I first learned about the meaning and implications of this word many years ago from a friend of mine Dr. Martin De Sa'Pinto, a great English journalist and freelance correspondent of a well-known magazine. Brinkmanship is the art or a practice of trying to gain an advantage by going to the limit of safety before stopping - and I expect it lends itself nicely to business practices that quickly enable a company to sudden market accelerations. The explanation is not that simple. It is like trying to understand the sometimes complex details of how certain deals came together or fell apart, how the people involved viewed each other or how politics and prejudices tainted expectations and outcomes. If you think about the last decade of China's economic and social development in terms of comparable changes in the history of Europe or that of North America you will sense that deep commitment to growth at all costs. Yet brave and determined young men came up (almost from nothing) with wonderful ideas that perhaps have ever existed and yet at the same time have been so well lined up and established that they are still here for us to study and marvel at.
Quite similarly, coming from a small concern and thus having little contractual force, I have had to come up (most of the time) with new marketing strategies which would allow me to literally clean cut a competitive edge against that of the competition's. Arguably enough, there may be interesting and immediate prospective sales and reliable references although we must not forget time barriers and very different cultures around the globe. However curious though, there are also very simple business arrangements, which if dealt with tactfully and with a solid dose of cultural knowledge, in the end are bound to reap handsome returns! Those who have travelled upstream and stood up for sound ideas ought not to be afraid of temporary setbacks - that is what I reckon Brinkmanship is all about.
Giorgio Gastaldello
Sales & Marketing Manager