COMMUNICATION TIPS, VIDEOS ON CHINA, WORK IN CHINA

Why Cross-Border Leadership in China Requires Dual-Culture Management

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Editor’s note (2026):
This article was originally written in 2020. While the examples reflect that period, the leadership challenges around trust, speed, and cross-border alignment remain highly relevant. I’ve lightly updated it to reflect my current perspective.

Managing cross-border teams and projects can be difficult. Different languages and customs create daily challenges, and frustrations often appear where you least expect them. This kind of cultural friction is a natural part of adapting to any new environment, and with time and effort, things often improve.

However, terms like cultural friction are often relegated to purely personal experiences. The following article will discuss how culture influences organizational thinking and behavior, and how expatriate and foreign managers must adapt.

The management challenge becomes even more complex when working with large cultural gaps and being expected to balance HQ and local team needs while delivering business results.

Whether you are part of a team or leading a department or office, success depends on more than personal adjustment. It depends on how well you manage within a specific business culture, as well as how effectively an overseas HQ can provide support, where many norms and expectations are often left unspoken.

China is a country and market where these types of issues become unavoidable. Management is often more indirect, and context, relationships, and hierarchy play an important role in how work actually gets done.

Beyond internal dynamics, leaders must also understand local consumers, business partners, media, and government stakeholders. Many decisions leaders are expected to make are shaped by our prior experiences in our home markets, which form an internal map of what we believe works and what does not.

While these mental patterns are useful, they can also limit us and blind us to other possibilities when operating in new environments. But they can also be limiting. This can slowly undermine local trust and decision-making and, over time, lead to business failure.

This is where traditional cross-cultural thinking runs into setbacks. The Chinese market is not simply a culture; it is a complex system of doing business. It is also constantly changing with the breakneck development of a country, which is fragmented by region along different cultural and industrial lines.

What is Dual-Culture Management?

With this in mind, I want to introduce a concept I’ve discussed with students and professionals in Mainland China: Dual-Culture Management (双文化管理).

While it may sound similar to cross-cultural management, there are several important distinctions. First, the idea of Dual-Culture Management focuses on the ability to observe and respect multiple cultural systems at the same time, rather than expecting one to dominate the other.

In my work in China, I have often seen cross-cultural collaboration simplified into the culture with less power becoming subservient to the culture with more power.

This can materialize in the form of Chinese teams in Western companies being forced to adopt Western styles, or Western employees in Chinese companies being expected to conform completely to local norms. In both cases, the result is usually surface-level compliance rather than genuine alignment.

In addition to purely cultural ideas, there are also business practices and market realities. In China, we see traditional culture influencing how business is done, but we also see enormous impact from technological innovation, modern consumer preferences, as well as concentrated industrial hubs.

I began using the term “dual-culture” because bridging cultures effectively requires more than switching between styles. It requires the ability to hold multiple ways of thinking at once. Here, success is not only about meeting business objectives, but about building strong, sustainable, and trusted teams across markets.

To move toward this more balanced approach, there are several areas where I suggest leaders and managers consider making adjustments: communication style, business instincts, cultural sensitivity, and working speed.

Adjusting Your Management and Communication Style

Taking on a management role in a foreign business environment can be challenging. Differences in hierarchy, organizational structure, and workplace culture often shape how teams expect to be led.

For example, when overseas managers move to China, they may find that teams require more direct instruction. This can sometimes lead to misunderstandings stemming from norms in overseas markets. perceptions of micromanagement or the need for additional training around tasks that might be considered basic in other markets.

Communication itself can also be a challenge, especially when English is a second or third language for most of the team. In these situations, the need for clearer direction often exists alongside the expectation of more respectful and indirect communication, regardless of whether someone is a manager or an employee.

In China, there are also long-standing cultural concepts related to management and behavior, including ideas around face, relationship-building, and appropriate conduct. I’ve discussed some of these previously, including the concept of Suzhi, which touches on expectations around character, etiquette, and social behavior.

While every company is different, these factors help illustrate why management practices that work well elsewhere may need to be adapted in the Chinese context.

From my experience, most Chinese colleagues do not expect foreign managers to adapt perfectly. However, those who make the effort to adjust often see greater success in daily communication, team management, and relationship-building over time.

In the end, Chinese professionals and teams want to feel respected by their boss, organization, and even the overseas HQ. They just want to do it in their own, familiar way.

Adjusting Your Business Instincts

When Western companies establish operations in markets such as China, one of the biggest challenges for managers on the ground and leadership overseeing operations from abroad is how familiar business instincts can quietly steer decisions in the wrong direction.

If you want to hit your business targets, you need to understand local market realities. And the realities in China are fundamentally different, from how consumers buy to how companies operate and how the government views risk.

Senior leaders often rely heavily on their previous experience and an unconscious sense of how things “should work.” In China, these instincts can affect decisions across many areas, including people management, partnerships, media engagement, and interactions with government stakeholders.

A Chinese client told me, “we want to work with you because you understand how Huawei does things.” My Western boss told me, “the Huawei way is wrong.”

One common example is local media relations. In many Western markets, media engagement centers on relationships and expectations of editorial independence. In China, media dynamics are shaped by different commercial arrangements, government influence, and regulatory considerations. For overseas companies, this creates both operational challenges and potential risks if these differences are misunderstood.

Another example comes from my own experience. While advising a Western company planning to expand in China, my team presented insights into new retail models that were already working in the local market. The primary feedback from senior leadership was that these approaches did not fit their existing operating model.

This reluctance to consider alternative approaches is not unusual. However, in China, where domestic competitors understand the market deeply and move quickly, this type of mindset can make it very difficult to compete effectively.

Overall, continuing with “business as usual” in a new market is a common instinct. At best, it leads to poor preparation. At worst, it results in serious market mistakes. Leaders expanding into China need to be willing to recalibrate their instincts if they want to succeed alongside local competitors.

Adjusting Your Cultural Sensitivity

Every market contains cultural landmines, but in China, these can be amplified by the speed and scale of digital communication.

One well-known example was when Dolce & Gabbana faced widespread backlash for releasing advertising content in China that many consumers perceived as racist. The situation escalated quickly, leading to the cancellation of events and a widespread refusal by e-commerce platforms to carry the brand.

Another example comes from IKEA in Shanghai. Over time, some of its stores became popular gathering places for elderly residents. When the company attempted to change this practice by forcing older visitors to leave, the backlash on social media was swift and damaging.

These examples highlight how everyday operational decisions can take on very different meanings when viewed through a local cultural lens.

Foreign companies and senior managers must not only adjust how they think about consumers, but also build habits of including local managers and talent in decision-making processes. Doing so helps surface potential issues early and reduces the risk of costly mistakes.

Adjusting Your Operating Speed

Different cultures operate at different speeds. Many people are familiar with examples such as the so-called “Mañana Culture” in parts of Latin America, where work often moves at a slower pace.

China presents a much different challenge.

In the Chinese tech sector in particular, long working hours and intense workloads are common. Employees, especially engineers, are often expected to handle multiple projects simultaneously. Tight schedules, late meetings, and frequent travel are not unusual.

From my own experience working inside companies like Huawei, these conditions reflect the competitive pressure companies face in the Chinese domestic market. They also tie closely to incentive structures, where compensation and career advancement are strongly linked to performance and results.

Many Chinese employees are highly driven, both by personal ambition and by pride in seeing domestic companies compete successfully on the global stage. As a result, speed becomes deeply embedded in how organizations operate.

This “China Speed” phenomenon, which I often discuss on LinkedIn, is a combination of national-level planning, regional infrastructure hubs, and ingrained company behavior. And it can be difficult for overseas leaders and HQ teams to adapt to. Processes may feel unclear, structures informal, and expectations constantly shifting.

However, as can be seen from China’s massive technical advancements in areas like AI, robotics, new energy, and other sectors, China Speed is a huge advantage for Chinese companies, and a huge risk for overseas companies.

For overseas leaders operating in this environment, there is a clear challenge in learning to move faster to compete locally while maintaining alignment and trust with overseas HQ teams.

Closing Thoughts

In recent years, with the rise of domestic competitors, the Chinese market has become more difficult for overseas firms. Likewise, Chinese companies looking at overseas expansion are being met with rising geopolitical risks and consumer expectations.

Dual Culture Management can act as a helpful tool in reframing how we understand, interact with, and build relationships with stakeholders in different cultures, markets, and organizations.

Success does not come automatically or quickly. Frustration and discomfort are natural, especially early on. Progress requires the willingness to move forward while also accepting that other systems, values, and practices that differ from your own are not fundamentally wrong.

To learn more about the intricacies of navigating, communicating, and managing across China and overseas markets, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

If you’re interested in thoughtful perspectives on China, cross-border work, and how culture, incentives, and organizations shape real outcomes, you’re welcome to subscribe to China Culture Corner and receive future posts by email.

I also share related ideas and longer-form video commentary on LinkedIn and YouTube, and post updates across the channels linked above.

If you or your organization is navigating China execution or cross-border alignment challenges, I work with teams on an embedded and remote basis. Reach out directly: Sean@SageSightConsulting.com

BUSINESS IN CHINA, WORK IN CHINA

Hiring for China in 2026: A Reality-Based Checklist `

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As we move into 2026, China remains a difficult market for many overseas brands, and this trend looks set to continue in the new year.

On one hand, overseas and especially Western brands are coming face-to-face with a decline of their global brand capital. What once was an easy sell (global brands = savvy and trustworthy) is much harder as Chinese consumers become more discerning and demanding.

On the other hand, more Chinese competitors are entering the market, not simply offering high-quality products at an affordable price. They are also much closer to Chinese consumer mindsets and trends, and can pivot faster, and more effectively in some cases, than overseas competitors.

It’s also worth noting that in response to these pressures, many overseas firms that largely made the switch from expatriate placements to local managers and leaders have not always seen this type of direct hiring localization strategy bear fruit.

I do not subscribe to the arguments in certain overseas business circles that the Chinese market is simply “too hard“ and there’s no way to win. I believe there are indeed different approaches to success, but I feel that in 2026, the answer is global talent. By global talent, I mean people who can operate inside China’s pace and realities while still aligning with overseas HQ expectations.

Global talent (foreign or Chinese), as introduced in the short video below, focuses on talent, managers, and leaders who can live and operate in both Chinese and overseas business and social contexts. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hire locals in China (you definitely should), but too many problems result from insisting on a China-only or HQ-only approach.

Personal Note: I am not a recruiter. These insights come from my many years of working in China, seeing how cultural misunderstadnings impact businesss outcomes and how the right hiring choices are vital to aligning overseas HQ expectations and China market realities.

The checklist below reflects global talent as a third hiring path for overseas HQs looking to hire talent and consultants in China in 2026 and beyond. Some items on the checklist focus more on what to consider before hiring foreign nationals, but many can also be applied to Chinese nationals, too.

After all, nationality isn’t a good hiring strategy. When recruiting key leaders and bridge-builders to connect with the China market, it shouldn’t matter where they’re from. Actual skills, experience, and cross-cultural capabilities are what really make the difference.

Talent That is Already In-Country

First and foremost, unless it can’t be avoided, it’s always best to hire someone who is already based in China, for several reasons.

The most practical reason is due to how long the visa and onboarding process can take. Add that to the longer HQ hiring process, closing out current roles, and relocation, and your local competitors could have easily launched a new product (or more) before you got your new leader on the ground in China.

This is something I’ve seen multiple times throughout my own career when acting as a hiring manager at Chinese tech firms. In an ideal scenario, I might consider bringing in a strong foreign candidate, even one with a background working in China. However, I usually declined overseas hires due to how long it would take and the potential negative impact on ongoing projects.

Another related factor is that someone based in and working in China is much more likely to be in tune with Chinese business culture and society. Aside from language fluency and cultural knowledge, China changes so quickly that being away for a few years can easily put one at a disadvantage.

Talent That Speaks Chinese (Mandarin)

Language is a key requirement I often raise for global talent that will bridge the gap between China and global HQs. While it’s natural to assume that local Chinese talent should be able to communicate in English or the HQ language, it’s just as important for foreign hires and consultants in China to possess solid skills in Chinese.

Think of a game of telephone, where the message gets more garbled and more distorted the more middlemen it goes through. And in China, it’s not just about communication meaning drift, it’s also about how stakeholders protect their own interests.

Local suppliers and partners speak indirectly, or even say yes when no is perceived as inconvenient. Translators and interpreters soften their meaning to avoid perceived insults and protect harmony. Local employees might protect their own interests or only tell their boss or the HQ what they think they want to hear. This muddies the water and prevents the overseas HQ from forming a clear picture and making informed decisions.

This is not about assigning blame, but rather helping overseas HQs and leaders understand the practical realities of language and translation in the China market. By ensuring your bridge between the HQ and China not only speaks Chinese fluently but is also willing to give you the plain truth/translation, you can avoid many more troubles down the road.

Talent That Has Worked Inside Chinese Companies

One of the most overlooked advantages for foreign companies in China is hiring talent (especially foreign talent) that has worked inside Chinese companies.

Foreign companies might initially think it strange to hear that they might want to work with someone who has worked inside Chinese companies. After all, they aren’t Chinese. Shouldn’t they hire someone with experience in foreign companies in China? But this isn’t about familiarity or ideology, it’s about ensuring your key hires understand China’s operating logic.

For foreign businesses in China, most, if not all, of the key competitors will be Chinese. It’s useful to have someone with insight on how competitors operate, which areas can be improved, and who can communicate this clearly to the overseas HQ.

Foreign HQs have no issues operating like a foreign business, but they could very well have potential issues operating like a Chinese one in the domestic China market. Talent with past experience in Chinese competitors can bring many benefits and advantages to foreign firms in China, assuming they are willing and able to make the adjustment to working in a foreign organization and reporting to an overseas HQ.

Talent That Understands Chinese Business Culture

A deeper understanding of Chinese business culture is necessary to manage operations between local Chinese teams and overseas HQs. And they take years to learn and can’t simply be picked up on the job.

Things like making decisions with incomplete information, comfort with ambiguity and rapid pivots, and understanding when rules are flexible versus non-negotiable.

First of all, the speed the Chinese market operates is no joke. Chinese companies simply move faster, with planning cycles measured in days or weeks, not quarters. Companies change direction quickly without formal processes, and teams expect managers to decide, not deliberate. Overseas managers who are not familiar with this operating speed often default to overseas control mechanisms like approval gates, reporting layers, or alignment meetings. But this just slows teams down and erodes local trust.

Second, understanding how to manage local Chinese teams is vital. In many Chinese teams, authority comes from clarity and decisiveness, not from building a consensus. Teams expect direction, not facilitation. Chinese team members rarely give direct feedback, but their dissatisfaction will still lead to negative business results. Overseas managers who don’t understand these intricacies may see their Chinese team members’ work quality drop, or see them leave for Chinese competitors that offer better cultural alignment, as well as better compensation.

Lastly, understanding how to manage relationships with local suppliers and partners is vital. Global talent in China is needed that can help the overseas HQ to prioritize long-term cooperation over transactional contracts, accept frequent renegotiation as conditions change, and undertake relationship management outside of formal meetings.

Talent That Has Experience Outside Expat Centers (e.g., Shanghai)

On LinkedIn and in WeChat groups, I see constant updates from foreigners moving to Shanghai and looking for work there. From one viewpoint, Shanghai is a great opportunity for foreign talent. But the point I would like to raise here is that talent, especially foreign talent that has only worked in Shanghai and other top-tier cities, presents a real risk to foreign companies in the China market – it’s simply too safe.

In China, a common phrase is to “eat bitterness” (吃苦; chī kǔ), which refers to one’s ability to bear hardships. To succeed in China, and to help foreign companies succeed, talent and leaders need to be able to move fast, get things done, and deal with enormous pressures. And it’s a real possibility that the Shanghai and other first-tier city environments might not provide the necessary foundation.

Shanghai is the only city in China where English can come close to functioning as a real working language; the city is much more international, and there is much more legacy expat infrastructure. This means there is much less need or incentive for foreign talent to adapt to the realities that rule the rest of China.

For foreign companies struggling and/or looking to improve in the China market, foreign (or any) talent with Shanghai-only experience should be a red flag, especially if they can’t check off other important items on this list. The China market is difficult, and foreign companies in China need someone who can rise to the challenge.

Talent That Will Challenge Your Assumptions

Lastly, one thing that foreign HQs really need is someone who will not simply make them feel comfortable, will avoid conflicts, and simply focus on getting their paychecks during their tenure.

And to be honest, I’ve seen this happen with both foreign and Chinese talent and leaders. If foreign HQs want to understand why their businesses are not doing better in the Chinese market, they should focus on global talent and leaders who will call out issues and work to make improvements.

But at the same time, even the best talent and leaders will find it hard to drive change if overseas HQs do not provide the required support or pursue needed changes on their own end. After all, in China you need to move fast, and moving fast often requires the overseas HQ to move faster too.

Closing Thoughts

Overseas brands are now facing challenges in China that in some ways mirror those encountered by Chinese companies expanding overseas. Both are discovering that the same old approach to talent isn’t working.

First, both tried sending their own people to the new market or managing things from their HQ. Then, after a more local approach was tried, it was found in many cases to create too large a disconnect between HQ expectations and local execution.

This article aims to present a new path, framed in terms of mutual understanding, support, and alignment. The above checklist is in no way meant to substitute for professional and functional qualifications, nor personal fit for specific leadership roles.

That being said, in light of the complexities of connecting and aligning teams in China and overseas HQs, especially in an area of ever-increasing competitiveness from domestic Chinese companies, the old way is no longer working.

Companies that hope to survive and thrive in the increasingly competitive China market need a new approach to talent – not expat talent, not local talent, but global talent – to connect them to China.

If you’re interested in thoughtful perspectives on China, cross-border work, and how culture, incentives, and organizations shape real outcomes, you’re welcome to subscribe to China Culture Corner and receive future posts by email.

I also share related ideas and longer-form video commentary on LinkedIn and YouTube, and post updates across the channels linked above.

If you or your organization is navigating China execution or cross-border alignment challenges, I work with teams on an embedded and remote basis. Reach out directly: Sean@SageSightConsulting.com

TECH IN CHINA, VIDEOS ON CHINA

Misinformation on Tiktok: The Business of Making You Afraid

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These days it seems as if there are not many topics more divisive than that of China. The country of 1.4 billion people, ruled by the Communist Party of China (CPC) since 1949, has grown by leaps and bounds since opening up in 1978, lifting millions of people out of poverty and transforming the country into a global power rivaling the United States and Europe. 

This transformation has also given rise to the view that China now represents a significant threat militarily, politically, and economically, and that China must be “contained”, an effort that has been spearheaded by the United States and its allies.

One result of this policy and the adversarial mentality that it feeds is that in addition to targeting the Chinese government, officials, and state-owned companies, Western governments and organizations have also begun targeting Chinese companies, namely those that are successfully competing against Western rivals in global markets.

Victims of this approach have included Huawei, DJI, and more recently TikTok, and while there is definitely room for Chinese companies to improve their overseas operations, oversight, and compliance with local laws and regulations, more often than not one can observe a climate of fear-mongering, innuendoes, the cherry-picking of data, and a lack of proof of wrongdoing.

To demonstrate how Western organizations and individuals use misinformation on China and Chinese companies to fuel their own narrative, this piece will focus on recent accusations against TikTok by Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology.  

The Case Against TikTok by Tristan Harris

In late 2022, Tristan Harris was interviewed by 60 Minutes, during which he discussed how social media has hijacked users’ attention and rewards users for being more divisive. Harris discussed a number of social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. However, Harris also singled TikTok out for something that turned out to be demonstratively false.

What may not be clear to readers in the West is that China regulates certain industries much more stringently than other countries, including social media. Chinese censors are more strict on the type of content allowed on social media platforms in China, and in recent years have pushed Chinese social platforms to introduce limits to reduce user addiction.

These limits have included 40-minute daily time limits for users under 14, mandatory pauses in videos to reduce addiction, and mandatory educational content. This has led Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to look rather dissimilar from the approach used by TikTok in overseas markets.

However, Tristan Harris didn’t use this information to discuss the pros and cons of more government regulations for social media platforms. Instead, as I discuss in my most recent YouTube vlog, he went on to claim that it was the choice of TikTok alone to addict overseas users with “opium” while feeding “spinach” to domestic users.

Harris’ arguments against TikTok in his interview with 60 Minutes thus are either an intentional fabrication or the result of incredibly sloppy research, as the facts about China’s regulation of technology and social media can be found easily via a quick Google search. And it’s also telling that the scary (and false) story Harris chose to tell was about a Chinese company. 

In this post, @SeanUM_China analyzes the claim that #TikTok is exclusively shipping “opium”, or addictive content, to overseas users and how misinformation on #China can be used to manipulate you.

Harris‘ cherry-picking and twisting of the facts to support his narrative feels rather transparent as has previously voiced support for greater government regulation of social media, which is exactly what the CPC forced Douyin and other platforms to do in China. However, when faced with an example of strong government regulation of social media, he instead leveled false allegations against a Chinese company, instead of opening advocating an approach used by the CPC, which many overseas would likely object to on general principle. 

A final note on Harris’ hypocritical and dishonest take concerns his use of the term “opium” when referring to addictive content to criticize a Chinese company for supposed wrongdoing in their overseas business practices.

Opium use has long been a negative stereotype of Chinese and Asian people, all the more hurtful due to the fact that Opium use in China was spearheaded by Britain’s East India Company, later leading to two Opium Wars that forced China to allow the opium trade, open additional ports to foreign traders and relinquish control of Hong Kong to the British government. In effect, the opium trade was a tool of the aggressive imperialism and colonization that still haunts China’s memory to this day.

British forces attack China during the first Opium War.

However, Harris either didn’t know this or didn’t care – All that mattered was selling his anti-social media message, no matter what facts he got wrong about TikTok and what negative stereotypes he perpetuated about China. And as we’ve seen with past fear-mongering campaigns against China, such as that surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19, the result is not only fear and mistrust, but violence against regular people of Asian (not just Chinese) descent.

The Business of Fear and protecting Yourself from Misinformation on China

However, Harris was right on the money when he discussed how the news and social media thrive and grow by sharing content that enrages users, and as we have seen in recent years, enraging content doesn’t have to be true. The dangers of online rumors and fake news, as well as how they are used to manipulate opinions are discussed in the book “Trust Me I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator” by Ryan Holiday, a useful resource to those looking to better understand how misinformation and rumors thrive.

And because China, as well as most things related to China, are such divisive and scary topics, bloggers, influencers, and news organizations realize that negative news on China sells better and generates a much greater number of views. This is a trend that has sadly continued to dominate discourse on China, both online and offline something we can see more and more in daily discourse, online and off. In extreme cases, videos have even been published with negative color filters depicting China for overseas audiences.

This tendency of negative stories to spread have allowed many so-called experts and social media personalities to literally make their careers through criticizing China, often without understanding the issues, culture, or language. A classic example of this approach is the Trump era advisor Peter Navarro, who turned out to have invented an China expert named Ron Vara, which he used as a source to criticize China.

And what viewers and readers need to understand about this approach, is that they are the product – whoever creates the news on China (as well as other topics), be it true or false, has a vested interest in influencing and enraging viewers to drive views and engagement. This appears to be exactly what Tristan Harris did with TikTok – twisting and misrepresenting the facts to make a “scary” Chinese company sound worse than it actually was (in this instance).

For consumers, the only real defense against this type of intentional misinformation is by taking individual responsibility for one’s news and social media consumption. I’ve mentioned in the past that checking news stories across multiple outlets is key, as well as avoiding more extreme news sources on both the left and the right.

It’s also advisable to read controversial stories before sharing them, not only to get all the facts but because it has become common in the media for titles to be changed so that they are more enraging and not fully representing the articles they precede.

A Final Note on the Real Threat of Chinese Companies

In the end, a key point is that Chinese companies should only be criticized or condemned for actual wrongdoings, not transparent attempts at scapegoating or creating fear.

In this piece and on my YouTube vlog, I’ve demonstrated that Harris’ claims about TikTok and Douyin are demonstratively false. However, it is perfectly legitimate to criticize the plans of TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to monitor the physical locations of US persons. There’s still no evidence of any actual CPC involvement, just that of an incredibly bad business decision that further hurts the company’s image. 

This also reflects my own experience with Chinese companies when it comes to business practices in overseas markets – In so far as I have personally observed over 12 years of experience, bad practices, when they occur, essentially have no link to the Chinese government. Sometimes companies make honest mistakes through ignorance, while some try to skate around the rules to move faster.

This brings us to the current trend towards completely blocking and banning Chinese companies from Western markets, as opposed to requiring greater regulation and oversight, and punishing those who do not comply. This approach, has already affected Huawei in the USA and may soon impact TikTok as well. 

Banning competitors from China is a short-term measure that removes choices from consumers.

This is problematic for several reasons. On one hand, banning companies because of the risk of some shadowy connection to the CPC, that may or may not exist now or in the future creates a climate of fear that can be used to manipulate people’s choices. It also removes choices from consumers and prevents the greater benefit that would result from greater competition involving both domestic and international companies.

For example, despite Harris’ twisting of the facts concerning TikTok, he did make the case for why greater regulation of social media platforms is important, not just for consumers but the national discourse as well. Banning TikTok would allow Western social media platforms to continue with business as usual, while greater regulation would force all social companies operating in the USA to get a better handle on manipulative content.

Huawei is another example. On one hand, rural carriers in the USA are suffering after previously relying on high-quality and low-priced Huawei equipment, which has how been effectively banned. On the other hand, Huawei was also previously blocked from cooperating with local carriers to sell its smartphones in the domestic US market after US politicians applied pressure on AT&T.

In closing, based on the above examples, the real threat that many Chinese companies pose, based on my own experience, is that they are providing competitive alternatives to those traditionally offered by domestic companies (Samsung an exception with smartphones), in both quality, popularity, and in some cases price.

Therefore, my suggestions is that the next time you read about the “threat” posed by a Chinese company, consider carefully whether they are actually a threat to you or merely a competative threat to a local business. Banning them removes the threat of competition, while allowing them to compete under strict regulations can improve an entire industry and force local competitors to improve, which benefits all.

If you’re interested in learning more about China, Chinese culture, and business in China, please feel free to subscribe to the China Culture Corner to have future posts sent directly to your inbox. You can also follow and interact with me on social media or send me a message on Twitter.

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WORK IN CHINA

China’s Overtime Culture: The Real Story on Alibaba’s 996 and Other Working Styles

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In the last year, Alibaba’s 996 culture has been quite the hot topic, perhaps because of how specific the overtime guidelines were, requiring employees to work from 9am to 9pm, six days a week. However, in many respects, these types of overtime are nothing new in China, and have in fact been in practice for many years. I first experienced this over seven years ago, when I first moved to Shenzhen to work in the Chinese tech sector.

I still remember the day, one balmy afternoon in April of 2014, when I crossed the border from Hong Kong into Shenzhen, and began my trip to the Huawei campus where I would work and grow for the next 4+ years. Huawei, then one of China’s more successful tech companies overseas, is a classic example of an environment where overtime could and did thrive, full of ambitious and driven employees looking to build something bigger and better.

However, if one truly wants to understand overtime culture, or really anything about China, it’s vital to look at it from different perspectives and understand how it affects different types of people. And throughout my more than ten years in China, I’ve had the somewhat unique experience of working both for smaller companies and factories in addition to towering multinationals with employees in the tens of thousands.

“The boss says that the good and loyal employee is one who stays till at least 9:00pm…”

Office worker, furniture manufacturer, Jiaxing China

So while I would never claim to understand everything about China’s overtime culture, I feel that at this point I understand a good bit, certainly that’s it’s more complicated than Alibaba’s 996. With this in mind, in the below video, I talk a little more in detail about the types of overtime in China and the true value of the practice.

As I discussed to some extent in the video, trying to conclude that overtime is either good or bad is far too simplistic. Instead, I’d suggest that it is better understood to be a tool that can be used by companies, managers, and employees. While overtime work can indeed help companies grow faster and achieve greater (though not always better) results, it is also a double-edged sword, with as much capacity to hurt as to help.

We often hear stories about inexperienced managers who think that delegating mandatory overtime work is a magic bullet to solve their problems, or that employees staying late is an important indicator of loyalty to the company. But continuous overtime degrades performance and efficiency, and potentially employee morale as well. Knowing when to use a tool and when not to is an important part of being a professional in today’s fast-paced world.

In the end, no matter the positives and negatives of China’s overtime working culture, it is and will continue to be a part of the local work culture. Those who aim to work in China or with Chinese companies would be well-advised to understand the potentially more strenuous work environments they will be becoming a part of. For everyone else, I would simply suggest you take a fuller view of what overtime actually is, not just how it can lead to companies’ and teams’ failures, but also how it can help them grow and succeed.

If you’re interested in learning more about China, Chinese culture, and business in China, please feel free to subscribe to the China Culture Corner to have future posts sent directly to your inbox. You can also follow and interact with me on social media or send me a message on Twitter.

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