Booze, Sex, and the Dark Art of Dealmaking in China (2015)

Post by stone-monkey » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 11:40 AM UTC

wallace_f wrote: post #142

underlines wrote: post #7

I'm a foreign CTO working in Bangkok and being fully fluent in Thai showed me that it's exactly the same practice in SEA regions: Got to close a deal with a government official? They'll head to the "bathtub massage" area Huai Kwang. Need to bond with a local Business man? Deal closes there as well. Bond with male work mates? On to the bathtub place! Everyone knows it, there's jokes about it and this particular busine…

FWIW there is much disapproval in East Asia of these antics, and the guanxi culture emanating from China. Sadly American business culture seems to be also drinking these guanxi- and gravitas -obsessed kool aids, and less disapproving (from what I have seen) than East Asia. Others who are more connected and experienced would know more than I do.

Post by dagw » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 11:49 AM UTC

unixhero wrote: post #153

dagw wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's largely a myth or at least an exaggeration. I've worked in both Norway and Sweden (and currently live in Sweden) and I've never seen an office party get even close to going way overboard. Office parties in the US and the UK I've seen have been 'worse'.

I work in a Fortune500 company in a Nordic branch. It's extremely easy to hook up. There's like a mentality that "since you work here" you're already pre-screened :) Summer parties at the office often devolve into something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIf1fydxrfo Global gatherings are, indeed, very crazy. Maybe it's something like this: "If you can't be corrupt anymore, at least you can be sexually corr…

Post by bitcoinmoney » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 11:50 AM UTC

patrickg_zill wrote: post #40

mc32 wrote: post #12

AFAIK, many foreigners [read: other Asians as well as a sprinkling of non-Asians] (as well nationals from outside a city but who do business in said city) who are married have either "second wives[1]" in these alternate city offices or they have their marriages die in said places. It has some intriguing aspects, such as the children of the "first wife" are often seen as more legitimate. Also often the wives tolerate…

Yes, the first family has more status and usually will be the ones that get the bulk of the inherited wealth. It seems to be sort of expected that once you reach a certain level in your business life, you will get a mistress. This is so prevalent in the Philippines that the family law concerning whether or not you can use the last name of your father is explicitly spelled out.

Post by bpizzi » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 12:02 PM UTC

jiggunjer wrote: post #149

bpizzi wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, cheating involves lying. A spouse is explicitly or at least implicitly expecting the other part no to lie about extra relations. If lying about those extra relations in this context doesn't makes you a bad person, then I don't know what is.

Logical fallacy. Doing one bad thing does not make one a "bad person" if such a thing even exists. If the alternative is to break up a family so the cheater can be 'honest' with him-/herself, is a lie and a happy family worse than a broken family? Stop seeing things black and white.

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jul 04, 2018, 12:03 PM UTC