Contracts Aren’t Always Your Best Tool
Topic started Apr 2, 08 by Lothar in category General | 6 Comments »Last week I helped a U.S. client prepare for his first negotiation in China. He had dealt with a few other Asian countries before but was clearly much more comfortable with the American style of doing business. After almost two hours, he looked at me and summarized some of the frustration he must have felt in this question: “You mean I can’t rely on a contract as a way to force them to do what they say they’ll do?”
Correct. I was glad he had gotten the point.
This is actually a source of deep frustration for many Westerners dealing with countries like China: the concept of relying on a legal document as the primary bond between Read the rest of this entry »
