Guangxi

The word ‘guangxi’ literally means interpersonal connections or networking in Chinese terms. It is well known that one of the most important requisite one must have when trying to strike successful business deals and joint ventures with China business partners and customers is establishing good ‘Guangxi’. Earlier Singaporean, Europeans and Americans learn the hard way when they tried to penetrate into the China markets. Early foreign companies thought they are good to go strictly by the books when dealing with Chinese business counterparts. Some the foreign businessmen think that ‘Guangxi’ practice is a form of corruption. Is ‘Guangxi’ a form of corruption? My personal thought is that we can’t escape from dealing with ‘Guangxi’ or networking in our everyday working life.

Consider the fact that each year thousands if not millions of students graduated from colleges and universities each year. But how do they differentiate themselves? Many of the graduates have hundreds if not thousands of classmates who are vying for the same jobs with the exact same knowledge. In my over 15 years of working experience, I am bold to say that 90% of the time, it is not what you knows or how much you knows about that lands you successfully on the job. Rather it is whom you know and who knows you that make the big differences in terms of landing that dream job of yours. It just our human nature to prefer to interact with those we know and to get something in return for our service render to others. It is thus not surprising that network marketing, shuns by many as illegal business practice has gain momentum and is regarded by business experts as the 21st century business model.