| Here is an interesting story recorded in 1854 by an Qing Dynasty official Duan(段光清) in his chronicles 《镜湖自撰年谱》: "Ningbo was a major port south to Shanghai, but the fishermen and merchants were bothered by vicious pirates. The Qing Navy was paid to fight the pirates, but they were lazy. The fishermen and merchants decided to pay the Navy with extra money every year, in addition to their taxes. This worked, but only for the first few years. With no other choices, the merchants decided to spend money on foreign war ships near the sea, and even applied documents for them from Official Duan. Duan recorded that later the foreign war ships won a major battle against the pirates." The mason worked on Wang Jian Shuo's kitchen project was not bad at all. He did not even complain a second time! In generalizing "the mason's rule" to the rules in international business, it seems useful to at least make a distinction between two kinds of partners: that in monopoly, and the rest. For the former, there is typically little margin in bargaining, as for the Ningbo merchants in 1854. When rules collide, smart people like businessmen think of compromise. But there is also a word called "principle." |
The World of Different Rules