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Author Archives: SBX
China’s Resource Imports Ebb, But Signs of Health Remain – China Real Time Report – WSJ
Lawyers Defend Hong Kong Rule of Law in Show of Unity Against Beijing – NYTimes.com
China final HSBC PMI at 48.1 in April
Doing business in China may sometimes mean to go with the flow. As #LaoTzu puts it:
老子，道德经。 Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching:
Stiff and unbending is the principle of death.
Gentle and yielding is the principle of life.
Thus an Army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken.
The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.
IMF: China’s Monetary Policy and Interest Rate Liberalization: Lessons from International Experiences
Fifth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Loot the burning house. 趁火打劫 (趁火打劫) – Chènhuǒdǎjié.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the Fifth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 趁火打劫(趁火打劫) – Chènhuǒdǎjié. 趁, Chèn: take advantage of. 火, huǒ: fire. 打, dǎ: fight. 劫, jié: rob. 打劫, dǎjié: plunder.
Meaning: A clever fighter wins with ease by exploiting the weakness of the enemy.
Business example: Be ready to act on your opponent weakness or inaction. In this example a large manufacturer and supplier of ball bearings had a long and close cooperation with a Global manufacturer of forklifts. This supplier started to have quality problems due to poor management that did not recognize weaknesses in some of its raw material.
Only the factory manager of that ball bearing supplier recognized the problem, but decided not to solve or mention it. Instead he told his uncle about these weaknesses who was already copying the manufacturing process. Together they seized the opportunity to offer superior bearings and start a successful relationship with the the large forklift customer. Take advantage of problems to plunder.
Fourth of #ThirtySixStratagems: Await the exhausted enemy. 以逸待劳(以逸待勞) – Yǐyìdàiláo.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the fourth of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 以逸待劳(以逸待勞) – Yǐyìdàiláo. 以, Yǐ: by, with. 逸, yì: relaxed. 待, dài: treat, deal with. 劳, láo: fatigue.
Meaning: Make sure to be well rested and relaxed when awaiting the hungry, tired and weakened opponent.
Business example: Choose a tactic that keeps your team relaxed, rested and well fed, but the opponent’s team exhausted, short in resources and disoriented. In business, a local supplier may give the visitors from afar a hard time, by not picking them up from the airport, choosing a noisy hotel or a meeting room without air-conditioning. Make it tough for them to keep focused on a long negotiation.
Key to use this strategy in business is be to predict the future battleground and prepare for conflict under these new conditions. Set up position and wait for the competitor to approach.
In combat it would mean to stay out of your attackers range and make them expend energy on useless actions.
#China: About 20% of China’s #economy is shrinking
Times are tough in #China, but the #economy will remain stable. The central #government will keep investing in key projects to keep people calm and the economy growing at 7%.
Third of #ThirtySixStratagems: Kill with a borrowed knife. 借刀杀人(借刀殺人) – Jièdāoshārén.
Mini strategy series @soerenbax: The #ThirtySixStratagems, a collection of ancient Chinese military thought and experience.
Characters of the third of Thirty-Six Stratagems: 借刀杀人(借刀殺人) – Jièdāoshārén. 借, Jiè: borrow. 刀, dāo: knife. 杀, shā: kill. 人, rén: people, person.
Meaning: Kill with a borrowed knife. One man’s loss is another man’s gain.
Business example: A factory may have the problem that the only reliable supplier for certain components has rather high prices and is a very tough negotiator. It seems impossible to lower the prices through negotiation.
In that case it is wise to add suppliers that are very keen to enter a business relationship with the factory. If this smaller supplier is then kept small and hungry for more orders, then he will start to use all the tricks in the book in order to gain the upper hand over the first supplier. This urge for more orders is even increased if the factory requires the new smaller supplier to invest into special machines and tools.
During talks with the factory, he may accuse the first supplier of fraud, make below cost price offers, spy on his operations etc. – just to get more orders.
In any case, that new supplier will be a great source of information and puts the factory back into control of the negotiation.