Doing business outside of your home country always presents a special challenge.  Besides language and cultural barriers, you may also encounter unexpected legal hurdles.  The rule of law may be less developed than you’re used to.  Contracts may be viewed as more fluid and less enforceable than you’re used to, and concepts you may take for granted might not exist.

Take for example the sales office a U.S. company was trying to establish in Malaysia.  The location was chosen, the job candidates were narrowed down, and then it came time to present an employment offer and contract. 

 The U.S. based executives driving the project framed the employment package in terms of salary and benefits.  Luckily, they had the benefit of local counsel who advised them that “salary” is viewed differently in Malaysia – even “salaried” employees are entitled to overtime.  That one piece of information helped management retool the job offer and avoid a nasty budget surprise.

Western companies and their manager often experience culture shock when doing business abroad, particularly in Greater China.  It’s a learning experience.  Mike O’Neill, general counsel of Lenovo recently wrote:

I realize that the big challenge in China is to have the humility to recognize what I don’t know.  We cannot assume that lessons learned elsewhere will apply in China; or at least, they certainly will not apply in the same way.

To help you bridge the knowledge gap and avoid the School of Hard Knocks, I invite you to join me on July 22^nd at 8 pm Eastern (5 pm Pacific) when I interview international lawyer Nicholas V. Chen, a partner in the Pamir Law Group,  on Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer teleseminar about the legal aspects of doing business in Greater China.   

Nic is a U.S. trained lawyer who has been traveling and working in China since 1973. He has helped hundreds of businesses successfully bridge the cultural gap, completing hundreds of foreign investments into China and many PRC cases into North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa.  He has also been named a Leading Lawyer by Asia Law and Practice Magazine and is an arbitrator for China International Economic Trade Arbitration Commission.

To learn more about the program and obtain a free registration to this special teleseminar, click here and submit a question you’d like me to ask Nicholas V. Chen about doing business in Greater China.  The website will then direct you to the call-in information page that includes your pass code (please note that there may be a small phone charge depending on where you are calling from). 

Please print that page and post it in a conspicuous spot as a reminder.  Space is limited, so please reserve your “seat” today by clicking here now.

We look forward to having you join us!

 

©Corporate M.O., LLC 2009

Tags: Asia Law and Practice Magazine, Ask the No Nonsense Lawyer, Greater China, Lenovo, Mike O'Neill, Nicholas V. Chen, Pamir Law Group

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 9:33 pm and is filed under Announcement, Business Blind Spots, Communications, Compliance, Costs, International, Knowledge Management, Lawyers, Leadership, Rule of Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.