (some say by 2025) before China has the world’s #1 economy. The Chinese are pushing forward all the time which is in concert with the way the people are moving from place to place.
I’ve spent nearly the past two weeks traveling around the Middle Kingdom. I have traveled to seven cities in eleven days. Whether it be planes, trains, buses, cars, (no boats this time but on other trips), if you want to get around in China it does one no good to be meek. This is was bit alarming at first as since I am a New Yorker born and bred and New Yorkers have quite the reputation for being rude. When it comes to traveling in China you had better be willing to push through – literally – or be left behind.
The Chinese do not appear to have a culture of deferral. People cut right in front of you, elbow past you if you hesitate, and are generally most interested in getting where they are going as quickly as possible. However on the few occasions when I looked lost or out of sorts there was always a Chinese person willing to help – sometimes going out of their way in a manner that would probably never occur in the U.S.
Driving is harrowing and being a passenger even more so. I assume there are some traffic laws in China but they appear to be suggestions more than laws. I’ve seen things, eye and hair-raising things from the passenger seat. There were a few instances in which I actually closed my eyes, but alas nothing untoward occurred. One cannot be a deferrer when operating a motor vehicle as you will be cut-off and immobilized. And the Chinese LOVE to use their car horns. Keep in mind that for many Chinese, cars were scarce ten years ago and they did not start driving until they were adults in their thirties or older. China is learning how to drive all at once.
If you are shaking your head and thinking you’d rather not experience China for yourself you could not be more wrong. China is an amazing place and getting more so all the time. The new Central government is soon to be in place and there is much trepidation on how the new Central Government will behave. Like the U.S. and other western countries China has its own problems and challenges to face in the near future. But the Chinese are positive about what they can do and be and pushing hard to make it happen.
I am eager to get back even though I haven’t quite left yet.
How about you? Have you been or are you interested in going to China?
Posted in Business in China, China, Living in the World Today, Travel | Tags: China travel, Crowds in China, Life in China
As an American traveling through China for two weeks visiting five different cities plus Hong Kong the one overriding question I am asked is – ‘How are things in the U.S? It looks really bad.’ Think about being asked that question when you are 8,000 miles away from home and how you might answer.
While pondering an answer to the question of the decline in the U.S., in stark contrast is the increasing wealth in China. Inflation has begun to have a real impact in daily life China despite the Chinese Central Government efforts to hold inflation in check. The opportunities however remain substantial and a well-heeled upper class is emerging in China. I find that fascinating under the umbrella of living in a Socialist country.
As a marketing and business development agency the luxury market in China is exploding. The nouveau-riche in China demand goods that are authentic and are willing to pay for them – and at ‘bust-out’ retail prices. If you segment out 1% of China’s population as the top earners and holders of wealth, that represents more than 13,000,000 people. It’s safe to say that there are incredible opportunities to market to people within this segment. That’s a big reason western luxury goods companies are clamoring to gain a foothold in China.
Is China’s bubble possibly going to burst? The central government will continue to try to do everything it can to stop that from happening – or to at least minimize the impact. But for now the aura of positivity in China (and Hong Kong for that matter) continues to energize, intrigue, and impress me.
The Chinese people (and Hong Kong people too) often remark about the consistent stream of negative news from the United States. I have been in China nearly a week and have not been reading the U.S. newspapers as usual. Consequently I am missing my daily dose of what has been bad news on top of bad news. It’s making me think about cutting back on reading the depressing dailies. I have learned that I am not missing as much as I thought and I have a much more overall positive attitude being in China.
So back to the question – is it really that bad in the U.S.? Well things are not going well but if you were to view the U.S.’s situation from overseas by reading the news you would probably begin to feel sorry for the Americans. And since when did the United States become a county to pity?
I am not suggesting Americans act as if everything is fine and dandy. But I am coming to believe that we Americans are becoming prisoners of our own media’s desire to highlight what is going wrong with the country. Do all the ‘experts’ that forecast the likelihood of a ‘double-dip’ recession hope that it actually happens so they can boast that they called it right?
We all have the power to change the dialog and attitude. Why don’t we start by focusing on making things better instead of complaining about how bad things are?
Today (my Friday which is now ending here in Wuxi (pronounced woo-shee), China) I had the pleasure of speaking at the 3rd annual International Renewable Energy Conference. I attended the same conference in 2010 as an invited guest. I was honored to be asked and as usual in China I was treated with such great respect and courtesy – something that no longer surprises me but still impresses me.
The focus of the conference was solar energy which offers a contradiction in itself since the sun did not shine during the 2+ days I spent in Wuxi. My Hong Kong friend Tom was in Beijing this week and texted me that as he landed in Beijing the haze was so thick the pilot could hardly see in front of him.
And there is a major contradiction. That a developing industrial country like China relentlessly building and that has factories spewing coal smoke into the air seemingly 24/7, would at the same time have such a large an dedicated group of scientists, intellectuals and business people trying to drive the country to ‘Go green’ – and do it fast.
What I find also to be contradictory is that the Chinese government is supportive of these conferences and the initiatives promoted by its growing anti-global warming community. As with most things when it comes to governments and development, money plays a significant role in driving behaviors and outcomes. China’s coal-burning factories burn cheap fuel and in an increasingly competitive world economy will be slow to change to cleaner burning and non-fossil fuels. That combined with the dust and sand that blows off of the Gobi desert makes Beijing one of the smoggiest cities in China – but not the smoggiest – http://bit.ly/tYLErr. That distinction may be awarded to Xi’an or Galin.
China builds many buildings complete with solar panels mounted on the roofs whether they are industrial or residential. China is a leader in producing and using highly efficient LED lights – and more than once I heard someone say that they notice in the U.S. they see energy saving-lights on outside during the day. Kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it?
Buildings in China are warm when it’s warm outside and cold when it’s cold outside. This is in part due to a government conservation requiring people to sweat inside even if there is air-conditioning or freeze when it’s unusually cold as many places in of southeastern China do not have central heating as wintertime temperatures rarely dip below 40F or 9C.
Obviously there are many other contradictions in China when it comes to social and political issues that are well-publicized. I believe China wants to and is doing the right things to move toward a green economy but any expectation that they will shut down factories for good (as China did for a month or so before the 2008 Beijing Olympics) is completely unrealistic No country would throw away its development any more than China will.
I will end on one note of over-consumption and that comes in the form of the photo of the aftermath of tonight’s post-conference banquet. The food was very good but never-ending. In a way that’s a type of contradiction too.
Do you feel the U.S. has its own contradictions?
