The Negotiation

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How changes in China’s economy and business landscape over the last four years influenced John’s work ●      Challenges faced by foreign versus local Chinese startup entrepreneurs ●      Potential advantages for foreign startup owners in China ●      Changes in the education space in China ●      The evolution KOLs and influencer marketing in China ●      Pr...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) have evolved over the past five years ●      Co-founding one of China’s top-ranking beauty KOLs, Melilim Fu ●      The team behind Melilim Fu, and how KOLs are typically managed ●      KOLs versus Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs) versus micro-influencers ●      Launchmetrics and the problems they aim to solve in today’s marketplace...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How has merchandising transformed in the age of eCommerce? ●      Justice’s typical day as Director of Merchandising at WPIC ●      Examples of companies that exemplify effective online merchandising ●      Why it is so difficult to master online merchandising ●      Global merchandising trends, specifically focusing on trends in China ●      The future of m...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The economic, cultural, and athletic impact that the 2008 Beijing Olympics had on China ●      China’s reaction to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics ●      China’s expectations for the 2022 Winter Olympics and future games ●      Popular and not-as popular sports in China ●      The intersection of sports, politics, and business in China’s fitness industry ●      Chin...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Working in the APAC market ●      The differences between UI, UX, and CX ●      What is “product-market fit” and how do you know if you’ve achieved it? ●      Why neglecting to build the right local team is one of the biggest mistakes a foreign company can make ●      Tools that Kaizor uses to collect and interpret data for clients ●      Defining the “fract...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      A description of the Shanghai startup scene today and how it compares to France’s and the U.S.’s ●      What it is like to be a foreign entrepreneur in China ●      How to know whether you should start your business in China ●      What most Westerners do not know about F&B in China ●      Why Shanghai is not representative of China as a whole ●      How...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      What exactly is “antitrust” and why is it so important in the relationship between business and government globally? ●      What has China’s relationship with antitrust been historically, and have the events of 2008 and 2013 affected antitrust enforcement? ●      The conversations around antitrust at a time when big tech companies both in the U.S. and China...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      What brands can do if they want to succeed in China among the millennial and Gen-Z cohort ●      Major events that have impacted Chinese millennials similar to the Great Recession in the U.S. ●      What are the differences between millennials who grew up in the Mainland and those who studied abroad? ●      How prevalent is conspicuous consumption in the lif...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Who are China’s millennials, and how do they differ from millennials in the Western world? ●      The downstream effects of the one-child policy on today’s market ●      The state of mental health among China’s youth ●      What employers expect from millennial hires   Episode Summary: Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Zak Dychtwald, Founder and CEO of...

Ambassador Barton Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The major trends witnessed by Ambassador Barton in China since the early 2000s ●      What lessons should the West learn from China’s drastic growth over the past two decades? ●      Why Ambassador Barton wrote China Vignettes in 2008 and the book’s main takeaways ●      Key thinkers and thought leaders in China and the broader APAC region...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Joseph reminisces on his time in Beijing during its “up-and-coming” days in the early 2000s ●      How differently entrepreneurship was regarded in China from 2000 to 2010 ●      How Joseph’s footwear design house became the number one seller in the shoe category on Kickstarter in 2013 and 2014 ●      The opportunities that came out of Joseph’s time at Tange...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Opportunities in architecture and design within China ●      How the design space in the West differs from that of China ●      Design trends in China today and potentially going forward ●      The relationship between developers and the local government ●      The leeway designers have in localizing big foreign brands for China ●      China’s design influen...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Recent and potential developments in the Chinese business world ●      Air quality and pollution in China ●      Key mistakes that Western organizations make when they take on projects in China ●      How foreigners can nurture strong business relationships in China ●      How businesses in China can manage their relationship with the government ●      Why i...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The state of COVID in China going into the second half of 2021 ●      Why a work-from-home culture is probably not the future for China ●      How consumer trends have evolved in the past 18 months ●      Sectors to lead the charge in China’s economic growth going forward ●      What to expect at the 6.18 shopping festival this year ●      The development of...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Using the power of design for social impact ●      Why Kseniya reframed the Belt & Road Initiative as a “sociospatial set of challenges” in her thesis ●      How Ballistic Architecture Machine factors into the New Silk Road ●      China’s strengths and weaknesses in architecture and urban design   Episode Summary: Today on The Negotiation, we speak with...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Why is it vital for 21st century businesses to focus on data ●      Innovations in the data and AI space in China ●      What is “growth hacking” and why is it most applied to early stage startups? ●      What distinguishes data collection and analytics in China from those of other countries? ●      The typical customer journey in China versus that of the We...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How sports evolved in China over the past 1500 years ●      Why team sports have been slower in China ●      The role that the Chinese government plays in sports ●      What reform in the Chinese sports industry currently looks like ●      How the sports entertainment world looks in China with regards to live events ●      How foreign organizations can conne...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Marketing a football league in China ●      How other EU teams are finding fans in China ●      Do foreign clubs have limited time to grow their followings as the Chinese government looks to expand local football culture? ●      How different countries grow their sports and how closely China intends to follow those existing strategies ●      The future Yao M...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Charles’s history doing business with China and his current role at WPIC ●      How Charles defines “creativity” ●      Maintaining creativity in-house versus outsourcing creativity to KOLs and KOCs ●      How brands should go about looking for KOLs or KOCs in order to maximize ROI ●      Teaching creativity ●      Differences in creative processes between t...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How Yoann’s work with startups and founders differs from his work with corporate clients ●      Clients that Yoann typically works with as a sales trainer ●      How B2B selling has historically been done in China compared to today ●      The value of WeChat in sales ●      General differences between how sales is done in the West versus in the East ●      W...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The rise in ice hockey’s popularity in China over the past decade ●      Does the lack of infrastructure growth for hockey in China limit how much interest the sport receives? ●      How Can Life lets the Chinese youth experience the “hockey culture” that Canadians are so familiar with ●      Why has the development of hockey been emphasized in China lately?...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How translation technology has evolved over the past 20 years ●      The difference between translation and interpretation ●      How to train interpreters ●      Why translation and localization of content is so important in China and Japan ●      What to look for when hiring a translator ●      Examples of localization gone wrong and how to make amends if...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The evolution of China’s outbound foreign direct investment ●      Is China’s outbound FDI being used primarily for political or economic reasons? ●      Where outbound FDI is headed in the next five years ●      Differences between China’s bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements ●      How partner nations have changed their approach to China over t...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      What are modular buildings and why are they generally stronger than regular buildings? ●      Stack Modular’s typical customer ●      How developed is the modular housing industry in China? ●      The limitations of modular housing and how they are overcome ●      Shipping modular buildings across the ocean and keeping them intact ●      3D printing and home...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      A general overview of the cosmetics market in China ●      The most popular beauty products in China compared to the rest of the world ●      The popularity of live streaming in the beauty space ●      A primer on Key Opinion Consumers (KOCs) ●      How consumer behaviors in China differ from those in the West in the cosmetics market ●      Hero products by...