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| Introduction | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Conventions Used in This Book | |
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| What You're Not to Read | |
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| Foolish Assumptions | |
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| How This Book Is Organized | |
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| Building Your Foundation | |
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| Starting Up in China | |
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| Conducting Daily Business | |
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| Building Successful Business Relationships | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Icons Used in This Book | |
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| Where to Go from Here | |
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| Building Your Foundation | |
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| So You Want to Do Business in China | |
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| Understanding China's Appeal | |
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| Cutting costs to meet global demands | |
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| Accessing a fast-growing local market | |
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| Considering Ways to Get In on the Action | |
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| Selling into China | |
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| Manufacturing and sourcing | |
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| Deciding Whether China Is a Good Fit for Your Business | |
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| Considering your employees | |
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| Having international experience | |
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| Getting company leaders on board | |
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| Having patient capital | |
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| Dealing with the government and laws | |
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| Appreciating cultural differences | |
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| Tracing the Path to Success | |
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| Getting the right knowledge of China under your belt | |
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| Starting your engine | |
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| Getting down to business the Chinese way | |
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| Organizing your team for China | |
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| Remaining flexible while staying the course | |
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| Respecting the country for what it is | |
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| Staying on the lighter side | |
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| Taking the First Steps: What You Can Do Today | |
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| Brushing Up on China Business Basics | |
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| Considering Why and How You Want to Do Business in China | |
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| Manufacturing in the World's Workshop | |
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| Harnessing people power to export services | |
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| Reaching untapped domestic markets | |
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| The Experts' Choices: Some Long-Term Growth Industries in China | |
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| Services | |
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| Healthcare | |
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| Environment and energy | |
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| Agribusiness | |
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| Understanding China's Business Environment | |
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| The economy: Getting the goods | |
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| Politics: Grasping the state of affairs | |
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| Culture: Taking in the social scene | |
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| Laws: Surveying the government say-so | |
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| Buckle Your Seatbelt: Preparing for Common Challenges | |
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| Gaining trust | |
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| Wading through the bureaucracy | |
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| Responding to rapid changes | |
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| Surviving cutthroat competition | |
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| Bridging the language gap | |
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| Getting Acquainted with the Powers That Be: China's History and Leadership | |
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| Understanding the Big, Historical Picture | |
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| Introducing the Middle Kingdom: The rule of dynasties | |
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| Ushering in modern China and the rise of the Communist Party | |
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| Industrializing with Mao: The first five-year plans | |
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| Opening the door to foreign investment | |
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| Party On: Understanding Who Controls the Country | |
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| The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) | |
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| The state | |
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| The People's Liberation Army (PLA) | |
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| Figuring Out the Chinese Business Scene | |
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| Getting state-owned businesses in shape | |
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| Supporting private businesses | |
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| Encouraging foreign investors | |
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| Benefiting from the five-year plan | |
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| China and the World Trade Organization | |
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| Agreeing to play by the WTO rules | |
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| Changing how China does business | |
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| Planning for Success in China | |
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| Setting the Stage | |
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| Being in the right state of mind | |
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| Budgeting enough money | |
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| Garnering strong support from headquarters | |
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| Designating the China manager - the earlier, the better | |
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| Staying flexible | |
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| Deciding What You Want (and Need) | |
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| Where to locate | |
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| Staffing and worker requirements | |
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| Building up: Whether to walk or run | |
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| How to sell in China | |
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| How to maintain competitive advantages | |
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| How to finance the venture | |
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| Doing Your Homework | |
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| Continuing research as you develop your plan | |
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| Networking | |
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| Reading up | |
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| Reaching out to organizations | |
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| Hiring Consultants, Lawyers, and Accountants | |
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| China (and Western) experience | |
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| Teamwork | |
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| Information flows | |
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| Specific experience | |
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| Being Aware of Common Planning Mistakes | |
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| Overestimating revenue | |
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| Underestimating costs | |
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| Rushing the process | |
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| Not accounting for the X-factor | |
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| Mistaking Chinese language for China | |
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| Losing sight of what you know | |
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| Putting Some Eggs in Another Basket | |
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| Starting Up in China | |
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| Traveling to and around China | |
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| Getting the Necessary Documents and Vaccines | |
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| Passport | |
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| Business invitation to China | |
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| Visa | |
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| Vaccines and health requirements | |
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| Making Flight and Hotel Arrangements | |
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| Flying directly into mainland China | |
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| Flying into Hong Kong first | |
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| Finding a good hotel | |
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| Navigating the Airport after You Land | |
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| Health and quarantine | |
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| Immigration | |
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| Baggage claim | |
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| Customs | |
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| Getting from the airport to your hotel | |
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| Around and About: Traveling within China | |
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| Taking flight in the Middle Kingdom | |
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| Taxiing | |
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| Taking the subways | |
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| Busing around | |
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| Riding the rails to and fro | |
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| Considering a travel card | |
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| Getting through the Basics of Daily Life | |
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| Finding money | |
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| Staying healthy | |
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| Weathering China | |
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| Preparing for crowding and noise | |
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| Dealing with pollution | |
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| Staying Out of Trouble | |
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| Contacting your embassy or consulate | |
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| Protecting yourself against crime | |
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| Foiling scam attempts | |
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| Staying clear of counterfeits | |
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| Keeping out of restricted areas | |
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| Avoiding legal problems | |
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| Getting Business Going through Successful Negotiation | |
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| Preparing for the Process | |
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| Organizing your team | |
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| Developing trust and then doing your bargaining | |
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| Considering how best to divide the pie | |
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| Practicing the Chinese Art of Negotiating | |
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| Thinking like the Chinese | |
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| Navigating Chinese negotiation tactics | |
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| Taking the time to get it right | |
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| Exchanging information | |
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| Keeping track of all the details | |
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| Saying no the Chinese way | |
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| Treating anger appropriately | |
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| Using intermediaries effectively | |
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| Making concessions | |
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| Banqueting as part of the deal making | |
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| Earning Approvals in China: Understanding the Bureaucracy | |
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| Negotiating after the Deal | |
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| At Long Last: Telling the Public and Celebrating the Deal | |
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| Announcing the news | |
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| Showing off for the cameras at the signing ceremony | |
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| Celebrating the venture | |
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| Setting Up Shop | |
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| Choosing the Right Business Structure | |
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| Representative offices | |
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| Foreign-invested enterprises | |
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| Considering Location Variations | |
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| Finding good infrastructure | |
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| Locating your labor force | |
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| Seeking government incentives | |
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| Looking for experience with foreign investors | |
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| Touring the Mainland Regions | |
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| Northeastern China | |
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| The Yangtze River Delta | |
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| The Pearl River Delta | |
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| The wild, wild west | |
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| Weighing Hong Kong's Offerings | |
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| Hong Kong's special status: The SAR (it's not something you catch) | |
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| Perks of investing in Hong Kong | |
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| Hong Kong hang-ups | |
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| Classifying Your Company and Reckoning with Restrictions | |
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| Checking out the catalog | |
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| Identifying highly regulated industries | |
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| Establishing Your Business | |
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| China, may I? Getting business approvals | |
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| Landing your land | |
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| Visas: Getting yourself and your expatriate employees to China | |
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| Understanding Government Relations with Your Business | |
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| Knowing Why You Want to Connect with the Chinese Government | |
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| Getting official assistance | |
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| Gaining guidance and support | |
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| Mapping the Bureaucracy to Plan Your Network | |
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| Identifying key government organizations | |
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| Identifying the key influencers | |
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| Tracking key relationships | |
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| Contact: Working Your Network | |
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| Getting your Chinese employees to make connections | |
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| Calling in company big shots to access senior officials | |
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| Depending on your Chinese partner | |
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| Turning to consultants | |
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| Aligning Your Government Relationships | |
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| Taking the bottom-up approach for smaller firms | |
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| Meeting in the middle: Managing multiple levels of government | |
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| Getting Government Approvals | |
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| Earning your approvals | |
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| Unblocking the blockers | |
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| Gaining trust by keeping your word | |
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| Educating officials (without telling them) | |
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| Post-approval: Practicing public relations in China | |
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| Building a Local Team in China | |
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| Looking at Employees and the Law | |
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| Employment contracts | |
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| Terminating employees | |
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| Legal disputes | |
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| Unions | |
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| Avoiding a Shocking Corporate Culture | |
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| Passing up the Chinese imperial palace | |
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| Guarding against imperial palace syndrome | |
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| Finding (and Keeping) Good People | |
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| Employer beware: Avoiding common problems among job seekers | |
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| Finding applicants | |
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| Screening applicants | |
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| Making an offer | |
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| Retaining talent | |
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| Managing Your Employees | |
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| Setting your expectations for basic training | |
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| Helping employees manage their work | |
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| Earning respect | |
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| Managing office politics | |
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| Getting Your Mind on Money | |
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| Introducing China's Currency: The Tricky RMB | |
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| What you need to know about the RMB | |
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| What RMB exchange controls mean for your business | |
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| Choosing a Bank for Your Business | |
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| Opening All the Necessary Accounts | |
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| Working with the people's currency: Your RMB account | |
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| Switching things up: Accounts for foreign exchange | |
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| Getting Your Money Out of China | |
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| Sending profits back home | |
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| Repaying foreign debt | |
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| Using other money exit strategies | |
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| Financing Your Business | |
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| Borrowing from offshore | |
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| Borrowing from onshore | |
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| Checking out special types of debt financing | |
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| Getting private equity financing | |
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| Paying the Government without Taxing Your Patience | |
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| Corporate taxes | |
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| Individual taxes | |
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| Conducting Daily Business | |
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| Understanding How China Works (and Doesn't Work) | |
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| Getting Things Done the Chinese Way | |
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| Honoring face | |
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| Focusing on consensus | |
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| Working together for mutual benefit | |
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| Developing patience | |
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| Sending consistent messages | |
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| Sharing information | |
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| Keeping the dialogue going despite bumps in the road | |
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| Talking to the right authorities | |
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| Making Face-to-Face Business Meetings Work for You | |
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| Getting your basic presentation ready | |
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| Preparing to speak the local business language | |
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| Making an appointment | |
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| Making a respectful entrance | |
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| Takin' care of business | |
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| Wrapping up the meeting | |
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| Communicating Effectively Outside the Meeting Room | |
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| Using the telephone | |
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| SMS and text messaging | |
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| Faxing | |
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| E-mailing and the Internet | |
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| Sourcing from China | |
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| Understanding Why You May Want It Made in China | |
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| Working with Suppliers | |
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| Finding suppliers | |
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| The middleman: Surveying trade-offs of trading companies | |
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| Straight from the source: Dealing directly with factories | |
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| Following Tips for Supply Agreements | |
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| Product description | |
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| Delivery date | |
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| Payment terms | |
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| Insurance | |
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| No toxic substances | |
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| Indemnification | |
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| Binding arbitration | |
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| Avoiding Pitfalls When Working with Suppliers | |
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| Not getting what you bargained for | |
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| Being outsourced: The factory's factory | |
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| Losing your brand or technology | |
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| Including substances that are toxic to your business | |
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| Placing Orders | |
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| Putting down a deposit | |
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| Purchasing goods via free on board arrangements | |
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| Shipping Your Products by Using Freight Forwarders | |
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| Manufacturing in China | |
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| Being Realistic about Savings | |
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| Considering Industry Development | |
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| Looking at Manufacturing Challenges for the Chinese Market | |
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| Struggles to cut costs enough to compete in domestic markets | |
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| Highly distributed distribution | |
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| Why foreign manufacturers can succeed | |
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| Selecting Your Site | |
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| Seeing the big picture when planning your business | |
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| Remembering what smart companies look for | |
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| Knowing how government can help | |
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| Avoiding site pitfalls | |
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| Building Your Building | |
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| Identifying the players | |
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| Finding a general contractor | |
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| Contracting your GC | |
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| Protecting yourself by hiring a project manager | |
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| Approvals: Getting through the Red Tape | |
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| Before construction | |
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| Beginning operations | |
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| Hiring, Training, and Keeping Your Workers | |
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| Encouraging teamwork | |
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| Expecting skills gaps | |
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| Training | |
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| Treating your workers well | |
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| Hiring Quality Control | |
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| Selling in China | |
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| Appealing to the Chinese Consumer | |
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| Knowing your customer | |
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| Helping customers show their "face" | |
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| Looking at name recognition: The Chinese and branding | |
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| Getting Ready to Deliver: It's All about Distribution! | |
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| Where your products get sold | |
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| Three distribution choices | |
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| Trench warfare in distribution | |
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| Advertising | |
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| Keeping the message simple and obvious | |
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| Getting the message out | |
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| Deciding How You Want to Enter the Market | |
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| Guns blazing | |
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| Starting with a beachhead | |
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| Letting others blaze the trails for you | |
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| Selling to Consumers | |
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| Retail stores | |
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| Franchising | |
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| Direct-to-consumer | |
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| Selling services | |
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| Selling Business-to-Business | |
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| Building Successful Business Relationships | |
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| Fostering Fruitful Friendships: The Art of Guan Xi | |
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| You Scratch My Back, I'll Scratch Yours: Introducing Guan Xi | |
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| Trusting performance | |
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| Repaying favors | |
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| Developing guan xi in government and business | |
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| Developing Your Own Guan Xi | |
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| Starting from square one: Reaching out | |
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| Building bridges to your target contacts | |
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| Following through on your promises | |
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| Putting your best foot forward | |
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| Looking at the Limitations of Guan Xi | |
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| Saying and Doing the Right Things: Chinese Business Etiquette | |
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| Minding Your Business Manners | |
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| Dressing for success | |
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| Greeting and meeting the Chinese | |
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| Presenting your business card | |
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| Behaving yourself in Chinese company | |
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| Enjoying a Chinese Banquet | |
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| Knowing what to expect | |
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| Navigating the many courses | |
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| Eating the Chinese way: Using chopsticks | |
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| Drinking at the banquet | |
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| Understanding Chinese banquet behavior | |
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| Returning the favor: Hosting a banquet | |
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| Tokens of Appreciation: Giving Gifts Correctly | |
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| Deciding how much to spend | |
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| Choosing an appropriate gift | |
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| Paying attention to presentation | |
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| Exchanging gifts | |
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| Managing Risks in China | |
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| Doing Due Diligence | |
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| The basics: Reviewing the business license | |
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| Practicing DD for joint ventures | |
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| Doing DD for hiring individuals | |
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| Controlling Financial Risks | |
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| Counting beans differently | |
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| Balancing an out-of-balance sheet | |
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| Exposing shadow businesses | |
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| Practicing common-sense controls | |
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| Supporting controls through company culture | |
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| Limiting Your Legal Risks | |
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| Thinking locally | |
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| Implementing corporate governance | |
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| Combating Corruption | |
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| Understanding bribery laws | |
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| Keeping government relationships straight | |
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| Training for compliance | |
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| Managing donations responsibly | |
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| Resolving Disputes through Arbitration | |
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| Understanding arbitration clauses | |
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| Surveying arbitration bodies | |
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| The rulebook: Determining governing law | |
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| Enforcing the rulings | |
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| Protecting Intellectual Property | |
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| Getting IP registered early | |
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| Taking proactive legal measures | |
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| Practicing realistic precautions | |
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| Managing Environmental Risks | |
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| Surveying environmental crime and punishment | |
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| Practicing more than good intentions | |
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| Getting help | |
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| Insuring Your Business Risks | |
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| Controlling the insurance program | |
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| Getting insurance advice | |
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| Knowing your choices of companies | |
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| Looking at basic types of insurance | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Ten Clauses You Want in Your Contracts | |
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| Ten Fun Ways to Spend Your Downtime in China | |
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| Ten Ways to Stay on the Path to Profitability | |
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| Index | |