Even the Japanese and Taiwanese have had difficulties exploiting China’s markets despite having closer ties to, and a better understanding of China. There are many reasons for this. China’s experience under communist rule was dramatically different from Taiwan’s or Japan’s’ during the same era and have shaped many business practices. The vast geographical and cultural differences of China are more akin to the European Union with Chinese provinces being as different culturally as Italy is to Finland.  Adding to the confusion is the accumulation of four-millennium worth of habits, all of which have created a unique business environment that is constantly evolving.

Initially it may seem as though the Western executive is at distinct disadvantage doing business in China, but there is an up side. Western executives have unique advantages over their local Chinese, overseas Chinese, and Japanese counterparts.

The first advantage is directness. Because so much in Chinese social and office interactions depend on the all-important concept of “Face”, many Chinese tend to be reluctant to make quick decisions and will look to find a consensus before committing to a decision. The result is Chinese managers can be notoriously hesitant and indirect. As a Westerner, you are outside the political circle and would not be expected play the game of office politics. Thus, you can be more direct in voicing opinions and ideas that others cannot for fear of upsetting coworkers. Rather than be offended, many Chinese will appreciate the Westerner’s straightforward approach and ability to get to the point.

The second advantage Westerners enjoy is that the Chinese do not expect them to understand and comply with Chinese etiquette. Should you make some cultural faux pas, the Chinese staff will be forgiving and take it all in good humor. This gives you considerable leeway socially as well as in making deals since you can be more aggressive during negotiations and feign ignorance if you stretch the limits of negotiations too far. Conversely, should you display some knowledge of  Chinese etiquette and culture, you  will almost immediately make a good impression and be considered an educated and culturally sophisticated person, an honor in a society that places the highest value on education. This will put you on the leading edge of the learning curve and enable you to make friends, conduct business successfully, and enjoy your experience.

Lastly, despite the occasional cultural misunderstandings and prejudices, most Chinese admire Westerners and western civilization. Westerners are considered somewhat exotic and there is a certain cachet in having western friends and business partners. With tact and a subtle manner you can use your almost celebrity-like status to great advantage.

So despite the disadvantages of doing business in an unfamiliar culture, there are also certain advantages and it is back to intelligence and personality to determine success.

Many aspects of this culture are difficult for westerners to understand at first so I will just tell you what they are without trying to explain most. I myself am not Japanese but have done extensive business with them and for them from time to time. My perspective is therefore as a westerner and it is unlikely that I have picked up all nuances.

These are just the highlights. You will be able to pick up the rest as you go along.

In The Office

This is generally a very formal environment. Specifically, you will find Jacket and Tie. Although jackets may come off while they are at their desk they will put them back on when going to meetings of any kind. Also be aware that they prefer the jacket buttoned. Make sure you button yours and keep it buttoned.

The First Meeting

Be absolutely sure you are carrying a good supply of business cards. They expect to receive one.

• Hold the card in two hands with the type facing the recipient. They do not expect westerners to bow; however you may nod your head if you are comfortable with it. Try to give your card first to their senior person. As you are giving him (and I assure you it is a him) the card: state your name, your position in the company and to whom you report. For those who follow, present the card the same way but only state your name.
• Do not be surprised if the person you meet with does not have a private office. Senior Vice Presidents are often seated in an open office environment with many other workers. It is their preference to be seen working hard by their superiors. Privet office are usually found only with senior executives.
• Address all by last name only followed by san (honorable) e.g., Koji san. They will extend you the same courtesy (first names are reserved for family). You will also find that the western spelling of their name is phonetic and therefore sounds exactly as it is spelled.

Position Is Everything

If you meet in a conference room expect to find the senior member of the group in the center of the table facing the door not at the head of the table. If you all enter the room together make sure your group leaves that center seat empty. Your senior member should sit opposite also in the center. Your group should then sit away from the center in descending order of importance.

Discussion

If there is one or more Japanese in the room that has a strong command of English you are in luck. But it is more likely that:

• Not all Japanese in the room will be proficient in English. This does not mean that they are hard of hearing. Loud talk and exaggerated hand gestures will not increase the level of communication. Speak in a normal voice and direct your conversation to their senior member even if he does not speak your language. Someone will interpret for him as you go along. Don’t let it through you. Also expect that he may ask question through the interpreter. Respond to him not the interpreter.
• There may be many side conversations in Japanese as they discuss your proposal among themselves. They do not wish to be impolite but are trying to fully understand what you said and form a consensus of opinion and understand their senior persons requirements.
• Try to remember that they learned English in school and will not be familiar with all slang. Most are in the west on rotational bases for a few years at a time and will be returning to Japan (they are often called Home Staff).

There is a down side to the interpretation cycle however, you can not be sure that what you said was conveyed properly and that the response they wanted was translated to English properly. Don’t worry; you will work it out eventually.

Tip 1: if you can find a Japanese person in your firm to accompany your team they will be able to tell you after the meeting what the side conversations were about giving you better insight as to what the primary concerns of the group were.

Tip 2: Everything they do is predicated on teamwork. Your group should present themselves as a team that will service the account.

Tip 3: Never directly refuse any of their requirements. Say, it is not something you can decide here right now. They will understand the answer is no. (also see results below).

Results

Do not expect to finalize anything at this first meeting. They will first form a consensus based around the senior persons requirements outside your presents and only then meet again (they love team meetings).

• If after the second time you are presented with something like; “we have to discuss it further ourselves”. They are telling you, “No”. Japanese do not usually give a direct refusal. Go back to the drawing board and sweeten the deal.

Note: Do not be surprised if during a long meeting one or more Japanese sits back, folds his arms and closes his eyes for a few minutes. It is not disrespectful, he is not board and he is not asleep.

The Process

Japanese Business follows a process. Everything and I do mean everything is done step-by-step without shortcuts. You will encounter an approval process that is sometime frustrating and seemingly wasteful but it will be follow to the letter. I have seen Japanese Companies pass up hundreds of thousands of dollars in incentives to close a deal by an end of quarter/end of year date. They will not do it! The process is too important.

Business Hours

Business hours are formal as stated above. The business lunch will be conducted in much the same way. That is to say formal. Expect to talk a lot of business.The Japanese work long hours in the west and even longer hours in Japan (usually six days a week). You will generally find them at work to 7 PM or later every evening and often in on weekends.

They will generally not take a day during the week if invited to play golf (they don’t even take vacation time in Japan). However, asked to play on Saturday or Sunday they will gladly accept. The Japanese absolutely love golf. Back in Japan they only get to play once or twice a year because of the expense. Only very senior executives can afford club membership back home.

Note: In general, they will not go to anything like a holiday lunch. Quote, “Japanese Business Men only celebrate after working hours.”

Work Is Over – Time To Play

They are generally willing to go out any evening after their working hours and they often do. They are very much into Team Bonding – yours and theirs – when the deal is going to be completed. And look out …. they are wild men. Drink all you want, they will and expect you to do the same. These guys really let their hair down after business hours. And yes, Karaoke really is big at a Japanese party. Unlike western culture, what goes on after working hours stays in after working hours. They do not tell tales in the office the next day.

If you are invited to Tokyo expect to be entertained in the evening. They are somewhat direct and will probably ask you something like, “how loose are you.” Depending on your answer your entertainment could vary widely.

Have a good time; they will!

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The astonishing thing about this happening is not that it happened, but that there are so many people involved who fell for too high interest rates on the internet. If a thing looks too good to be true, it usually is. So all the greedy can’t get enoughs just got their deserts. Who cares? Obviously some governments do, like the British government. Probably because Labour desperately tries to buy votes for the next elections, the flunkies clamped down on Icelandic holdings in the United Kingdom and restarted the cod war of the 70ies which incidentally was lost on all counts, including the fleet which was tamely handed over to the EU to be scrapped. What really started: A coming alive of the protectionist markets of the 18th century. Brave new world, indeed.

But who would be stupid enough to invest online into a bank they have never seen, situated on an Island nobody wants to go to, with a population as big as Islington’s? Who were these idiots that are costing tax money now? Taxes paid by people with more sense in their little toe than any of these hazarders ever accumulated in a lifetime? Apart from the obvious crooks in the public sector, the town councillors, the accountants of police and fire brigades, and the advisors of the charities, these were just very very very stupid people that now have to be bailed out by sensible us. Maybe it is true that 90 percent of humankind is too stupid to live.

At least I hope that these dummies are proud of themselves. They should be, as mostly it’s the same British individual who is bemoaning too high taxes (which will rise now, thanks), the sell out of British companies to foreigners (which was only possible with this money), the ever worsening public service (which will be crippled now by lack of money), and the too high prices in the stores (which were caused by too high interest rates caused by capital leaving the country). Yes, they should all get a medal for the harm they caused to their country. Or rather give them a peerage, which is the normal payment for services rendered against the interests of the country. As a known war criminal Tony Blair is in the lists for at least a Duchy.

But let’s get back into the frosts of the north, where people still believe in elves. Is it to wonder that gnomes ruined their economy? When collapse erupts over the country like a volcano, the banks bring forth naught but a fountain of hot air like a dried up geyser. If the nationalisation of the banks will do anything to appease the cold wind of economy must be seen, usually replacing bank gnomes of little morale through civil servants, little men of little intellect, serves just the opposite.

As an example, serve the council sleazes, juggling with millions in council taxes and feeling themselves all like men of the world and in the know, instead of admitting that they don’t know much more than the mud they serve in the council for. But squandering millions of hard earned cash to banks on the brink (either the brink of the world or the one of collapse) gives them the power feeling necessary to all useless politicians on the go to line their own pockets at our expense. Failing this, they line the pockets of their friends, like Sir Ian Blair.

As an aftermath to Ragnarok we end up with nationalised banks all over the place, nationalised in fact if not in name, and start to replace the gnomes with dwarfs for whatever it is worth. The time of reckless bonus payments to bankers will be over, maybe, and replaced with reckless other payments to politicians and their flunkies. So let’s look forward to more of the same. But there is relief; the gnomes didn’t know what they were doing, so there is no knowledge lost when the men of little brains come to the fore now.

For all the idiots who gave their money away to nameless, faceless internet doodles: There are Swiss banks, called Kantonalbank, that have full government guaranties since they were founded. They are small, they have outlets, and they have a face. And they are no risk nonsense banks, just dealing locally for mortgages or loans to companies. If one of the oversized multimillion dollar ventures knocks on their doors, they say no thank you, and peacefully look on as they founder.

Has it not even struck anybody in the slightest, that Switzerland has not had even one panic attack in all this time? The Swiss government allows itself the luxury of having its head of Finance on a prolonged leave of recovery, replaced by the Minister of Justice, should the need arise. The two Swiss banks, Credit Swiss and UBS, hit the hardest by the fraudulent American mortgage papers were recapitalised within weeks with money from Dubai and Singapore. Not a cent from the taxpayer. And nobody is worried.

Libya, in retaliation to a lawsuit in Swiss courts against one of the useless sons of the terrorist leader Khadafy, has retracted all its money out of Switzerland on Friday, a paltry 10 billion. Did one sea a single Swiss bank even bat its lids? No. The banks just stated that considerable funds had been replaced in other banks. Also on Friday, Libya declared an oil embargo on Switzerland. The President of the government just stated, that he had heard of it, but was not worried.

And actually, that is the way to handle a crisis. But little stupid men like Brown, or Cameron, or Bush, or Obama, or McCain, or what’s their name, go jumping around like flea-bitten monkeys shoring up dams after the flood has passed and binding wounds on dead men. So let’s watch these little rats scurrying around, always one step behind the events taking place. For the brainy ones, go put your money into the Swiss Kantonalbank, there it is safe.

After China’s become a member of WTO, China’s will need more raw materials specifically agricultural products and the Philippines is the best country that has a good production of foods and feed grains, sugar, vegetables, fruits, cottons, and many other agricultural raw materials. With or without china’s accession, the Philippines are expected to grow faster in food grain export and output of light manufactures. And the Philippines as well have the same advantages in many areas in which china is good and strong. China’s in joining WTO will increase competition in the Philippines. As of now, many products of China like toys, cooking utensils, glassware, ready to wear goods, shoes, bags, accessories and even pirated CD’s and DVD’s are available in all parts of the Philippines.

Little by little without being notice by the Filipinos those products will eventually affect the Philippine economy. Many people are patronizing those products from China because of its low and reasonable price, but if you will compare it to the native products, China has poor quality products and cannot be use for a quite long time. Of course, this cannot be stop due to the agreement. In particular the area of competition between two countries is focused in apparel produced for North America and Western Europe. But the overall impact is negative because the Philippines already established certain niches within the export market. The impact on the Philippines will also depend on the investments progress. As compared to Indonesia and Thailand, Philippines grow more fast when it comes to apparel, textile, processing, light manufacturing, and assembly operations.

The Philippines is stable to join in global production networks, in machinery and electronics because Filipinos are known to its finest work around the world, either in skilled and unskilled work. That is why FDI are planning to expand in both countries, Philippines and China simultaneously. Many sectors will affected from China’s WTO accessions due to the use of unskilled labor, while those that have a tendency to grow are giving more emphasis in land or skilled labor. The salary of unskilled workers may deprive. The impact on urban discrimination and criticism should be monitored and give more importance to process the changes in the labor market.

By joining WTO, China benefits itself and its own trade liberalization.

30 St. Mary Axe Headquarters: Foster and Partners, London, 2004

This unusually shaped building promises to reinvent the building type through its dramatic form and sophisticated integration of building systems. Located in the heart of London’s financial district, the building joins a small cluster of tall buildings.

The tower is circular in plan, widening as it rises, and then tapering towards its domed apex. In geometric terms the building is a rotational form, the result of spinning a curved line about a single axis. The resultant shape is a bulbous projectile – like structure that defies most skyscraper conventions and conjures up phallic associations.

In his book Delirious New York, Rem Koolhass speculates that the conceptual origins of the skyscrapers are to be found in what he calls “architectural subconscious.” He muses that the ideal skyscraper is the result of the desire to be simultaneously a sphere and a needle.

30 St. Mary Axe utilizes natural ventilation for much of the year, reducing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. The operable curtain wall allows the occupants to enjoy natural light and fresh air, as well as an increased connection to the out-doors. Fresh air is drawn through the building envelope, and is ventilated by natural convection through light walls that spiral up the building perimeter.

Foster’s design for 30 St.Mary Axe evokes some of the same properties appearing bulbous and axial at the same time.

Al Faisaliah Complex: Foster and Partners, Riyadh, 2000

A distinctly tapered iconic form, the Al Faisaliah Complex in Riyadh is one of Saudi Arabia’s first skyscrapers.

The mixed use development combines various program types to form a kind of city-within-a-city; the complex combines office functions, a five star hotel, a banqueting and conference center, luxury apartment, and a three story retail mall.

The structural frame of the building is expressed in its corner columns as a series of grant K-braces. The bowed lines of the four main corner columns accentuate the tautness of the curve, creating a visual tension that draws the eye up the entire length of the tower.

The open structure of the tower contains a glass sphere at its top, which houses a restaurant space and an observation deck. The tower’s pyramidal form evokes a weighty solidity, yet Foster combines an affinity for structural expressiveness with the sculptural elegance that creates a tower of paradoxical lightness.

Torre Agbar: Jean Nouvel, Barcelona, 2003

Jean Nouvel’s design for the Torre Agbar in Barcelona shares many of the qualities of Norman Foster’s 30 St.Mary Axe project. Its explicitly bulbous form appears to be lateralization of the skyscraper as phallus. At 466 feet (142 meters), the tower is among the tallest structure in Barcelona.

The tower consists of an elliptical footprint within an elliptical envelope. An offset core floats asymmetrically within the plan, and perimeter elevator banks are grouped along the eastern elevation. Towards the top, the inner ellipse sets back from the exterior envelope, creating a terraced structure within a dome like shell.

The façade is designed to create the ephemeral effects of a liquid, with reflections and undulations. The façade design is a random pattern of repetitive modules that create a shimmering effect and fluid reflections.

Nouvel’s bold gestural design for Barcelona is in keeping with his determination to remain aggressively avant – garde. His buildings do not share a single format language; instead, they are characterized by an audacity that perpetually challenges the limits of convention.

Kingdom Center: Ellerbe Becket, Riyadh, 2003

The boldly sculptural Kingdom Center forms a dramatic new focal point on Riyadh’s skyline. At a height of 984 feet (300 meters) it is visible from virtually anywhere in the city. Its signature parabolic crown and streamlined massing makes it a futuristic icon.

The client, Prince Alwaleed, commissioned the building to be a globally recognized icon of Riyadh and Saudi Arabia.

The entire complex is made up of convex and concave arcs. The tower’s footprint is an almond-shaped extrusion with reentrant corners. The podium facilitates at its base are organized as crescent-shaped bars that converge on the tower. The catenaries curve at the top creates the dynamic image for the project, but is also a form that is found in nature and has a distinct structural logic: it is the arc assumed by an unloaded suspension structure.

The tower includes a five star Four Seasons Hotel, a luxury three-level retail mall, office space, the headquarter of a large Saudi Arabian Bank, luxury condominiums and apartments, a wedding/conference center, and a sports club.

The design creates a new landmark for Riyadh, one that is contemporary, abstract, and monumental.

National Bank of Dubai: Carlos Ott and Norr Limited, Dubai, 1998

The striking bronze-colored National Bank of Dubai is one of several new buildings in Dubai that signal a desire to shape the image of the city as one of a sophisticated commercial center. Located along the busy waterfront, the façade reflects both the sky and the water in its curved mirror. The reflection distorts the image, capturing a broad expense of sky and water, giving the building an ephemeral appearance.

The curved façade is inspired by the sails of the local ships that ply the river. The building massing suggests a two-part composition, the supporting core clad in stone and the building-services cores. The curved-glass volume seems suspended from the stone volume, emphasizing its sail-like lightness. The curved volume is terminated with vertically articulated fins.

Making up the building’s base is a retail podium housing shops and restaurants. The language of convex bows and arcs informs the expression of the podium roof, which appears to hover over the building base.

The National Bank of Dubai building is a mirror for Dubai, reflecting an image of the city as it may want to be seen – modern, progressive, and business friendly.