t it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch man

In China, the word guanxi is in the top ten vocabulary list of all successful businesses. Great Chinese businesses and business(wo)men just cannot survive and thrive without developing excellent guanxi with organizations of authority, such as the state-owned banks. But to a deeper extent, guanxi penetrates all manners of Chinese society. The school that you're going to has connections to high government officials, the club owner gets his loan from a friend that works at the Bank of Communication, parents has guanxi with a teacher (their intermediary) and asks her to ask the principle of a prestigiouis high school out for dinner, and so on and so forth. Nonetheless, since China began to open up in the late 1970s, understanding how to apply guanxi has been just as important, if not more, as getting accepted into college. You can do many kinds of business in China without a college degree, but having a college degree doesn't mean you'll be able to find employment.

Sometimes, however, even the Chinese have a tough time of handling the intricacies of guanxi. Like doing business, developing guanxi with others cannot be all honest and straight forward, In addition, there is the added pressure of developing a better guanxi with their target than the guy next to you, who is also trying to win your target over. My head is beginning to spin....let's put it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch mana

e school that you're going to has connections to high government officials, the club owner gets his loan from a friend that works at the Bank of Communication, parents has guanxi with a teacher (their intermediary) and asks her to ask the principle of a prestigiouis high school out for dinner, and so on and so forth. Nonetheless, since China began to open up in the late 1970s, understanding how to apply guanxi has been just as important, if not more, as getting accepted into college. You can do many kinds of business in China without a college degree, but having a college degree doesn't mean you'll be able to find employment.

Sometimes, however, even the Chinese have a tough time of handling the intricacies of guanxi. Like doing business, developing guanxi with others cannot be all honest and straight forward, In addition, there is the added pressure of developing a better guanxi with their target than the guy next to you, who is also trying to win your target over. My head is beginning to spin....let's put it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch man

a began to open up in the late 1970s, understanding how to apply guanxi has been just as important, if not more, as getting accepted into college. You can do many kinds of business in China without a college degree, but having a college degree doesn't mean you'll be able to find employment.

Sometimes, however, even the Chinese have a tough time of handling the intricacies of guanxi. Like doing business, developing guanxi with others cannot be all honest and straight forward, In addition, there is the added pressure of developing a better guanxi with their target than the guy next to you, who is also trying to win your target over. My head is beginning to spin....let's put it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch man

ough time of handling the intricacies of guanxi. Like doing business, developing guanxi with others cannot be all honest and straight forward, In addition, there is the added pressure of developing a better guanxi with their target than the guy next to you, who is also trying to win your target over. My head is beginning to spin....let's put it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch man

t it this way...

Sample Case of Guanxi's Complexity

Mr. Chen owns a small manufacturing plant makng leather belts and he's looking to expand his business by borrowing money from Mr. Huang, the branch manager, of the only bank in town. But he knows that Mrs. Zhang, one of his biggest customer, is on bad terms with this branch manager, and Mr. Chen is afraid of losing business from Mrs. Zhang if she finds out about his relationship with Mr. Huang. If he doesn't handle this situation well, his guanxi with Mrs. Zhang or Mr. Huang can turn sour, or even worse, both of them will take their business elsewhere and Mr. Chen will be in deeper trouble. So what can Mr. Chen do to get his loan and still keep Mrs. Zhang happy?

A.) Hire Parties to Mediate the Situation

One party speaks on Mr. Chen's behalf to Mr. Huang. The second party also speaks on Mr. Chen's behalf, but to Mrs. Zhang.

B.) Personal Diplomacy

Mr. Chen asks Mr. Huang and Mrs. Zhang separately on why their relationship is so poorly (This allows both party to save "face" in case something goes wrong). He offeres his help in resolving the conflict to both sides and highlight the benefits that both side can accomplish with good relations.

or more drastically (and dangerously)

In the presence of Mr. Huang, a strategy can be employed where Mr. Chen offers criticizes Mrs. Zhang's behavior, while at the same time, he offers support to the branch manager and praise the branch manager for being so forgiving of others. This sort of forces Mr. Huang to live up to compliment that Mr. Chen so generously offered. As for Mr. Chen's case, careful diplomacy within the same line can be done by Mr. Chen