What Western Business Leaders Misunderstand About China – Insights from Mitchell Presnick, Visiting Fellow, Harvard Fairbank Center

Driving with Dunne

Dazed, bruised and confused. That's how leaders of global automakers and suppliers operating in China feel these days. Since 2020, they have seen their once formidable China sales and profit machines vanish. As a group global automakers will sell 8 million fewer vehicles in China this year than they did in 2020. Eight million! People at headquarters are asking some tough questions: Where did things go wrong? And could it have been avoided? This is where a person with years of first-hand experience in China becomes valuable. Meet Mitch Presnick, a visiting fellow at Harvard and before that, the founder of the Super 8 Motel franchise in China. Mitch knows China and gives it to us straight. The Chinese are not boy scouts, he reminds us. It's necessary to negotiate super hard, and to keep negotiating even when you think the job is done. Sounds exhausting, right? Well, that's the bar for survival in China – for Chinese people just as much as for foreigners. In today's conversation, Mitch lets us know what's required to compete and recommend tools that will serve us well not only in China but in dealing with Chinese businesses as they go global.