The Three C's of China: Fundamental Challenges

When dealing with China or anything that interfaces with China, US businesses need to keep in mind the fundamental challenges involved: Complexity, Contradiction (or inConsistency), and Continuation (or constant change).

• Complexity

Not only is the business culture in China extremely different from that in the U.S., there are also vast local and regional differences within China. On top of that, diversities also exist among different sectors of the economy, different industries, as well as different business entities, be they large or small, private or otherwise. The word “China” may be a simple word, but behind this word there exists a seemingly infinite amount of variations, anomalies, and exceptions to just about everything that one would consider representative of China at one point or another.

• Contradiction (or Lack of Consistency)

There is a lack of consistency in how just about ANYTHING is done, particularly in how rules, regulations and laws are interpreted, followed or enforced. In many cases, things are in outright contradiction with each other. As a result, there is a lack of transparency and predictability.

• Continuation (or Constant Change)

China is a fast moving target. Things constantly evolve and change. What is true today may no longer be the case tomorrow. By the same token, the two C’s above are being improved on rapidly as well. However, it will take some time before an average American business can feel right at home when doing business with or in China.

In summary, one should exercise great prudence and care in approaching and dealing with China, regardless of how confident they are about their market knowledge, understanding, products, services, strategy, capability, preparedness, connections and/or financial and human resources.

As a result, the nature of the China Biz is always underscored by a high level of uncertainty.