What have we learned?
China was a powerful country before industrialization and lost power after the western countries developed industrially and was very interesting to analyze the evolution and how the change in economic policy affected China’s development.
Regarding GDP, China has a current growth target of 5.5%, lower than in recent years, but more realistic given that it is no longer an emerging country but a developed one.
According to Mr. Perotti, time is a really important aspect when dealing with China businesses. It is not possible to close a favorable deal within one hour meeting even if both parties are ready. He gave us important advice on how to negotiate and showed our respect during the negotiation in order to successfully conclude the process. One important piece of advice was to always pay the bill first, helping to increase our business partner’s confidence. There used to be a 80/60 ratio where the products were very cheap, but China tries to move away from it. They are no longer the cheapest.
He also explained us the Bugaboo case, how they tried to source their hinge from a Chinese. TÜV and the Dutch TÜV certified the sample and placed a test order, everything was good but they used a different raw material that compromised the structural integrity of their baby carts. This explains how detailed and
Then we learned the Chinese language with Zongyan Chen on two occasions studying the various meaning. Thanks to the lectures, we were able to learn some terms used in negotiations and how to present ourselves and pose in front of Chinese culture. The lessons were really interesting thanks to the motivation of the teacher
There is also a new concept to learn from the Chinese culture in business which are good face, loose face, save face. It is a very interesting concept, which reminds us of gaining or losing respect but in a different way. For them it is something much more important and they do not show that gain or loss of respect to the one who causes it.
Activities and Visits
Our first activity was to visit the rijkmuseum and we liked many of the art pieces that were on exhibit, here are a couple of examples that we liked.
The next visit was to the multinational technology company Huawei, where we were given a very interesting talk about the company, how it works and some of their current projects. We also met a current employee who had done the recruitment program they showed us and in only three years he already had projects and people in his charge.
One of his tips on how to manage a Team during the project was to listen and communicate but above all be realistic. Very often expectations do not match and you have to be very realistic in knowing how to approach a project with the appropriate resources.
They also took us through a part of the company where they showed us different necessary devices for the implementation of 5G. And introducing us to new devices to safeguard electricity and store it in batteries to decrease leakage.
Here is a group picture of all of us outside Huawei company.
At the end of this day, we also had the opportunity to be outside the Ajax stadium, the Johan Cruijff Arena, just the day they were proclaimed champions of the Dutch league.
The last visit we had was a boat trip on the canals of Amsterdam. It was a very nice experience as the weather was very nice and we could see important buildings of the city.
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