When your China past comes back to you
It doesn’t happen that often, but I was so pleased to get this message this week:
Prof Dayton, I took your developing business in China class at UVU. Loved the class. Gotta say: super cool to see your name all over this HB article! https://harrisbricken.com/chinalawblog/china-factory-culture-and-negotiations-good-luck-with-that/
DD & SRI on HB
Dan, over at Harris Bricken, has been giving out GREAT legal advice on working in China for a couple of decades now. If you’re involved in China, you should be following him. Ironically, one of his most common bits nowadays is, “You want to go to China? Don’t!” Really. It’s that bad. Of course, he qualifies this comment with suggestions for the chronically stubborn.
I fall into that stubborn/addicted category too. My work is still mostly in China and with Chinese companies, and of course, as mentioned above, I teach the “Developing Business in China” course at UVU.
One of the best parts of the UVU China class is the diversity that we get every semester. I usually have a student from the PRC, a professional from the community actively working in China, a majority of business students, and a few students with other majors (UVU offers a very interesting Chinese Commerce Minor, of which my class is a part). The combination makes for some good discussions. Each semester we typically get the following comments: “Oh! That’s why they won’t reply to my emails,” and “I’m not sure I can talk about those things.” You can guess from whom each comment comes.
As for working in China, I’m waiting to a couple of things to develop before I can head back. The first is the approval of more foreign vaccines and tests for travelers. While some of the US vaccines are approved, there are still tests and quarantines required either by Chinese approved organizations (usually only available in large US cities) or checks/requirements available only in China.
Further, a clarification of the visa rules and options will be most appreciated. Since all prior visas were suspended, everyone that wants to travel to China must wait (until the end of 2021?) and meet all the new health standards that now accompany “health passport” paperwork. The US State department just says, “Reconsider travel to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” Even for Chinese citizens living outside of the PRC it’s difficult. At the bare minimum you’ll need two extra weeks on either end of your trip to deal with CV randomness. I’d love to hear from anyone that has traveled there in the last couple of months.
Back to UVU the class, this next semester will focus on developing business opportunities in China under the assumption that life will return to normal sooner than later. But I’m adding in a couple speakers from companies that are currently working exclusively online with Chinese suppliers/partners. The fall class is about “boots on the ground” work in China. We include conversations with executives from SMEs and MNCs discussing “what it’s really like” to work in China. We even have a team presentation/paper that requires students to work through the actual steps to set up a new company or assist in the move/expansion of a current company in the PRC. Everything from visas to guanxi, licensing to logistics, HR to corruption, and from locals to tech.
The core of the course, and my personal consulting work with SRI, is based on the concept that there are often cultural solutions to professional conflicts in international business. One of my interlocutors in my last research trip (oh my, that was 2019!!) said to me, “Of course we take advantage of you! Your faces tell us so much it’s almost [emotionally] overwhelming!”
