36 Chinese Strategies Applied to Negotiations
24 Pages Posted: 28 Jul 2009 Last revised: 17 Apr 2023
Date Written: 2008
Abstract
The following is a PowerPoint presentation about the 36 Chinese Strategies as applied to negotiations that I have used many times. You can find more about this subject in, John Barkai, 'Cultural Dimension Interests, the Dance of Negotiation, and Weather Forecasting: A Perspective on Cross-Cultural Negotiation and Dispute Resolution,' (8 Pepp. Disp. Resol. L.J. 403 (2007-2008)). I was first introduced to the 36 Chinese Strategies in the late 1980s when my former student, Laurence Brahm - who has been a lawyer, global activist, international mediator, political, columnist, and author in Hong Kong and China since 1987 – wrote a paper for my negotiations class about the 36 Chinese Strategies. Later, Laurence turned the paper into a book called, Negotiating in China: 36 Strategies (1996). Just about anyone who has 'grown up Chinese' (meaning that they have grown up in a Chinese home that respects and teaches Chinese traditions and values) knows these 36 Strategies. It does not matter whether they grew up in The People’s Republic of China (PRC), The Republic of China (Taiwan); Singapore, Vancouver, San Francisco, Honolulu, or anywhere else. People who 'grew up Chinese' know these strategies. People who negotiate with Chinese (or anyone else) should also know these strategies. For further information on the 36 Strategies, See, Laurence J. Brahm, Negotiating in China: 36 Strategies (1996); Chin-Ning Chu, The Chinese Mind Game (1988) (describing thirty-two of the thirty-six strategies); Chin-Ning Chu, The Asian Mind Game: Unlocking the Hidden Agenda of the Asian Business Culture – A Westerner’s Survival Manual (1991) (describing all thirty-six strategies); Tony Fang, Chinese Business Negotiation Styles, (1999); or, simply 'Google' the phrase '36 Strategies.'
Keywords: 36 strategies, negotiation, Chinese, China, cross-cultural negotiation, Sun Tsu
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