The image of a dragon means different things to different cultures. In the West we tend to perceive the mythical animal as a threat, but the opposite is often true in China.
If you are Chinese, "your dragon is actually a powerful ally," Jeremy Gordon, author and director of China Business Services said at a China Telecom-backed event in London this week that focused on the challenges and opportunities of doing business in China.
Gordon used the dragon to illustrate an important point for foreign companies operating – or considering operating – in China: understanding the local cultural context is paramount for success.
Amongst other reasons, businesses are drawn to China due to its burgeoning middle class. In October last year McKinsey predicted that by 2022 more than 50% of urban Chinese households will be considered middle class, which constitutes an increase of 100 million households over a decade.
But despite this massive potential, many people believe China is still too risky, Gordon said. Some business leaders have "real concerns about how they can successfully do business in China," he said.
"The business etiquette is not the same as it is in the West," agreed Edmund Cheung, director of marketing and the MNC enterprise business at China Telecom Europe.
Companies that want to succeed in China need to understand the culture, acquire local knowledge and develop the ability to communicate with the people, Cheung said.
"At China Telecom we understand all these factors and speak with the same language as China," he said.
China Telecom is on a renewed push to attract foreign companies looking to break into China, as well Chinese multi-nationals expanding in the West. Its message is similar to that it shared when China Telecom Europe launched in 2006: its terrestrial cable routes – there are now six of them – give lower latency than submarine cables.
The Transit Mongolia cable boasts latency of 175 milliseconds, compared with 310 milliseconds on the Sea Me We 4 submarine route, Cheung said.
Shaving milliseconds from latency figures is particularly important for one of China Telecom’s target customer groups, the banking and finance industry. The operator has points of presence located close to major stock exchange locations, Cheung explained.
"We connect Europe to China in a very direct way," he said. "This is the advantage of China Telecom. This is the unique selling point."
Despite its strong brand within China, the company still faces a challenge when it comes to signing up Western companies. But it has another weapon in its arsenal: "our knowledge of how to do business in China," Cheung said.
And with a growing number of multinational companies looking to break into the market, that will doubtless be an important tool.
