Chinese negotiation typically involves parties beyond your immediate counterpart. Organizational superiors, family stakeholders, governmental relationships, and network connections all affect positions and outcomes. Map who actually influences the negotiation—who your counterpart reports to, who advises them, whose reactions they worry about. Build relationships with multiple relevant parties, not just the person across the table.
Consider using intermediaries who can access parties you can’t reach directly, who can float proposals without committing either side, who can facilitate resolution that direct negotiation might not achieve. This multi-party complexity rewards patient, relationship-oriented approaches: each relevant party requires attention, the web of interests requires navigation, and quick transactional approaches simply cannot address the full negotiation environment.
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