If you expect Koreans to buy your products, sell you their products at cheaper prices, or fear your presence by continually insisting on the fact that you graduated from an elite school and that you worked hard to become one of the leading employees at your company, you may be disappointed.
Korean businessmen expect foreigners to send them all the information regarding their company and past achievements beforehand, and such topics will not come up during conversations or business negotiations.
In fact, the third party which introduced the two businessmen may remind your Korean counterpart that you graduated from an elite school or of any significant personal or career achievement that you had, just so that the third party remind the Korean businessman that he has introduced him to a person that he can trust.
Third parties are very important to start a negotiation. Koreans refuse to negotiate with anyone who has not been introduced by a third party. It is a question of trust.
The purpose of meetings is then to clarify the relationship between the foreigner and the Korean. Koreans will want to know how much they can trust their foreign counterparts.
Trust includes how the foreigner behaves, as Koreans will trust modest people who respect them and will not trust anyone who acts arrogantly. They want to deal with people who can converse lightly and who are not afraid to expose aspects of their private life. "Ducking" a question regarding one's private life is often interpreted by Koreans as a sign that one has something bad to hide, as their level of trust will diminish.
Questions regarding private life include those on children, marital status, city of origin, country parents are from, religion, how you met your wife, where you live, what your college major was, and perhaps what your parent's occupation was, whether you completed your military service, what rank you achieved in the military service and your dating history, what your name means, your name's origin etc. However, Koreans usually do not want to know how well you performed in college, how prestigious your college or anything that may put them in an inferior position.
Note that Koreans often consider that your parents' citizenship is more important than your actual citizenship, and if your parents are from different countries, your father's country is more important, though they will not use this information against you. Your religion will not be a sign of superiority or inferiority as all religions are regarded equally in Korea, and religion is not synonymous with citizenship in Korea. Also note that being an atheist is an acceptable form of religion that Koreans respect. Therefore, if one is raised in a religion but does not practice, one may answer he is atheist, or otherwise, Koreans may ask what church you attend and who the pastor is.
Hobbies constitute an important part of the conversation as Korean businessmen will want to know what you like to do in your free time so that they can practice such activities with you. However, Koreans do not ask how one actually performs at a hobby or sport, and performing poorly is completely acceptable as long as one enjoys the activity.
Koreans want to know as much about their foreign counterpart as they possibly can so that both can be placed on an equal level of friendship rather than hostility during negotiations. Note that Koreans prefer short answers to long answers, as they want to get the essential information out of the conversation, which longer answers often include opinions, judgments or comments which may place Korean businessmen in an inferior position or offend them.
Finally, Korean businessmen will try everything to avoid getting offended during negotiations, including saying what the foreign businessman wants to hear. Foreign businessmen often leave the negotiation satisfied, but then, to their surprise, find out that their Korean counterpart wants to cancel the deal so that it can be renegotiated.
By "saying what the foreigner wants to hear" (which also applies to Korean businessmen), I mean that Koreans will make lots of promises, including those of putting clauses in the contract which are very favorable to the foreign negotiator. By having a second negotiation, foreign negotiators will often understand that the company does not support such promises and that a more realistic deal needs to be reached.
Showing posts with label Talking business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Talking business. Show all posts
Doing business with Koreans - selling things to Koreans
In recent years a lot of foreign companies have made successful business deals with Koreans and their products are selling very well. There are some social rules when it comes selling foreign products to Koreans.
Koreans only buy products from people they can trust. Korean businessmen give as much importance to the products foreigners try to sell as to the person who is selling them.
While in Western countries selling products involves convincing the customer about the quality of the product and company who is selling the product, Koreans need to feel secure with the person they are buying the product from. They tend to be highly suspicious of deals and try to make sure that they are dealing with someone who will intervene in their favor in case something goes wrong with the deal.
This means that Koreans want to spend a significant amount of time having sincere conversations with their foreign counterparts. They don't want their counterparts to convince them that they graduated from prestigious schools and worked hard to achieve high positions at their company. They want their counterparts to show them that foreign businessmen want to be good friends and want to help them.
Therefore, a large part of the negotiation involves casual conversation and activities. Golf and tennis are common activities, but Korean businessmen want to drink alcohol with their foreign counterparts. They will often take foreign businessmen to danranjujeoms, which are business bars where hostesses join the conversation and serve drinks to customers.
In forcing foreign businessmen to engage in such behavior, Korean businessmen want to make sure that their counterparts behaved comfortably but unethically. They want to get to know their counterparts on the deepest personal level, and get their foreign counterparts to say things and do things that show their real personality. Korean businessmen tend not to judge their counterparts but want to make sure that they have evidence that they can turn against their foreign counterpart in case there is something wrong with the product they sold them, or in case there is a problem with the deal.
Korean businessmen tend to consider contracts as secondary, as they tend to view the spoken agreements they had with their foreign counterparts more important. They expect their foreign counterparts to be very flexible when they negotiate deals. Just as when they sell products, Korean businessmen tend to include beautiful women and handsome Western men during the negotiation who serve as "interpreters" but whose real role is to serve as people who "soften" the negotiation and prevent foreign negotiators from being too aggressive.
Koreans only buy products from people they can trust. Korean businessmen give as much importance to the products foreigners try to sell as to the person who is selling them.
While in Western countries selling products involves convincing the customer about the quality of the product and company who is selling the product, Koreans need to feel secure with the person they are buying the product from. They tend to be highly suspicious of deals and try to make sure that they are dealing with someone who will intervene in their favor in case something goes wrong with the deal.
This means that Koreans want to spend a significant amount of time having sincere conversations with their foreign counterparts. They don't want their counterparts to convince them that they graduated from prestigious schools and worked hard to achieve high positions at their company. They want their counterparts to show them that foreign businessmen want to be good friends and want to help them.
Therefore, a large part of the negotiation involves casual conversation and activities. Golf and tennis are common activities, but Korean businessmen want to drink alcohol with their foreign counterparts. They will often take foreign businessmen to danranjujeoms, which are business bars where hostesses join the conversation and serve drinks to customers.
In forcing foreign businessmen to engage in such behavior, Korean businessmen want to make sure that their counterparts behaved comfortably but unethically. They want to get to know their counterparts on the deepest personal level, and get their foreign counterparts to say things and do things that show their real personality. Korean businessmen tend not to judge their counterparts but want to make sure that they have evidence that they can turn against their foreign counterpart in case there is something wrong with the product they sold them, or in case there is a problem with the deal.
Korean businessmen tend to consider contracts as secondary, as they tend to view the spoken agreements they had with their foreign counterparts more important. They expect their foreign counterparts to be very flexible when they negotiate deals. Just as when they sell products, Korean businessmen tend to include beautiful women and handsome Western men during the negotiation who serve as "interpreters" but whose real role is to serve as people who "soften" the negotiation and prevent foreign negotiators from being too aggressive.
Doing business with Koreans - when Koreans sell to foreigners
Korea is an industrialized economy and is export based, and Koreans have years of experience selling local products to foreigners.
Korean products can be found in most countries and Koreans have developed sophisticated ways to sell products effectively.
When foreigners come to Korea to buy Korean products, Korean businessmen will make sure that they have fun during their stay in Korea. Korean businessmen will hire young beautiful single Korean women and young handsome Western men to take care of the foreigner. They will make sure that they are in permanent contact and that the foreigner may turn to those Korean women and Western men whenever any information is needed or when they need company.
Korean businessmen will send those young Korean women and Western men with the foreigner on tours to visit the country. Visits will include hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter, visiting temples, and eating a mixture of Western food, Asian food and the kind of Korean food foreigners tend to enjoy (bulgogi or mul nengmyeon). Korean businessmen will assure the foreigner that the food and recreation is the only available to the upper class and will sometimes even provide information on how much the tour cost, which is not considered rude in Korean culture. In some cases, some Korean businessmen will give foreign businessmen money to go gambling or even to go see prostitutes.
All this is part of what anthropologists call the "gift theory": when someone receives a gift, he will feel like he has to return it in some way, either by buying great quantities of Korean products at relatively expensive prices or in any other way he can pay him back.
During negotiations, Koreans make sure that the foreigner feels comfortable communicating. Even when the Korean businessman does speak English or any other foreign language, he will provide an interpreter, usually a young beautiful Korean woman who actually speaks less English than he does. The interpreter plays the role of moderating the negotiation: businessmen tend to be softer when beautiful women are around and tend not to offend men in front of women.
During the first meeting, business is never discussed. The Korean businessman tries to establish a relationship with the foreign businessman, usually at an expensive restaurant where heavy drinking is involved. They will discuss family, educational background and hobbies, but never things related to success, money, company, politics, the economy or any other serious topic.
Negotiations are then held in the second meeting, usually with a team including a group of managers and interpreters. Korean businessmen will tend to offer ridiculously high prices for their products, and with the presence of female interpreters and other businessmen foreign businessmen will tend to refrain from being aggressive. Foreign businessmen will softly convince their Korean counterpart to lower the price. There is a myth that Korean businessmen never say "no", but they do when their foreign counterpart offers a low price.
If the Korean businessman is dissatisfied with the deal, he will tend to give a very soft handshake or bow, barely looking at his foreign counterpart. He will then inform his foreign counterpart through a third party, usually a woman, that due to an unnamed reason, the deal has been canceled. That will force the foreign businessman to come back offering a higher price, which will usually seal the deal.
Korean products can be found in most countries and Koreans have developed sophisticated ways to sell products effectively.
When foreigners come to Korea to buy Korean products, Korean businessmen will make sure that they have fun during their stay in Korea. Korean businessmen will hire young beautiful single Korean women and young handsome Western men to take care of the foreigner. They will make sure that they are in permanent contact and that the foreigner may turn to those Korean women and Western men whenever any information is needed or when they need company.
Korean businessmen will send those young Korean women and Western men with the foreigner on tours to visit the country. Visits will include hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter, visiting temples, and eating a mixture of Western food, Asian food and the kind of Korean food foreigners tend to enjoy (bulgogi or mul nengmyeon). Korean businessmen will assure the foreigner that the food and recreation is the only available to the upper class and will sometimes even provide information on how much the tour cost, which is not considered rude in Korean culture. In some cases, some Korean businessmen will give foreign businessmen money to go gambling or even to go see prostitutes.
All this is part of what anthropologists call the "gift theory": when someone receives a gift, he will feel like he has to return it in some way, either by buying great quantities of Korean products at relatively expensive prices or in any other way he can pay him back.
During negotiations, Koreans make sure that the foreigner feels comfortable communicating. Even when the Korean businessman does speak English or any other foreign language, he will provide an interpreter, usually a young beautiful Korean woman who actually speaks less English than he does. The interpreter plays the role of moderating the negotiation: businessmen tend to be softer when beautiful women are around and tend not to offend men in front of women.
During the first meeting, business is never discussed. The Korean businessman tries to establish a relationship with the foreign businessman, usually at an expensive restaurant where heavy drinking is involved. They will discuss family, educational background and hobbies, but never things related to success, money, company, politics, the economy or any other serious topic.
Negotiations are then held in the second meeting, usually with a team including a group of managers and interpreters. Korean businessmen will tend to offer ridiculously high prices for their products, and with the presence of female interpreters and other businessmen foreign businessmen will tend to refrain from being aggressive. Foreign businessmen will softly convince their Korean counterpart to lower the price. There is a myth that Korean businessmen never say "no", but they do when their foreign counterpart offers a low price.
If the Korean businessman is dissatisfied with the deal, he will tend to give a very soft handshake or bow, barely looking at his foreign counterpart. He will then inform his foreign counterpart through a third party, usually a woman, that due to an unnamed reason, the deal has been canceled. That will force the foreign businessman to come back offering a higher price, which will usually seal the deal.
Doing business with Koreans - contacting Koreans
There is a very complicated etiquette when it comes to contacting Koreans by phone or email which leads a lot of foreigners perplexed.
By phone, Koreans seldom pick up phone calls they were not informed they were going to receive. That is, Koreans prefer contacting each other by text message first, and then call each other to complete the information they were exchanging by text message. Koreans only skip the text messaging part when the relationship with the caller is one of trust.
When receiving a phone call with an unidentified number, Koreans will pick up and wait for the person to talk first. If they recognize the voice and it happens to be someone they trust, they will talk. Otherwise, they will hang up.
Note that when Koreans absolutely want to talk with someone on the phone, they will repeatedly call the person until the person picks up. However, this is only done by people socially superior or equal. If Koreans consider that an appointment is important, they may also call repeatedly to make sure that the person is on its way.
Unless the person Koreans are talking to is a trusted person, they will tend to only exchange information regarding an appointment, and will refuse to talk about anything unrelated to the appointment time and place. They never choose to meet inside restaurants or cafes, as Koreans give appointments in front of subways stations or other public places.
Note finally that on the phone the expression ne is a very polite way of saying "goodbye" before hanging up. It is however considered impolite to hang up without saying anything.
When it comes to emails, Koreans address themselves differently depending on whether the person is a hierarchical superior, equal or inferior. When writing an email to a hierarchical superior, Koreans include a title in the subject, start the email by ___(name)께 and the question 안녕하십니까? They then write the body of the email and conclude with ___(writer's name) 올림
However, when addressing an equal or inferior, Koreans tend to be brief and concise. They do not include greetings, and may send all the information in the subject box without writing a single word in the body, or write a short paragraph with no punctuation using very brief information.
Koreans prefer contacting each other by phone and tend to use emails exclusively to send each other files or when they live in different countries. They may also email each other to ask each other favors which are not urgent.
Some Koreans prefer to negotiate small deals by email rather than by phone. If the offer is attractive or they have agree with it, they will reply, if it's not, they will not, pretending that they never received the email.
Finally, Koreans tend not to reply emails asking them for updates on their daily personal lives. They prefer using a box specially dedicated to that in their "cyworld" page.
By phone, Koreans seldom pick up phone calls they were not informed they were going to receive. That is, Koreans prefer contacting each other by text message first, and then call each other to complete the information they were exchanging by text message. Koreans only skip the text messaging part when the relationship with the caller is one of trust.
When receiving a phone call with an unidentified number, Koreans will pick up and wait for the person to talk first. If they recognize the voice and it happens to be someone they trust, they will talk. Otherwise, they will hang up.
Note that when Koreans absolutely want to talk with someone on the phone, they will repeatedly call the person until the person picks up. However, this is only done by people socially superior or equal. If Koreans consider that an appointment is important, they may also call repeatedly to make sure that the person is on its way.
Unless the person Koreans are talking to is a trusted person, they will tend to only exchange information regarding an appointment, and will refuse to talk about anything unrelated to the appointment time and place. They never choose to meet inside restaurants or cafes, as Koreans give appointments in front of subways stations or other public places.
Note finally that on the phone the expression ne is a very polite way of saying "goodbye" before hanging up. It is however considered impolite to hang up without saying anything.
When it comes to emails, Koreans address themselves differently depending on whether the person is a hierarchical superior, equal or inferior. When writing an email to a hierarchical superior, Koreans include a title in the subject, start the email by ___(name)께 and the question 안녕하십니까? They then write the body of the email and conclude with ___(writer's name) 올림
However, when addressing an equal or inferior, Koreans tend to be brief and concise. They do not include greetings, and may send all the information in the subject box without writing a single word in the body, or write a short paragraph with no punctuation using very brief information.
Koreans prefer contacting each other by phone and tend to use emails exclusively to send each other files or when they live in different countries. They may also email each other to ask each other favors which are not urgent.
Some Koreans prefer to negotiate small deals by email rather than by phone. If the offer is attractive or they have agree with it, they will reply, if it's not, they will not, pretending that they never received the email.
Finally, Koreans tend not to reply emails asking them for updates on their daily personal lives. They prefer using a box specially dedicated to that in their "cyworld" page.
Doing business with Koreans - business cards
Business cards are very important in Korean culture and everyone has them, whether they are college students, managers or even some housewives.
Koreans always include their name and the name of the company or school they are affiliated to. They also include all their contact numbers: cell phone, office phone and email. Most include their position within the company. However they do not include the name of the school they graduated from. They do include their degree title if they attended graduate school (usually Ph.d, M.d or J.d, some include the title MBA or MA, but never BA or BS, and never the name of the school, no matter how prestigious).
Some Koreans include their picture in the business card. Pictures on business cards in Korea mean that the person is willing to "help" rather than do business. They are usually those who own small businesses, work for NGOs, Church ministers, plumbers, or any people who do home maintenance and the like. Those willing to negotiate contracts and big deals tend not to include pictures in business cards.
Koreans have high respect and admiration for those who include the title P.hd in their business card. However, they tend to regard those who include the name of the school they graduated from as a sign of arrogance. Koreans tend to take more seriously people who have their company's logo instead of the company's name printed out. However they do not like it when the logo is placed in the middle or when too much importance is given to it. They prefer people who highlight their name the most.
As Koreans like to deal with businessmen on a personal level, they like names to be highlighted and dislike European cultures which tend to give minimal importance to the name or not display the name at all.
If one does not leave a personal contact number in a business card, that is, at least a personal email address, Koreans will take it as a sign that the person does not want to be contacted, and will therefore be reticent to contact him.
Koreans always include their name and the name of the company or school they are affiliated to. They also include all their contact numbers: cell phone, office phone and email. Most include their position within the company. However they do not include the name of the school they graduated from. They do include their degree title if they attended graduate school (usually Ph.d, M.d or J.d, some include the title MBA or MA, but never BA or BS, and never the name of the school, no matter how prestigious).
Some Koreans include their picture in the business card. Pictures on business cards in Korea mean that the person is willing to "help" rather than do business. They are usually those who own small businesses, work for NGOs, Church ministers, plumbers, or any people who do home maintenance and the like. Those willing to negotiate contracts and big deals tend not to include pictures in business cards.
Koreans have high respect and admiration for those who include the title P.hd in their business card. However, they tend to regard those who include the name of the school they graduated from as a sign of arrogance. Koreans tend to take more seriously people who have their company's logo instead of the company's name printed out. However they do not like it when the logo is placed in the middle or when too much importance is given to it. They prefer people who highlight their name the most.
As Koreans like to deal with businessmen on a personal level, they like names to be highlighted and dislike European cultures which tend to give minimal importance to the name or not display the name at all.
If one does not leave a personal contact number in a business card, that is, at least a personal email address, Koreans will take it as a sign that the person does not want to be contacted, and will therefore be reticent to contact him.
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