culture - Crossing the line

(Refused by Eurobiz, because it was considered to be libelous; what do you think? Very soon also in Chinabiz at the WTO column)

Getting permissions and doing things according to the regulations, how complicated, irrational and fuzzy they might be, is one of the headaches of doing business in China. Even the most law-abiding foreigner might find himself at the wrong side of the line, not in the last place because it is often very hard to see any line.
One moment of thoughtlessness and you are jaywalking with hundreds of other Shanghainese, buying a fake watch that is really a bargain or missing one of those unclear traffic signs. It is all a matter of balance, like so many things in China, so it is good to find some benchmarks here.

Obvious Randolph Hobson Guthrie III, a famous socialite in Shanghai, went too far by trading hundreds of thousands of illegal DVD with clients outside China. Randy, as we know this diligent business man from our frequent encounters in Shanghai’s social circles, crossed a line. Not only did he do naughty things, he boasted about his way of making an average of 25,000 US dollar per month whenever he could.
Then, Randy would possible have been able to continue his business a bit longer when State Councilor Madame Wu Yi hadn’t been forced to promise the US during her high-profile visit in April to really do something about the infringement of intellectual property rights. What is better to make a point then jailing a well-know US citizen?

Carrefour just made it in August into the top-5 of the retailers in China and that is a good moment to recall how they got there, and how they played their cards much better than Randy.
The French grocer Carrefour flaunted with any regulation on retail and expanded much faster than its law-abiding competitors, who carefully waited until the central authorities allowed them to expand. It must be an awful sight for any foreign company in China, who tries to stick to the law, seeing its competition running away with a giant market share in such a way.
But Carrefour had at least the right attitude. “We did not know it was against the law,” told one of their managers when challenged after they got reprimanded years ago by the central authorities in Beijing for crossing the line. They were of course French and did not read any of the media reports that were written in English or Chinese. “Then we went to Beijing and told them we were sorry,” said the Carrefour manger. “We actually said we were very sorry. And then it was ok.”

You might have one of those banned satellite dishes on your balcony? Very soon it is again the season to crack down on them. The relevant authorities will confiscate a truckload of them, to make their point, and make a few dozen of owners very unhappy. But hundreds of thousands will see the images on TV with relief: this year they were again not among them.