You’re the Boss Blog: Have You Tried Selling in China?

Today’s Question

What small-business owners think.

A small-business guide we have just published quotes Savio S. Chan, who is president and chief executive of U.S. China Partners, a consulting firm that over the last eight years has helped nearly 100 American companies do business in China. Initially, the firm connected these companies with manufacturers and suppliers in China; of late, it has helped more clients market and sell their products and services in China. Both the Golden State Warriors and the New Jersey Nets of the N.B.A. called upon Mr. Chan to seek corporate partners in China to capitalize on the Chinese heritage of roster players.

“If you do it the right way, there’s a lot of opportunity in China,” Mr. Chan said. “But if you do it the wrong way, you can be blacklisted and that will come back to haunt you. You have to play by the Chinese rules and you have to be very careful. You can’t beat the system.”

To better understand the promising but foreign playing field, Mr. Chan advises, when in China, think C-H-I-N-A:

• Culture: Understand China’s cultural complexity. Many of its business customs may be counterintuitive. For instance: beware of making an inadvertent gift faux pas. I heard about a Tiffany clock given as a gift to a Chinese executive by a newly arrived American who was puzzled that the gift was never acknowledged. But in China, a clock is recognition of mortality and such a gift implies you do not wish that person a long life. As we say in Brooklyn, “Who knew?”

• Harness: Build relationships within local government and use this human network to make local business connections. Be aware of the need to marshal the good will and cooperation of the government.

• Intellectual property rights: Remember that the rights to use a patent or trademark in China go to the first to file. Large companies have spent millions of dollars in China buying back the rights to their own names or logos from someone who beat them to the punch.

• Navigate: Become acquainted with and navigate markets with strong local partners. A Chinese business partner is best able to identify the pitfalls unique to the local market, and also the opportunities. One of my clients was seeking to create crystal pieces and was able to find a small village that was already producing work for Steuben and Swarovski.

• Anticipate: Be prepared for fierce local competition. Engineers must adopt designs that minimize others’ ability to copy them, since outright copying is common and unregulated.

What do you think? Have you tried selling in China? If so, how did it go?

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/have-you-tried-selling-in-china/?partner=rss&emc=rss