Contributor: Dr Robert March

As a specialist on East-West negotiation and business relationships, Dr Robert March has undertaken Chinese negotiation consulting and training since 1985.

In the 1990s, he reported on his China training and consulting work with Japanese clients in a paper entitled, Inscrutables Negotiating with Inscrutables. In 1999, due to demand from Western businesspeople, he created a successful online graduate course to teach hands-on skills for negotiating with the Chinese. His students were scattered throughout the Asia-Pacific region, North America and Europe. His first book about China, Business Relationships with the Chinese, was published in 2003.

March has been a consultant for a number of companies in their business dealings with China, including initial negotiations and ongoing operations, and has been a consultant, seminar leader, and trainer for firms in the fields of professional investment, non-ferrous metals, design services and hi-tech IT products.

In 2005, March was invited to become a visiting professor of international business at the prestigious Nanjing University, one of Asia's top-ranked universities. March is the first non-Chinese-national to hold the position.