Made in China-What Western Managers Can Learn from Trailblazing Chinese Entrepreneurs

Made in China-What Western Managers can Learn from Trailblazing Chinese Entrepreneurs By Donald N Sull with Yang Wang Edition 2005; Publisher: Harvard Business School Press; Price: US$35; PP. xiii + 231 As a country, China has always preferred to operate behind a curtain of secrecy. In comparison to any other country, the world has had little knowledge about China's business culture, economy and progress. However, this land became the world's second largest economy in 2003, and credible analysts predicted that it is likely to overtake the US economy by 2045. The world is now curious to learn about the economic structure, its management practices, business culture and the legal framework of this veiled land. In this context Professor Donald N Sull's book, 'Made in China-What Western Managers can Learn from Trailblazing Chinese Entrepreneurs', co-authored with his research assistant Yang (Harry) Wang, is undoubtedly a significant contribution to all associated with management. The book has eight selected cases developed by the author, each portraying a success story. With each case, the author searches for specific success drivers. The cases narrated in this book encompasses the legal constraints prevailing in China between the late '80s upto 2003, the internal environment of the companies scanned and the external competitive scenario. The cases also include the strategic moves and countermoves made by the firms. Important events are chronologically arranged. Besides description of companies, role and contribution of key persons behind every venture have been recorded with due emphasis. The first chapter provides a brief prelude of those corporate players whose cases are presented, with a short politico-economic history of China. The reader is thus able to appreciate the difficulties and uncertainties faced by the companies that conducted business in China. Chapter two illustrates a case on Sina Corporation supplemented by the concept of 'Active Waiting'. According to the author, the extremely unpredictable, volatile and complex business environment which persisted in China during the '80s and '90s, was not conducive to attempt at Strategic Planning for any company. It was a time of rapid change in the regulatory environment, property rights and in technology. It severely limited a vision into the future and thereby invalidated the effectiveness of long-term planning. Against this backdrop, the author prefers Active Waiting" to Strategic Planning, where the former means alertness for anticipating opportunities and managing threats that the managers can neither totally foresee nor they have any control over. 'Active Waiting' reminds on a particular posture in Judo called Shizentai (Yoffie and Kwak, 2001). Shizentai is the description of a posture where the body maintains stability and the limbs are kept relaxed so that they can swiftly initiate and counter an attack. The concept of 'active waiting' is also echoed in the 'stabilize' strategy developed by Jauch and Glueck (1989). This concept is preceded by a case on Sina Corporation, which describes the operation of the Chinese Internet portal that offered a wide range of differentiated services and quick dissemination of news through its portal. The next chapter, 'Conduct Reconnaissance into the Future' discusses Ting Hsin. The word 'reconnaissance' is borrowed from military jargon and refers to the advanced unit of a troop which moves ahead of the main army to examine unfamiliar terrain and locate possible enemy deployment. This analogy emphasizes on customer surveys to assess customer needs, and thereby determine the demand for a product. However, there is nothing new in this-as the same thing has been observed several times and recorded in the management literature. Exceptionally good products have failed (e.g., initial failure of Heinz ketchup in the Indian market) as preferences of the target customers were ignored. Chapter 4 portrays growth of Legend, a Beijing based IT Company that was established in 1984. …