I am assuming my landlord did not read my last weblog entry. Otherwise, he would have seen that I was already softening up to his pleas for finer points of the contract. The whole process makes me think of a comment a friend of mine here in China made about the bargaining process: "just make sure everybody is still smiling."
Though simple, I have found a profound amount of truth in that statement. It means I am happy with my end of the deal and the other person is happy with their end. It is not always that simple, but I still feel this proverb, of sorts, could be applied in more situations that we might initially think.
Sure, Chinese are first class bargainers, and with that comes a degree of acting. Really, though, there are a precious few people that are so convincing at their bargaining performances that the majority of us cannot see right through it. It is usually quite easy to know who are the fakes and who are genuine.
Also in the process of getting our coffee shop up and running, I am hunting down all the equipment needed. For a couple of the pieces of equipment, I had no idea at all how much they should cost. Then, in a timely appointment, I struck up a conversation with a guy running a small Western-ish restaurant here in town who is going to be moving back to his home province; he offered to sell me the very items I did not know where to find.
Now, this is where you do not want to find yourself in any bargaining process: uneducated. I still did not know what the equipment he was offering was worth. $100? $1,000? I have no idea.
Even so, I think we can still go back to the statement: if everybody is smiling...
Business can be mutually beneficial. No, that is too weak; I ought say business should be mutually beneficial. We should strive to keep it that way, make it that way. And that is the truth behind the "all smiles" saying.
I am not talking about buying tourist trinkets. I am talking about everything from buying vegetables in the market to a shipment of 10,000 watcha-madoos from some Chinese factory. If they like the price and I like the price, we are doing ok. And yes, there is a spectrum of where they are still ok and we are more ok, and vice versa.
I know "it is a cut throat business world out there" and all that. Sure, what I am saying may sound overly simplified, but that is what pithy sayings are supposed to be! The true question here is whether there is truth in it or not? What do you think?
I agree with you in that a deal the other side resents is more likely to be a deal the other side will not fulfill. But, the Chinese negotiating style is not win-win. Indeed, it is sometimes downright crazy such that it is lose-lose. Be careful.
Posted by: China Law Blog | 18 Feb 2007 at 16:47
Sure. It is easy to read things black in white, when the situation is actually deeply rooted in the grey. And bargaining in China is most definitely in the grey!
You are right: if they resent the deal, most likely, they will never follow through with the agreement.
But when we are seeking to look for the win-win deal with Chinese businesses, we have to keep in mind that things just work differently around here. We are not all working form the same set of preconceptions and expectations.
Posted by: Cooper Strange | 1 Mar 2007 at 12:42