By William R. Dodson
My company, Silk Road Communications (SRC), had put the finishing touches on the schedule for the corporate delegation to China: from Shanghai to Suzhou then to Wuxi and on to Changzhou . A wide arc would then carry the presidents and vice presidents of the Fortune 500 company southward to Hangzhou then eastward again to Ningbo. The group would explore the Economic Development Zones of Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, territories in China that embrace Shanghai to the north and south.
The schedule had been weeks in the planning. In each economic zone client executives would be meeting with the government officials that administer the zone, with managers whose companies had invested in the zone and with the mayors and vice-mayors of the cities in which the zones resided.
Two weeks before the excursion one of the division presidents informed Silk Road Communications that the CEO of the Fortune 500 company would be coming to China. It would be the first time the CEO would visit China since the company’s commitment to invest in the country. The CEO’s visit was very important to the president, since the CEO would essentially be in the president’s care while they were both in China.
The key, the president explained to SRC, was that the CEO hated being idle, even for a few minutes. Every hour would have to be filled with work-related discussions or activities.
SRC would have to re-work the schedule for the delegation. The two top executives in the original delegation would split away from the group and join the CEO when he came to Shanghai. There were Chinese companies whose executives the CEO wanted to meet before he put his stamp of approval on joint ventures between the American company and the Chinese suitors. The CEO also wanted to visit some of the Economic Development Zones SRC had recommended as viable sites for the company’s investments. The CEO had all of three days in which to do this.
SRC quickly adjusted the schedule to support the divided attentions of its American client in China. SRC staff in the States and in China felt that it would be best to keep the CEO in the Yangtze River Delta region, instead of flying him to the North of China to interview one Chinese company and then to the interior of China to meet another. Travel time alone would have eaten up two-thirds of the CEO’s visit. Instead, SRC and client representatives worked to invite to Shanghai the managers of the Chinese companies with whom the Americans were negotiating.
One of the trickier re-organizations SRC had to orchestrate involved managing the expectations of government officials in the economic development zones in which SRC had already negotiated agendas. Many of the zones had expected the presidents of the American company to investigate them; instead, vice presidents would be visiting. The Zones had notified city governments, which were sending mayors and vice mayors to meet the original corporate delegation. Delicately, SRC had to explain to the Zones the delegation would still be meeting Zone representatives; however, the presidents would have to return to Shanghai to meet their boss and would be unable to come to the Zones on the dates that had been discussed.
SRC discussed the change of plan with Zone administrators in a delicate manner: Chinese take a great deal of pride in their ability and energy in hosting foreigners. Chinese government representatives would take offense if they felt they were not given the same opportunity as other Zones to host the most senior decision-makers in the organization. If they felt snubbed, the perceived wrong would also damage the relationships (guanxi) SRC had developed with the officials on behalf of the client.
Company vice presidents reported the Zone administrators were gracious and fun hosts during the Survey. The vice presidents appreciated that SRC had managed the expectations of the Chinese government officials, who were relaxed and informative.
Meanwhile, SRC hired a limousine to meet the CEO at the Shanghai Pudong airport when he arrived from Europe. SRC also arranged dinner for the CEO at one of Shanghai’s finest French restaurants to brief him on the progress of the negotiations and itinerary for the rest of the week.
The CEO attended ongoing negotiations in Shanghai between his presidents and potential Chinese joint venture partners. Chinese representatives flew into Shanghai from their home cities to meet the CEO. Dinner was relaxed and entertaining at a local Shanghai family restaurant that the executives enjoyed very much. Later in the week, the CEO and the presidents toured a Chinese factory in Ningbo. SRC arranged for the highest officers of one of the Economic Development Zones in Ningbo to greet the executives and to show them around the Zone. SRC worked with zone officials to arrange for the Vice Mayor of Ningbo to host a dinner in honor of the American guests.
Though divided in the last stages of planning, the Fortune 500’s mission to China was an unqualified success: the vice presidents that surveyed the Economic Development Zones of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces returned to the States with exactly the information and the “feel” they required to make a decision on where they would place their factory and the CEO was able to personally appraise potential Chinese joint venture partners and government officials to more effectively guide the company’s course into the China market.
Author Bio: William R. Dodson is Managing Director of Silk Road Communications, L.L.C., a market research and business development consultancy that positions companies for success in China and Greater Asia. He is the contributing editor on international business to American Management Association’s (AMA) MWorld, AMA’s Journal of Management. His Website is www.silkrc.com He can be reached at wdodson@silkrc.com or +1 (847)630-1271.
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