Summary: Synopsis In response to a request from Entrepreneur.com. Dr. Misner consulted with some BNI colleagues for tips on doing business and networking in Asia. BNI Taiwan National Director Jihong Hall explains that âfaceâ is everything to the Chinese, so it is important not to make jokes at your own or others' expense. Anything that causes embarrassment or lack of dignity will lose you their business. Ho Quang Minh, National Director of BNI Vietnam, recommends discussing business over a meal, but warns against getting right to the point. Keep the conversation social at first. According to , National Director of BNI Malaysia and Thailand, you should not expect to shake hands in Thailand, but rather place your palms together in front of your face, close your mouth, and bow slightly. People do shake hands in Malaysia, but afterwards they place their right hands on their hearts. Asato Ohno, National Director of BNI Japan, says that ânominication,â or drinking together and talking, is necessary to cement business relationships in Japan, and also mentions the Japanese business card ceremony, or meishi. Read Dr. Misnerâs article on Entrepreneur.com. Networking in Thailand and Malaysia article. Share your own experiences of doing business in Asia in the comments below. Brought to you by Networking Now. Complete Transcript of BNI Podcast Episode 262 - Priscilla: Hello everyone and welcome back to The Official BNI Podcast brought to you by NetworkingNow.com, which is the leading site on the net for networking downloadables. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, CA. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and Chairman of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello Ivan. How are you today? Ivan: I am doing great, Priscilla. I think I have an interesting topic for members today. As many people know, I am a columnist for Entrepreneur.com. They came to me a few months ago and said they would like me to write an article about doing business in Asia, to give some tips on networking and doing business in Asia. I thought what better resource than using my contacts, my network, to give me advice that I could write about in my column at Entrepreneur. So today's podcast is some of the things that I learned in putting together that article. First, it's really important to understand that cultural differences are really becoming more and more important. We live in an interconnected global economy, so understanding those cultural differences is what is so important. That is really true in the emerging markets that you see in Asia. I had some experts in several Asian countries that I went to. They were all National Directors for BNI, so these are people right there in those countries who gave me feedback on what it's like to do business in Asia, particularly from the perspective of Western cultures coming in to do business in the Asian community. If you are from one of the Western countries and are listening, take this advice and use it. If you are from one of the Asian countries, let me hear back about what we left out that could be added to this list. It's a little bit for everybody. The first person I spoke to was Jihong Hall. Jihong is from China and she is the National Director and she said that face is everything in China. It's very important. She has been a Director for many years. She started as BNI member. When she talks about face, it's really in relation to dignity, prestige, honor, respect and status. She said that westerners often make jokes at their own expense or someone else's expense. But she says she strongly recommends against that kind of joking with the Chinese until you know them really, really, really well because if you cause them to lose face, you are going to lose their business. You certainly don't want yourself to lose face with them either. She also has some additional recommendations in working with Chinese business people.
