Three representatives of a Japanese aircraft company traveled to America, to negotiate a business deal. The American negotiating delegation consisted of numerous brilliant, highly qualified, high-ranking specialists. The Americans used the first round of talks, which began at eight o’clock in the morning, for a two-and-a-half-hour Hollywood-style presentation of their company, and of the products they wanted to sell to the Japanese. They used every technical aid at their disposal during their perfectly stage-managed company promotion. During the whole presentation, the Japanese said nothing. They sat still. After two and a half hours, the American delegation leader stood up, turned the light back on in the room, a broad smile on his face on account of the successful presentation.
Then he turned towards the Japanese, and asked them, “Please tell me, what do you think?” A Japanese man, who smiled in an exceedingly friendly way, replied, “I haven’t understood it yet.”
When the American heard that, he turned pale. “What do you mean by that? What didn’t you understand?” Then another Japanese man started speaking, and said with extreme courtesy, “By and large, we didn’t understand anything.” The American almost lost his composure, but suppressed his anger and said, “From what point didn’t you understand our presentation?” Then the third Japanese man spoke: “We understood nothing more from the moment the light went out and the slide presentations began.” The American had to lean against the wall. He loosened his tie. He looked really despairing. Once again, he turned to the Japanese man: “Now then, um, er, so what would you like us to do now?” The three Japanese men answered, “Could you repeat the whole report?”
A Chinese commentator concludes: At the very moment when the Americans were convinced that their presentation had made a splendid impression, and believed that they could negotiate a high
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price with the Japanese, they had a tub of cold water poured over their heads. While the Japanese pretended to be stupid and asked for the whole presentation to be repeated, they destroyed the Americans’ certainty of victory and their self-confidence. The Japanese controlled the situation. As a result, they succeeded in considerably depressing the price and concluding a good deal for themselves (Yu 1994, pp. 219–20).
Stratagem 29:
Decorating a [barren] tree with [artificial]
flowers
The “barren tree” symbolizes a miserable reality; the
“artificial flowers” stand for splendid resources that one can use to embellish the wretched facts. The main concern of the stratagem is not dissimulation, that is, the mere concealment of a nasty situation—although this aspect also plays a part—but pretending to have strengths, power, or significance, to be a threat, and so on; factors that, in truth and reality, are completely nonexistent.
Fake-blossom stratagem; impress stratagem; make-up stratagem.
Stratagem radius
In certain Chinese department stores, splendid escalators are installed.
Yet, for over 300 days in the year they are motionless, displaying the notice “Under repair.” They only start operating again on public holidays. In reality, the escalators are not so much serving the customers as fulfilling the function of mere decoration and image-building (“Escalators pretend to be ill,” RR, August 30, 1995, p. 10).
The Chinese are very good at mounting a big show for foreign guests, with a throng of flag-waving; children singing songs along the road; the presentation of model enterprises; wonderful banquets;
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streets made clean and spruced up, specially for the visiting day; and so on. In this way, creating a euphoric atmosphere can be effective, especially with Western businesspeople, and conducive to making commitments (Brahm, pp. 83–4).
In a Shanghai department store in 1982, a new range of sets of six high-stemmed, beautifully shaped wineglasses of the best quality was introduced. They were scarcely noticed on the shelves. Only between two and three sets a day could be sold. Later, some young salespeople came up with an idea. They filled the wineglasses with water, into which they poured a few drops of red ink. Now the previously transparent, colorless glasses suddenly acquired an aura;
they appeared to be filled with wine and attracted the attention of the customers. Daily sales rose to 30–40 sets.
Other publicity measures that give a product a wonderful aura are regarded as applications of stratagem 29 (Zhou 1992, p. 92; Ye, pp. 286–7; Chen 1, p. 294), for example, the enhancement of a product’s appearance with a display-window decoration or packaging (the Japanese are true masters at this); clever lighting;
exploitation of large events or other functions; endorsement by genuine or so-called experts; and the association of a product with a famous personality. Department stores adorn themselves with cheap special offers on good quality products to entice customers—with the ulterior motive that they will still spend their money in other departments, too (Yu 1994, p. 54).
There’s a suspicion that in America “several electricity and gas suppliers have inflated their turnovers through ‘creative accounting’”
(Handelsblatt, May 23, 2002, p. 14). The telecommunications giant WorldCom “inflated the profit,” while it “entered current costs as investment” (TA, June 23, 2002, p. 23). In this way, the profits were
“inflated to almost $4 billion” (Zürichsee-Zeitungen, July 23, 2002, p. 17). “Between 1999 and 2001, massive turnovers were embellished and costs hidden, resulting in artificial profits of more than $11 billion” (NZZ, March 3, 2004, p. 21). Using the stratagem
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was in vain. For a little later, WorldCom shocked investors and employees worldwide with the heaviest bankruptcy in American history. Assets worth $180 billion were wiped out.
In Britain, herd numbers were temporarily inflated—in order to gain subsidies (NZZ, March 28, 2001, p. 60).
Humanitarian aid: About 150,000 refugees seemed to have disappeared in Guinea. In the Kolomba camp, where previously 25,000 refugees had been looked after, according to official figures, the UN High Commission for Refugees found only 3,000 people.
The following is the most likely explanation for this massive discrepancy between statistics and reality: “The figures for displaced persons had been deliberately inflated. There are various reasons for this. One reason could be that surplus aid was exchanged for cash on the market, which could then be used for personal gain or even to provide weapons for a guerrilla army. Another reason could be that, in such areas, a large proportion of displaced people are registered as refugees. This status not only gives them access to aid, but also efficient and free health care. And finally, inflating the figures also serves the interests of the aid organizations, which use such embroidered reports on their progress as the main instrument in their search for new funds” (NZZ, June 8, 2001, p. 7).
Investment cheats project a veneer of respectability, and thus take their victims for a ride. “So they invest a tidy sum in a distinguished address, glittering prospects, or impressive web pages. A frequently used device is membership of serious-sounding associations. In Germany, a company having their headquarters in Switzerland has the effect of inspiring confidence” (SZ, November 25, 2001, p. 85).
Cheats inspect top restaurants and five-star hotels, right down to the last detail. Then they welcome their victims there and, by means of their familiarity with the locality—they know where the restrooms are, and supposedly even know the names of the chefs—convince them of their inherent respectability. So they adorn themselves with the ambience of luxurious surroundings, and thus project a veneer
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of wealth and credibility, inducing their victims to put caution aside (Zhou 1992, p. 91).
You can lend more weight to your own opinions in conversations and publications, if you embellish them with quotations of great intellectual standing. Don’t forget: Fine feathers make fine birds!
Stratagem prevention
You must distinguish between the dazzling facade and the face that could be hidden behind it. You must not be content with mere facade—an all-too-respectable outward appearance should give rise to mistrust. You shouldn’t allow yourself to be overawed by splendid statistics and impressive expert reports—they’re often not worth the paper they’re written on.
Stratagem risk
If you lay it on too thick, it doesn’t have the desired effect. If it’s temporarily dressed up, because you want to hide a short-term inconvenience, the stratagem can succeed and remain undiscovered.
But if you try permanently to hide fundamental shortcomings with an agreeable fake image, the ruse could turn out to be foolishness. So it really is better to face the truth without cunning, tell everyone the naked truth, roll up your sleeves, and bravely reform the system.