Dr. Patent, named Vice President of Cultural Affairs for China Prime, to guide cultural training and China market entry for Western companies.
(1888PressRelease) June 16, 2009 - San Francisco, CA - China Prime (www.chinaprime.com) announced today the appointment of Jason Patent, PhD, to the position of Vice President, Cultural Affairs.
Formerly the Director of Stanford University's Overseas Studies Program at Peking University in Beijing, Dr. Patent most recently led the language research team of leading management consultancy, Gap International, Inc. His role at China Prime will leverage his extensive background in linguistics and East Asian studies, as well as his hands-on expertise in bridging the perceptual and performance gaps driven by cultural assumptions common to Western businesses.
"Over the nearly two decades since I first went to China to work, I’ve witnessed dozens of failures in tasks large and small due to a clumsy handling of intercultural differences," said Dr. Patent. "In virtually every situation, no one ever bothered to ask: ‘How can we adapt our thinking and behavior to get the results we want?’ The resulting loss of opportunity – in time and cost – is staggering. With China Prime, I’ll be in a position to help organizations identify and solve these kinds of avoidable mistakes."
Dr. Patent’s appointment to China Prime’s executive team further elevates the firm’s expertise, which includes strategic consulting, China market research and special projects such as consumer and business data mining and integrated marketing. He joins a highly seasoned management team that has successfully built international technology, marketing and data management enterprises.
"Superior leadership and informed, real-world guidance is required now more than ever to help organizations intelligently leverage the myriad opportunities represented by the Chinese market," said Ben Tse, Chief Operating Officer of China Prime. "Jason is simply one of – if not the – best when it comes to guiding Westerners through the Chinese cultural minefield, and his appointment will provide immediate and significant benefit to our clients."
A fluent Mandarin speaker, Dr. Patent first went to China as an English teacher in 1991 and spent over seven years living, working, teaching, and traveling China until his return to the United States in 2007. He has lived in several parts of China, including Guangzhou, Chengdu, the northeastern border province of Heilongjiang and most recently Beijing. After earning his undergraduate degree from Harvard University, Dr. Patent earned an MA in East Asian Studies from Stanford University and a PhD in Linguistics from the University of California at Berkeley.
About China Prime
Based in Vancouver, Canada, with operations in San Francisco and Beijing, China Prime (www.chinaprime.com) is a China market intelligence and strategic consulting firm, and is the leading developer and manager of comprehensive Chinese business market data for Western enterprises.
Services range from strategic consulting and list rental to market research and special projects such as consumer and business data mining, segmentation studies, integrated marketing programs and more.
The firm’s data-driven, analytical model is powered by The China List, a proprietary 10 million+ record Chinese business database, which allows the company to quickly assess opinion, mine for opportunities, or target potential partners and customers.
With the information, expertise and experience global businesses need to reap the rewards of intelligent entry into the Chinese business market, China Prime helps turn information into insight, ideas into action and opportunity into reality.