Submitted By: Brian McCarthy

We have been advised to save most of our shopping efforts until we get to the final stop of our upcoming business trip to China to avoid carrying extra weight and baggage. The final stop appears to be in the capital city of Beijing, and it is a good idea to get an understanding of the market culture before we get there.

Whether you are shopping in Peru for an alpaca sweater or you are purchasing a roasted chicken at a market in France, you learn how to barter and how to navigate in the buyer/seller culture of the specific area. Read the article Service With a Smile – It’s the Law to understand the market culture in Beijing and what the government is trying to do to make a change, fast!

Beijing will host the 2008 summer Olympics and China is making many efforts to prepare to be on stage for the event. A new law, seeming related to the preparation for the Olympics and related to its image in general, is to change the current customer service practices in Beijing. According to the article, the new law was created to “trump centuries of culture” and to curb a “tradition of arrogance in the commercial and service industry.”

Specifically, the new law is aimed at stopping some of the following practices:

* spitting
* impatience
* disdainful glances
* acting absent mindedly
* sarcastic or ironic comments

As you read the article, some things to think about are:

• How can a government enforce such a law?
• What impact will the new law have?
• Will the city be able to make a fast change before the 2008 Olympics or will such a change take more time?
• Is the culture a result of government-owned stores?
• Would the same culture exist if all stores were privately owned?