Customer Reviews

The China Executive: Marrying Western and Chinese Strengths to Generate Profitability from Your Investment in China

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Our company has made a good number of multi-million-dollar investments in China in the past decade. While a couple of them have been doing fine, most have been struggling since day one. As the director in charge of these operations, I have been trying to understand why but I am puzzled.

I have also tried to make sense of what happens in China by seeking help from classic Western business theories (such as those developed by Peter Drucker and Michael Porter) as well as a number of China business books (such as Tim Clissold's Mr China and James McGregor's One Billion Customers), but I find that they are of limited help because I still struggle to grasp the big picture.

For example, I find Drucker's management-by-objective philosophy too rigid in China because local people do not like to act according to pre-determined plans; Porter's five-force competition and three-point strategy models too static because, apart from significant regional differences, the China business environment is characterised by rapid changes in regulation, competition and technology.

Meanwhile, Mr China has made me disheartened (are the terrifying stories going to happen to me as well, given that the author offers no clues on how to deal with such challenging situations?) and One Billion Customers has made me confused (are the Chinese really one of the most individualistic and selfish peoples in the world, given their apparent valuing of and great attention to human relationships?)

The good news is that, with The China Executive in my hand, I am not puzzled any more! Not only do I now understand why my fine China operations are doing fine, but also how I might turn around the poorly-performed ones.

If you are contemplating investing in China or have already made investment there, this book is for you.