about chinese business culture

No matter how much you read about China before your first business trip there, the experience of traveling in China as a non-native speaker will provide you with a much more vivid, realistic and balanced understanding of what it takes to do business in that country. Much of this understanding will come through meetings with your Chinese counterparts, often over a meal or in other situations that blend business and social activity.

With the goal that you make the most of these occasions, Bradley Farnsworth, director of the Center for International Business Education (CIBE) at the University of Michigan, has structured the sessions of this seminar to help you

1. ask insightful, intelligent questions;
2. contextualize responses that will allow you to ask even better questions;
3. avoid speech or behavior that may impair the learning process; and
4. respond to questions that the Chinese may have about your own culture.

Farnsworth discusses specific business scenarios--such as Motorola's landmark deal in the Tianjin Municipality--that give credence to a cultural approach to Chinese business practice. It is important to understand, however, that these sessions are not intended to provide the knowledge base from which you will make business decisions in the Chinese market; rather, they are designed to make you a better, faster learner in that environment.