The management of legal tactic is an important part of enterprise management nowadays. Recently, Terry Gou has responded to concerns about Microsoft's lawsuit against Hon Hai Group, also known as Foxconn, by disseminating information through a certain channel.
1. Microsoft sued the group in apparent guilty conscience. Before we officially received the indictment, Microsoft pre-released the news, intending to collect improper patent protection fees, and not transfer the contents of the legal proceedings.
2. Microsoft mainly collects patent protection fees from Chinese mobile phone brands such as Huawei. However, when the U.S.-China trade dispute was in a heated stage, Microsoft turned to target weak Taiwanese manufacturers, forcing Taiwan's foundries to collect payments on their behalf instead. As a result, Microsoft not only avoided offending Chinese customers and netizens but also received unreasonable patent protection fees from them.
3. The purpose of Microsoft is to charge Huawei for patent protection fees for using Android, but Huawei's incident is creating a hubbub in the world. If Huawei were to be sued, Microsoft would have to face a backlash from Huawei and the unanimous boycott of Microsoft products by Chinese users and young Internet users.
4. As the global software overlord, Microsoft is supposed to collects protection fees from global Google and Android authorized users. Instead, it only charges Chinese manufacturers. Microsoft's purpose is very clear. It is making use of the U.S.-China trade dispute to collect patent protection fees from Chinese mainland's Android consumers, as China tends to seek peace in the U.S.-China trade dispute.
The so-called legal tactics is planning to seek the maximum benefit for enterprises by using the laws and regulations of countries around the world. In the legal profession, it is called a legal negotiation. In business administration however, it is called legal tactics. Behind this distinction, the key is the understanding of the legal environment by decision makers. In general, this is a cross-border implementation strategy, the strategy part belongs to the scope of business management, and the legal part belongs to the business of a lawyer. Therefore, under favorable circumstances, the enterprise should form a strategic decision-making team with decision-makers who knows the best interests of the enterprise as its main body. Lawyers should also act as the advisers to carry out strategic planning. Just like President Trump's use of his own lawyer, Michael Cohen (the two later fell out and the issue became a scandal), this is a common phenomenon in the American legal environment.
In many cases, Chinese enterprises also emphasize on legal awareness, but most of them believe that it is the business of lawyers. We respect the law, but it only reflects on seeking help and advice from lawyers in the event of an accident, or during contract terms. In fact, it is far from the reality of competition in the international market. The most important part of the investment environment of the global market is the legal condition. Modern enterprises, especially those with a high degree of internationalization, have to ensure that their primary task before entering a market is to make clear of the legal environment and formulate a corresponding enterprise strategy. Without such a legal tactics, entering a country's markets blindly is an irresponsible and risky behavior.
Chinese enterprises need to know that the competition in the world market is mostly a "legal battle". Therefore, advance legal tactics planning is inevitable and its cost is a necessary expense, just like transportation and hotel expenses. In western countries, especially the United States, the law is almost all about negotiation and transaction. It is simply not feasible for companies to have no legal tactics. The U.S. legal community estimates that more than 97% of criminal charges could be settled through plea bargaining. Moreover, there is a large proportion of civil cases involving substantial commercial interests could be settled through negotiation, which is why many lawyers are able to hold important positions on the board of directors. Some time prior, Zhou Libo's case sparked concern. Zhou ultimately blamed his lawyer, citing that American lawyers were terrible, showing that he was basically ignorant of the legal environment and did not have his own legal tactics.
The American legal system is generally good and fair. Everyone can defend themselves, there is little corruption and the legal fees are relatively cheap. Contrary to popular belief, the legal cost in America is only 0.5% of GDP. Given this, it is still slowly declining. In India, the cost of legal delays alone is estimated to be 2% of GDP. Therefore, the key to the problem is to pay attention to the legal tactics. The internationalization of enterprises must also take into account some sort of mechanism and arrangement to deal with the legal environment and the legal tactics.
Final analysis conclusion:
In fact, a negotiation is also a form of transaction which should not be regarded as extreme behavior. Terry Gou's reaction to the Microsoft lawsuit shows that he is actually an old-fashioned businessman, at best a clever and wise one that is tied to the old ways of doing business. However, he does not understand the use or nature of legal tactics. Microsoft shows that Terry Gou was not playing well in this legal battle. A transaction is nothing more than a transaction, and that is all there is to it. If you go into a country with a legal adviser, at least you can ask him to find out who's going to sue you. If you come in and play the game without figuring out the rules, inevitably there is bound to be risks.
