ICP Beijing: Building Chinese Business Relationships

ICP Beijing: Building Chinese Business Relationships

Much has been written in the Western media about the importance of GuanXi (关系), or establishing Chinese [business]connections. I can assure you 95% of it is true.

Lunch was spent doing Chinese karaoke along with our CCAFM contacts, followed by a late afternoon coffee break and then a large group dinner. But wait… aren’t we supposed to be “working?” Yet, in China, these activities ARE a part of everyday work. Without them, there likely isn’t any true work to do. As the risk of sounding trite, we’re truly building relationships.

As a close shadow to the 2 student projects, I’m spending much of my time keeping existing business relationships up-to-date (read: my lunch and dinner schedules are packed) while the grad students are establishing new ones, not only to get through the week, but also hopefully to serve them well into the future, too.

But, alas, the process takes time. Re: the two consulting projects, while yesterday’s meetings were very productive, much work still remains. Some concepts are not getting understood on either side, either due to language or cultural issues, or perhaps nuanced (biased?) perspectives honed for centuries– albeit on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean. Clients are coming today for a sneak peak, too, and early lunch and dinner meetings in preparation for our formal presentations on Friday. Notice a trend here…?

Enjoy the pictures below!