The Negotiation

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Factors that developed Mark’s interest in doing business with China ●      Building relationships with Xinhua News Agency and Tencent ●      The demographics of the ski industry in China and why locals prefer to ski abroad ●      Promoting the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and local winter sports in general ●      Ski locations in China ●      The economic...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The explosion of fitness culture in Asia ●      Mainland China’s consumer sporting goods market ●      Columbia’s brand strategy for the Chinese market ●      Differences between the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean sports apparel markets ●      How the 2008 Beijing Olympics impacted the country’s sports apparel market ●      Establishing a digital and physical...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The landscape of sports in China today ●      How motivation to go into sports differs between kids in China versus kids in the West ●      The development of sports infrastructure in China ●      The importance of sports celebrities in driving the popularity of sports in China ●      Popular sports in China today ●      Physicality in Chinese sports ●     ...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How Gang Lu became the founder of the premier tech media in the country ●      The transition from a competitive to a collaborative startup environment in China ●      The connection between changing family dynamics and the rise of innovation and entrepreneurship in China ●      The business of media in China ●      All about BEYOND Tech Expo 2021 in Macau ●...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How workspaces change as people’s work change ●      Efficient communication with clients in the design space ●      Redefining the purpose of the office ●      Differences in the work environment in China versus the West ●      The impact of COVID-19 on the way work is done in China ●      Commercial architecture in China   Episode Summary: Today on The Neg...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      The increasing simultaneous “closeness” and “friction” between California and China ●      What makes California special to China as opposed to other U.S. states? ●      Matt speaks on co-hosting the Heartland Mainland: The Iowa China Podcast ●      Emerging tech trends in China ●      Eroding trust in Chinese tech platforms ●      Key takeaways on MacroPolo...

This episode is a look back at all of our podcast guests and the topics we covered in 2020, putting together some of our favorite moments for you into one single episode of goodness. The guests featured in this special episode are William Bao Bean, episode 22 released on January 7th; Scott Silverman, episode 28 released on January 31st; Scott Laprise, episode 34 released on March 6th; Dr. Julie Kl...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      What is the “middle platform” and how does it benefit ByteDance? ●      Other innovations by ByteDance that other companies are trying to imitate ●      TikTok versus Snapchat, and why the former is thriving while the latter is dying ●      Up-and-coming tech companies to keep an eye on ●      Why Oracle attempted to partner with TikTok ●      The future of...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      How Matthew built a fascination for WeChat and digital innovation in China ●      Writing objectively about big tech brands in a country known for heavy censorship ●      The huge potential of sharing short videos via these newest social media platforms ●      What is ByteDance, exactly? ●      How ByteDance compares to the other tech giants in China ●     ...

Topics Discussed and Key Points: ●      Commercial and residential real estate trends in China from 2008 to 2011 ●      How real estate investors tend to operate in the China market ●      Where the real estate industry is going in the next ten years ●      Why China’s economic future may mirror that of Japan’s ●      China in the new normal ●      Property Passbook’s mission ●      Running a glob...

Today on The Negotiation, we are taking aim at trying to understand the housing bubble in China, by speaking with Professor Simon Zhao, Former Director at the International Centre for China Development Studies, University of Hong Kong. Simon has recently published an article on the housing bubble in China, so we thought he would be an excellent place to start our conversation. Simon tells us that...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Jacob Cooke, co-founder of WPIC Marketing and Technologies, and his experiences since returning to China recently. Jacob notes the huge amount of digitization efforts since his last time in China. eCommerce is booming. What was once a convenience has now become a necessity. Digitization now encompasses all parts of society and users now include people of all...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with fashion designer and entrepreneur Bruno Schiavi. With a background in the retail industry spanning 25 years, he has launched many brands internationally with some of the biggest companies and names in the world. His latest brand is Uncle Bud’s Hemp and CBD, which focuses on topicals that cover everything from pain relief to anti-aging to bath and body. Uncle...

Today on The Negotiation, we continue our conversation with Kevin Xu, founder and author at Interconnected, “a publication that analyzes businesses and trends from the lens of builders (entrepreneurs & engineers), operators (business managers), investors (capitalists), regulators (politicians and government officials), and how they are all connected.” He is also a contributor for and the co-cr...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Kevin Xu, Founder, and Author of Interconnected.blog, a publication that analyzes businesses and trends from the lens of builders, operators, investors, and regulators, and how they are all interconnected globally. Kevin received his Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Brown University before studying both Law and Computer Science at Stanford. H...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Tom Parker, Head of China with the Australian Football League (AFL) and Vice President for the Australia China Business Council. Tom shares his journey in the Chinese business world, beginning in 2007 with the founding of Red Tape Consulting, “a China Advisory business that helped stage the first AFL exhibition match as part of the Shanghai World Expo.” Sinc...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Bertrand Schmitt, tech entrepreneur, Co-Founder, and Chairman of App Annie, and co-host of the Tech DECIPHERED podcast alongside Strive Capital’s Nuno Goncalves Pedro. Bertrand has been involved in the mobile industry in China since 1999, through what he refers to as its period of “growing pains”. When the iPhone and the App Store came out in 2007 and 2008,...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Jesse Chester, Category Leadership Director at Mars who leads the category leadership organization in Guangdong, China, and in Arkansas, USA. Jesse’s role was to create strategic plans around category growth by working with retailers to help grow the marketplace as a whole. He also contributed to the reinvention of Mars’ innovation strategy. The snack indust...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Kimberly Kirkendall, founder and President at International Resource Development, on adjusting to the business environment in China as a Westerner. Kimberly discusses the foundational cultural differences in doing business with the Chinese as opposed to Westerners. She had an advantage getting her start in China when she was in her early 20s, as she was able...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Aynne Kokas, Associate Professor of Media Studies at the University of Virginia, where she teaches students about U.S.-China media and technology relations. She is also a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia where she does work related to U.S.-China policy, particularly around how corporations and the go...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Hendrick Laubscher on current and future developments around shipping, warehousing, and logistics networks in China. At first glance, distribution in China may appear more or less similar to the networks and processes of other countries, particularly in the West. However, Hendrick explains that China, by virtue of its 1.3 billion-strong population and well-k...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Xin Yi Lim, Senior Director of Corporate Development at Pinduoduo and former Technology Analyst for GIC in Singapore and New York. Xin Yi discusses some of PD’s latest developments, including founder Colin Huang Zheng’s recent move into an executive chairman role and news on the company’s agritech initiatives, which include its Smart Agriculture Competition...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Wei Liang, Professor of International Policy Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. She discusses the current state of the Belt and Road Initiative in-depth, as well as China’s current reputation on the world stage amid a variety of crises, not least of which are COVID-19 and the country’s strained relationship with Hong Kong....

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Gen Kanai, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Animoca Brands and Mentor at Chinaccelerator. Regarding the challenges of entering the Japanese market, Gen says that Japanese customers generally do not pirate software and content. Japan “can be a very profitable market if you can crack the market.” At the same time, it is a challenging market, with many non...

Today on The Negotiation, we speak with Benjamin Qiu, Partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP. Benjamin is an “attorney focused on the capital market, venture financing, corporate governance, IP asset development, and technology protection & licensing.” He discusses the legal side of startup financing in China, of which he first developed expertise during his time at Innovation Works (China’s answer to...