My father-in-law used to bring back stories about working in China, when he was helping to set up factories over there. Nearly every time he came back with a story of how "unreasonable" the Chinese management were about one thing or another, and when he did, the project went nowhere.
As I have an MA in International Relations, and have worked in the field, I would quiz him on what was "unreasonable", and nearly every time, the Americans "helping" the Chinese did something stupid and ignorant, which poisoned the relationships.
Dumb stuff like hosting a "buffet-style" dinner for a very important political/business figure, and forcing him to go through the line like everyone else, after he and his underlings asked, in several polite ways, to be served at the table. Immediately after this dinner, cooperation on the project virtually stopped, and my FIL was clueless as to why. Didn't see the connection.
Why you sacrifice a multi-million dollar or even multi-billion dollar investment because your factory reps are culturally "tone-deaf" is beyond me.
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