"guanxi" networking 2.0

For anyone living, learning and dealing with business in China, you will have come across the term "guanxi". For most, it is a "special relationship" or "personal contact". Many articles have been written about the intricacies and implications of guanxi, whether it is a path to corruption or an essential business tool that is used effectively in my successful business stories.

Wikipedia says...
Very loosely, it can be associated with the UK equivalent of the "old boys network". Similar terms in other cultures and countries are "wasta" in the Middle East and "recomandato" in Italy.

Whilst researching a bit more about "guanxi" on Google, I came across guanxi.com, an American based company operating a "LinkedIn" style social interaction website. Unfortunately, an error in the website prevented me from registering on the network. I feel this would be an interesting development in the Chinese Internet market especially in connection to my previous post about the reluctance of Chinese businesses to operate purely online.

Alan Clements, MD of Metafocus will be speaking at "Exploring Guanxi - Relationships for successful business in China", organised by the China-Britain Business Council and East Midlands China Business Bureau at Derby University on the 23rd July 2008. Alan will speak about his experiences with guanxi when dealing with business in China and you can get a chance to learn more about this elusive phrase.

Contact Metafocus for details on how to register for this event.

Buying Online in China

Will they buy online?

Yesterday, Metafocus held a joint breakfast seminar with Nottingham City Council and the East Midlands China Business Bureau. See our Nottingham blog for pictures and details of the seminar!

A few interesting points were raised about the Internet market in China, with questions about the development of China's "web 2.0" and the state of Chinese search engine marketing. In particular, many people were curious about people buying online in China.

Research shows that the scope for youths buying online in China is absolutely booming.

When I was first thinking about the scope for e-commerce in China, I was apprehensive about Chinese people buying online. This was partly because my experience of Chinese business involved the building of trust and meeting business partners face to face was an obligatory step before anything business began.

On the other hand, the sheer number of forum users in China also reinforces the fact that many people do care about what they buy and who they buy from whether it is online or offline. Forums are the perfect way to communicate and share reviews on certain products or services, and it is predicted that about 80% of all Chinese sites run their own forum or "BBS" (Bulletin Board System) with an average of 10 million posts published daily.

The Internet is changing the world though and increasingly as the banks in China begin issuing more credit cards to the population, the combined curiosity of the Chinese youth to exercise their purchase power online will only continue to fuel what would soon be yet another very large part of the Chinese economy.