Product Description

All eyes are on China. Home to a quarter of the world's population, China's rapid growth, expanding openness, and developing consumer market have made the region a hotbed of opportunity-and risk-for today's multinationals.

Harvard Business Review on Doing Business in China offers a timely and insightful analysis of what it will take to successfully do business in twenty-first-century China. Featuring eight articles, each written by experts in Chinese business and culture, HBR on Doing Business in China explores issues including:

-The possibilities and pitfalls multinationals face in the newly opened Chinese domestic market

-The unique cultural and social factors that govern the buying preferences of Chinese consumers

-The deep-seated cultural traditions Westerners must understand to negotiate successfully with the Chinese

-The emergence of Chinese brands as powerful rivals in the global market

-Strategies for entering and winning in China as competition- both local and global-heats up

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79592 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

About the Author
Harvard Business School Press

Customer Reviews

Good but isolated perspectives
Like other HBR articles, the articles in this collection on Doing Business in China are well written and presented, with each examining a particular issue in a fairly coherent way.

However, as they are written by different authors, there is an inevitable lack of cohesion among the articles. For example, in article "Entering China: An Unconventional Approach" (pages 105-121), author Vanhonacker argues that since "Chinese companies...typically have a more immediate interest in profits than foreign investors do," "joint ventures do not offer foreign companies what they need to succeed in China." Yet, in article "Trouble in Paradise" (pages 141-161), authors Xin and Pucik present a case study, where the dilemma faced by the American general manager is such that while his US-based boss wants him to improve the joint venture's profitability from a 4% ROI to a 20% ROI, the Chinese deputy general manager wants to grow the joint venture by acquiring another local Chinese enterprise!

In my experience, the scenarios presented in the two articles are pretty academic because the reality is much more messy than that and hardly rests on such a simple black/white trade-off. Indeed, we now know that the China challenge is multifaceted. Therefore, there is an urgent need for an integrated framework that distills what it takes to succeed in China (how to think as well as what to do) by running a central, balanced theme across all these perspectives.

It is fair to say that although eight useful articles are put together in one volume, this book lacks the above mentioned central theme.

To find such a central theme, you will have to read Dr Wei Wang's The China Executive: Marrying Western and Chinese Strengths to Generate Profitability from Your Investment in China. In it, you will find a road map to business success in 21st-century China.

Typical HBR compilation...
The articles are, in sum, quite dated and general. Nothing leading edge here as the content is published through the HBS grist mill that greatly enhances the publishing record of their faculty but adds little of current value.

Nevertheless, for the beginner in China, there is some knowledge here, but, again, keep in mind that the business environment in China moves fast and the information here was several years outdated when published.

A little dated but a good read.
Dont be fooled by the 2004 publising date most of the articles inluded here are from the late 90's early 00's. Otherwise a good read and well worth the $14 price tag.