WHAT DOES PATIENCE MEAN IN CHINESE BUSINESS ?

       Chinese negotiators seem to have no deadline to get things done, they take their time, ask many questions meticulously and clarify every detail, they look to establish a friendly long-term relationship before moving ahead to agreeing terms (Woo, Prud’homme, 1999). However, foreign negotiators should not show any sign of annoyance because of the length of the process, on the contrary, they should be patient.


     Expatriate managers declare that it is important to have a great deal of patience and refrain from becoming irritated when negotiating with the Chinese. Sometimes, the source of irritation for multinational companies is mainly due to the fact that on the one hand, even the Chinese counterparts are often very flexible and can solve issues rapidly (issues that would have taken much longer time to solve in the West), on the other hand, a very simple issue, from a Western perspective, could take ages to get solved.

      Occasionally, the Chinese want to give the appearance that something is in a terrible hurry and that matters, have to be dealt with quickly. This is mainly done to make their counterparts give concessions easily. Generally speaking, when it comes to deadlines, the Chinese are very flexible, they even are used sometimes as a tactic in negotiations. 

     According to Woo and Prud’homme, negotiating with the Chinese can be a very lengthy and time-consuming process, which explains why foreign customers/investors usually multiply the trips to China or their duration of stay in China is mostly prolonged. To the Chinese, deadlines are flexible and they are not supposed to be met strictly, because patience is a virtue.