“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” ~ Mark Twain
Monday, February 7, 2011
Week 2 posts due Feb. 11
Sounds like everyone has some interesting reading ahead. I'm looking forward to reading more about what you're learning and the thoughts you have to share.
One of the most interesting things brought up in my book talked about the trade imbalance between China and the U.S. Surprisingly the authors argued that even though 1/4th of all imports to the U.S. are from China, this does not represent any power over the U.S.
Their main arguments were that the trade imbalance for the U.S. stems first and foremost from fiscal deficit spending in the U.S. If we wanted to reduce the trade imbalance we would first have to curb such liberal spending. A second argument was that many exports coming from China are actually goods originating in other Asian countries that are exported to China to be finished and then further exported to the U.S. The authors mentioned elsewhere in the chapter that China has trade deficits with other Asian countries but very large trade surpluses with North America that make up for these deficits. And finally many of the firms exporting to the U.S. from China are owned by the U.S. with manufacturing bases in China.
The thing i found the most interesting in the first couple pages of my book was it talked about how china grew very fast but what makes china significant is that China grew with little change to the political system. wile a lot of other communist countries were falling China succeeded i thought that was cool. see you next week with more.
Stefan. I find that very interesting china is a huge export to north america. And the imbalance is so true the US has tons and tons more stuff being shipped from china everyday it is becoming ridiculous. your book sounds very interesting,
Many interesting points were brought up in my book. One of them was that many of the rights that people have in the United States are only considered privileges in China. This is due to their governmental system. China does not have political and economic freedom, thus the people do not have any effect on the government. As a matter of fact, the book says that Chinese politician fear popular participation because they do not want anyone to resist their way of thinking.
I already knew about the government’s censorship of media and technology in China. However, I never realized that major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and companies like Microsoft abide by these censorship rules. It blows my mind that a foreign business would agree to limit people’s ability to learn about the real world. I understand being respectful to cultures and traditions. But to agree to limit a person’s ability to find out about how other countries operate just does not seem right.
Stefan: I thought it was interesting that China's trade surpluses with America make up for all their deficits with other countries they trade with. It's interesting to see how another country deals with its economy, especially when we know that the US is in so much debt. My book talks about the economic growth of China as compared to the US. They definitely have some interesting techniques that are helping them be at the top.
Chapter 1: Hunters of the Hinterlands; the Oroqen, Daur, Ewenki, and Hezhen
Legerton and Rawson (authors) visit three different villages living and learning about the minority culture. This chapter is all about how the different villages survive off of hunting or not hunting at all. The Oroqen people have been banned from hunting since 1996. In place of hunting, the government is giving the people a monthly stipend. The stipend alone is not enough for families to live off of. Some villagers gather herbs from the mountains and go into the city to sell them. A majority of the villagers literally just sit around doing nothing. The atmosphere they're living in is dull and boring.
The Daur people are the primary minority group. The difference between the Oroqen and the Daur was the reliance on hunting. Even though the Daur were banned from hunting, a majority of their income came from farming. What I found interesting was that the government discriminated in favor of the minorities.
The Hezhen people rely on hunting and fishing as survival. Fish is not only a huge part of their diet, but it is also used as part of their clothing. For example, coats would be made from salmon skin and buttons were made from catfish bones.
This is a partial view of life as a minority in China.
The second chapter of my book is about the history of China. The author states that we must know and is necessary to know something about the background of the business people we negotiate with in this case is China. Chinese history is very interesting and complex. There were many key figures in the chapter and also key events that had changed China.
Reading this chapter I have understood why China is so careful about religion and why the government have a lot of control over the people and is because in their history they have lost tens of millions of people in civil wars cause by the rebellion of people of one religion against other people of other religion. For this reason I think that Chinese learders have the right to be cautious about religion in China and religious movements. The form of government that China has is due to the past history. Every time they were involve with foreigners in the past, China always lose something and was humiliated as the author stated. For example: the invasion by the Japanese caused cession of Taiwan, the Pescadores Island, the Liaodong Peninsula, and millions of dollars in indemnity.
In the business world we actually need to know more about the background and history of the people who we do business with. This way we can at least understand a little bit how they think, work, believe, and live. And also will help us be less ethnocentric or even look foolish in front of businesspeople.
My book talked a lot about philosophies and Confucius's teachings. The one I found to be the most interesting is The original-goodness nature of human beings. It talked about all humans having a mind that could not bear to see the suffering of others. Another interesting thing my book talked about is the Dao of benevolent government,this talked about how the common people are the most important. There are some major differences between the way things are done in China and here, this chapter was very interesting, it talked about the rule of virtue, this is something that is overlooked by many people in power in the US, they put less focus on punishment and more on laws that are to encourage virtues behavior.
Vanessa we have to understand that maybe they want to preserve what the have and don't want influence from outside to tell them whats right or wrong. The issue is that we think that is not right, because we have grown up with a lot of freedoms, but maybe they do not feel like censoring things without their consent is wrong. Their view are completely different from the one in the USA.
In the second chapter of "Factory Girls", it talks about the city place - Dongguan, Guangzhou, where is a city built for machines. There are many different types of factories, for example, there are sweaters factory, Nescafe factory, and Nokia mobile-phone factory. Also, the roads are wide and high-speed highways. Factories are the bus stops, if you want to go somewhere, you will have to take taxi or bus. A lot of migrants are illegal. Counterfeit college diplomas are for sale at street corners. Dongguan has almost seven million migrants, and only 1.7 million local residents. In this city, you can see advertisements for job openings and the missing for the new migrants. At night, some factories are still running. Also, some girls got cozened to work in Dongguan. Then, Writer talks about her experience in Dongguan, and she had the same feeling and situation as factory girls. In the end of my reading, it talks about the history of Dongguan. In China, I read some books about places in China, and they were all talking about how good is the places. On the other hand, I see the differences in this book, it tells a lot of truth that nobody tells. I think I see the truth of things and people from this book.
My family believes in Confucianism. I remember when I was little, they told me many stories about Confucius, and taught me Confucius’s philosophies. I think his thought is interesting and deep, and sometimes I don’t get it. I remember his five virtues are benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom, and credit.
I start reading chapter two which is talking about traditional Chinese business values. Confucian Predominance affects Chinese cultural value over 3000 years. Confucianism maintains that ‘moral convention’ is the cement that binds society together. Importantly, convention has six major areas of influence: hierarchy, collectivism, ‘face”, pragmatism, high uncertainty avoidance, and egalitarianism. In this time, I share the first three influences.
Traditional Chinese culture is characterized by hierarchy, which means unequal. In contrast, West is democratic and more equal. The book mention Confucius identified five basic human relationship categories: Emperor (kindness)/ Subject (loyalty); Father/ Son; Husband/ Wife; Older Brother/ Younger Brother; and Friends or Friendship. The subordinate should obey the level above. If the Emperor asks a subject to die, the subject must do it without question. So it is important that everyone should follow the norms and values stipulated by elders or persons in authority. Collectivism is built upon the hierarchical social framework, so individuals must be loyal. This means that inside the collectivism always has a supreme level, and the collectivism is not equity. The most interesting thing is the Many Faces of ‘Face’. A “special face” means your boss appreciates you or is closer to you than others, so the subordinate must pay more attention to the boss’ face. If someone has a good relationship with others, they cannot have bad reputation because the others feel the one lose of their face. Therefore, the ‘face work’ is building and maintaining a relationship between people of higher or lower social scales.
Working in China, employees must follow the boss’ face, whatever their face is, the employees have to be a ‘smile face’ which makes the boss may like you. And if employees want to be promoted, they must have closer relationship with the boss and give the employer more benefit as much as they can.
Stefan I feel your reading is interesting. I don't know China are actually goods originating in other Asian countries that are exported to China to be finished and then further exported to the U.S. Before I read your comment, i thought China made the goods and exported to the US. Anyway that is why in the US we always see the goods are made in China. So if the dollar drops, it may hurt China's economy directly.
Tyler Jones: Way to highlight a really interesting point from your book, i agree with your intrigue. I hope to learn more about the growth of China through your posts, although I do believe that you better start reading fast because its already gone much further than I'm assuming it was at when that book came out. But good luck
Reading through the next chapter of my book was interesting for me because the author was talking about how he got acquainted with China. It started with a trip once every couple of years for business, and then turned into him going to China once every couple of months. It was cool to hear his story about trying to gain the trust of the Chinese businessmen in order to get a real sense of the Chinese culture and its business as opposed to just the screened and perfected version that they want the rest of the world to see. Hopefully later on in the book I'll learn more about the "real China" and its many secrets for success.
Week 2: This week I finish reading chapter one. There I found one thing that is interested in this chapter. According to the author, it was the first time that Volkswagen had a join venture experience with the country like China. Tough Volkswagen had experience to operate a companies in oversea, Volkswagen had its member in the important positions. However, the joint venture Volkswagen set up with China was an equity and management responsibilities. It was brave for China to request this idea because China does not have experience in automobile as Volkswagen does. But I understand why China wanted a 50:50 management idea. With this kind of management, China can learn faster and know how to operate in the automobile industry. It was a brilliant thought.
@ Michael: It is truth that Chinese concern about virtue. As a Chinese, I have been taught to follow the five virtue from very young such as benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom, and credit which Shanshan already mentions to you.
Week 2: After reading more of my book I have seen that it is a little outdated but still it is very interesting. The beginning talks about the internet and how it will play a huge roll in China's future. Edward Tian, CEO of China Netcom Corporation, talks about how they envision the future of China with internet. He talks about their ability to bring limitless bandwidth to all of China bringing about numerous benefit for villages, hospitals, and school. I found it interesting how he said that what CNC has done in less than a year in China took WorldCom and Sprint years to complete in America. The use of the fiber optic cables will be the main drive behind this ultra powerful internet in China. I just found it interesting how China technological infrastructure is growing by leaps and bounds.
Tyler: That is interesting it will be interesting to see what happens to China in the near future if their political parties can hold up as they become such a huge superpower in the world. My book talks about some of the struggles that the communist party has had with the emergence of the internet and how they are trying to deal with that. They realized that the internet is crucial to success but it will be hard for them to control. Sounds like you have an interesting book.
I was reading my book yesterday, and I stumbled upon a quote that just baffled my mind and made me apprecaite mister Tao Te Ching, it said, "Hence, look at the person through the person; lookat the family through the family; look at the hamlet through the hamlet; look at the state through the state; look at the empire through the empire." Now I dont really understand this quote too much, but man do those Chineses philosophers really know how to make you think!
Tyler, SO YOU THINK COMMUNISM IS COOL!? Im just kidding around I know exactly what you mean. Those Chinese know how to maintain their long lives and clearly their strong political systems. I wonder if they will ever evolve into a more democratic government system, because at the rate their country is expanding it would probably eventually be in their interest to change the way people make money, but the again cheap labor is what made China what it is today
China Streetsmart is turning out to be quite interesting. Chan's approach to business in China is, as he would describe, "practical." The first chapter goes is really an introduction to how to use the book. Chan presents four questions to ask whenever reviewing information about China: (1) When did te story or info happen? (2) Where does this story or info take place? (3) who are the "mainland Chinese involved? (4) Who are the forgeiners involved?
Chan also touches base on why China became such a popular business market during the 80s and 90s. He says that the idea of selling billions of items to a given market began a frenzy throughout the world. Then as hundreds and hundreds of companies began doing business in China, a state of hyper-competition and oversupply ensued. This state forced many companies to go bankrupt or leave all together.
Chan says at the end, that the book book can be summed up in one statement: "The biggest secret of doing business in China is - there is no secret; it is just plain common sense."
Sunshine: your book seems fascinating. I thought of choosing that book, too. It is wild how so many factories and industries an be crammed into a single place! But it makes since because so much comes from China! I couldn't tell, but your book sounds like a person's experience; which sounds really cool since it isn't all information necessarily!
The first chapter basically introduces Donyang County. The first part talks about the historical background. Danyang is located in the Zhejiang province. It also said that the County has shrung over the years. It also goes on to talk about the type of economy that fuels the local economy there. It briefly describes the history of the County and the natural environment. The main focus of the chapter is on the past and current economy and what fueled it.
@ Warren I had no idea that companies eventually caused an oversupply in China and many were forced out of business. It's interesting that it's economy progressed that far and that rapidly. It seems like they had a pretty free market economy. And it looks like over time the market was able to correct itself. I wonder if that could have any applications to us over here?
Week 2: My book Competition, Strategy and Management In China is about the business environment in China, and the role of the Chinese government. It talks about how the Chinese government has taken interventionist and protectionist approach in designing its industrial policies so they will have a competitive advantage in particular industries. Such as setting standards to force firms to upgrade their standards, and even creating new industries to make them internationall competitive. The government plans on promoting educational and training programmes to help with the skill shortage over there.
Winston - I think that is very interesting, even though it might be a little out dated that is very true. The internet has changed many things, and how fast news travels. It has definently helped China's economy, and is still helping it.
I think it is fascinating how rapid China can improve its internet connections throughout the country. Meanwhile, the United States still has multiple dead spots with its broadband internet and wireless phone coverages. Now, if only the Chinese government could not limit the internet to their citizens the way they did with Google!
I am still without my book, so I decided to write about an article I read from http://www.economywatch.com/in-the-news/interview-doing-business-in-china-24-06.html.
This is an interview with a business consultant, who has been watching the Chinese economy for the past twenty years.
I found it interesting how he said the government wants the Chinese to be the strongest global companies and create their technology. But he states that the way the government is going about this is going to hurt the Chinese economy and hurt their trade policies. Also, he mentions that although the business market is growing, it is very hard and competitive to start a company.
Although overall, the consultant feels optimistic about the future of the Chinese economy and he thinks there needs to be better trade policies between China and the US.
I agree with what you said about knowing the history of the people. A huge part of the way they run their businesses has to do with past experiences. It gives other countries an insight into their background.
The Second chapter of my book explains the origin of the Chinese language. It breaks down the characters used in their alphabet and gives a background on how they were developed. The basic form of the Chinese writing system is pictography. I found it interesting how the contrast from western alphabet based languages and that of the Chinese language is prone to imaginative thinking and Westerners to abstract thinking. The ancient Chinese philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism has greatly influenced the Chinese language and its people.
I too think is ridiculous that the Chinese people have limited freedom that is not fair or right, but I guess we have to keep in mind that everyone country is different and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for the other. Anyways your book sounds pretty interesting, keep posting more information!
The first few pages of the book talk about China itself; the geography, climate, environment, natural resources, population, economy and evolving business environment. One thing I found interesting was that although they have the largest hydro-power potential in the world.
Myth 1 "One Market: 1.3 billion people" from my last blog, in conclusion:
Anyone planning to sell into China must find the right way to segment the market. The way this segmentation will work will all depend on the product and the people that you will be presenting it to, especially if your product has to do with food or drinks. Keep in mind that China is divided into five culinary areas:
1. Beijing and northern cuisine is based on wheat and pork: noodles, delicious dumpling, Mongolian hotpot, Beijing duck.
2. Southern cuisine is the lightest, with plenty of seafood and soup. The soup is often cooked with Chinese medicinal herbs, which help conserve one's vital powers.
3. Western and Sichuan cooking is the most spicy, and can blow the roof of your mouth off. :) Hot and sour sauce/soup originated in Sichuan, though it is now popular all over China.
4. In the very far west, the Muslim Hui people have a central Asian style of cooking, featuring mutton, beef and chicken.
5. Eastern cooking, as in Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi, tends to be very sweet. Rice and seafood feature a lot.
So when you are in China and depending which region you are in keep these differences in mind, it might save you from eating something too spicy that will burn you mouth :)
@ Brian: WOW that actually sounds really interesting, I have always thought that it was cool how Chinese can write with pictures rather than letters. To me, being taught English, it seem strange to think of writing with pictures. In a way it seems more efficient though.
The first few bits of my book talked about how the world views China as by far the most rapidly growing competitive threat and market opportunity. The chapter presents the idea that, because of extraordinarily high levels of investment in China, economists are wondering if this will continue to fuel the growth or will the rising investment rates (higher than any the world has seen) create some kind of issue that slows growth.
Vanessa: I'm also astounded by the level of censorship that China has on their internet. It's so hard to imagine not having the priviledges that we have here in America. And we really do take advantage of it. Can you imagine not having Google or Wikipedia? We use those for everything.
My book spoke about concerns, such as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and negotiating with the government. These two are related. IPR is a serious problem because the Chinese government does not enforce a lot of the policies. They don’t care to protect a rich man’s property when so much of their population is in poverty. It’s an ongoing problem to many business leaders in China.
@ Brian Wow. I never knew all that. But the Chinese do like pictures a lot. I wonder if this is why many of them are so creative. They have a lot of innovation to help them become great.
Sounds like everyone has some interesting reading ahead. I'm looking forward to reading more about what you're learning and the thoughts you have to share.
One of the most interesting things brought up in my book talked about the trade imbalance between China and the U.S. Surprisingly the authors argued that even though 1/4th of all imports to the U.S. are from China, this does not represent any power over the U.S.
ReplyDeleteTheir main arguments were that the trade imbalance for the U.S. stems first and foremost from fiscal deficit spending in the U.S. If we wanted to reduce the trade imbalance we would first have to curb such liberal spending. A second argument was that many exports coming from China are actually goods originating in other Asian countries that are exported to China to be finished and then further exported to the U.S. The authors mentioned elsewhere in the chapter that China has trade deficits with other Asian countries but very large trade surpluses with North America that make up for these deficits. And finally many of the firms exporting to the U.S. from China are owned by the U.S. with manufacturing bases in China.
The thing i found the most interesting in the first couple pages of my book was it talked about how china grew very fast but what makes china significant is that China grew with little change to the political system. wile a lot of other communist countries were falling China succeeded i thought that was cool. see you next week with more.
ReplyDeleteStefan.
ReplyDeleteI find that very interesting china is a huge export to north america. And the imbalance is so true the US has tons and tons more stuff being shipped from china everyday it is becoming ridiculous. your book sounds very interesting,
Week 2 Post :: Vanessa Lézeau ::
ReplyDeleteMany interesting points were brought up in my book. One of them was that many of the rights that people have in the United States are only considered privileges in China. This is due to their governmental system. China does not have political and economic freedom, thus the people do not have any effect on the government. As a matter of fact, the book says that Chinese politician fear popular participation because they do not want anyone to resist their way of thinking.
I already knew about the government’s censorship of media and technology in China. However, I never realized that major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and companies like Microsoft abide by these censorship rules. It blows my mind that a foreign business would agree to limit people’s ability to learn about the real world. I understand being respectful to cultures and traditions. But to agree to limit a person’s ability to find out about how other countries operate just does not seem right.
Stefan: I thought it was interesting that China's trade surpluses with America make up for all their deficits with other countries they trade with. It's interesting to see how another country deals with its economy, especially when we know that the US is in so much debt. My book talks about the economic growth of China as compared to the US. They definitely have some interesting techniques that are helping them be at the top.
ReplyDeleteChapter 1: Hunters of the Hinterlands; the Oroqen, Daur, Ewenki, and Hezhen
ReplyDeleteLegerton and Rawson (authors) visit three different villages living and learning about the minority culture. This chapter is all about how the different villages survive off of hunting or not hunting at all.
The Oroqen people have been banned from hunting since 1996. In place of hunting, the government is giving the people a monthly stipend. The stipend alone is not enough for families to live off of. Some villagers gather herbs from the mountains and go into the city to sell them. A majority of the villagers literally just sit around doing nothing. The atmosphere they're living in is dull and boring.
The Daur people are the primary minority group. The difference between the Oroqen and the Daur was the reliance on hunting. Even though the Daur were banned from hunting, a majority of their income came from farming.
What I found interesting was that the government discriminated in favor of the minorities.
The Hezhen people rely on hunting and fishing as survival. Fish is not only a huge part of their diet, but it is also used as part of their clothing. For example, coats would be made from salmon skin and buttons were made from catfish bones.
This is a partial view of life as a minority in China.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe second chapter of my book is about the history of China. The author states that we must know and is necessary to know something about the background of the business people we negotiate with in this case is China. Chinese history is very interesting and complex. There were many key figures in the chapter and also key events that had changed China.
ReplyDeleteReading this chapter I have understood why China is so careful about religion and why the government have a lot of control over the people and is because in their history they have lost tens of millions of people in civil wars cause by the rebellion of people of one religion against other people of other religion. For this reason I think that Chinese learders have the right to be cautious about religion in China and religious movements. The form of government that China has is due to the past history. Every time they were involve with foreigners in the past, China always lose something and was humiliated as the author stated. For example: the invasion by the Japanese caused cession of Taiwan, the Pescadores Island, the Liaodong Peninsula, and millions of dollars in indemnity.
In the business world we actually need to know more about the background and history of the people who we do business with. This way we can at least understand a little bit how they think, work, believe, and live. And also will help us be less ethnocentric or even look foolish in front of businesspeople.
My book talked a lot about philosophies and Confucius's teachings. The one I found to be the most interesting is The original-goodness nature of human beings. It talked about all humans having a mind that could not bear to see the suffering of others. Another interesting thing my book talked about is the Dao of benevolent government,this talked about how the common people are the most important. There are some major differences between the way things are done in China and here, this chapter was very interesting, it talked about the rule of virtue, this is something that is overlooked by many people in power in the US, they put less focus on punishment and more on laws that are to encourage virtues behavior.
ReplyDeleteVanessa
ReplyDeletewe have to understand that maybe they want to preserve what the have and don't want influence from outside to tell them whats right or wrong. The issue is that we think that is not right, because we have grown up with a lot of freedoms, but maybe they do not feel like censoring things without their consent is wrong. Their view are completely different from the one in the USA.
Tyler that is interesting, I am surprised to see your support of Communism. I cant wait to hear your thoughts on socialism.
ReplyDeleteShanshan Zhang
ReplyDeleteIn the second chapter of "Factory Girls", it talks about the city place - Dongguan, Guangzhou, where is a city built for machines. There are many different types of factories, for example, there are sweaters factory, Nescafe factory, and Nokia mobile-phone factory. Also, the roads are wide and high-speed highways. Factories are the bus stops, if you want to go somewhere, you will have to take taxi or bus. A lot of migrants are illegal. Counterfeit college diplomas are for sale at street corners. Dongguan has almost seven million migrants, and only 1.7 million local residents. In this city, you can see advertisements for job openings and the missing for the new migrants. At night, some factories are still running. Also, some girls got cozened to work in Dongguan. Then, Writer talks about her experience in Dongguan, and she had the same feeling and situation as factory girls. In the end of my reading, it talks about the history of Dongguan. In China, I read some books about places in China, and they were all talking about how good is the places. On the other hand, I see the differences in this book, it tells a lot of truth that nobody tells. I think I see the truth of things and people from this book.
Hey Michael,
ReplyDeleteMy family believes in Confucianism. I remember when I was little, they told me many stories about Confucius, and taught me Confucius’s philosophies. I think his thought is interesting and deep, and sometimes I don’t get it. I remember his five virtues are benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom, and credit.
I start reading chapter two which is talking about traditional Chinese business values. Confucian Predominance affects Chinese cultural value over 3000 years. Confucianism maintains that ‘moral convention’ is the cement that binds society together. Importantly, convention has six major areas of influence: hierarchy, collectivism, ‘face”, pragmatism, high uncertainty avoidance, and egalitarianism. In this time, I share the first three influences.
ReplyDeleteTraditional Chinese culture is characterized by hierarchy, which means unequal. In contrast, West is democratic and more equal. The book mention Confucius identified five basic human relationship categories: Emperor (kindness)/ Subject (loyalty); Father/ Son; Husband/ Wife; Older Brother/ Younger Brother; and Friends or Friendship. The subordinate should obey the level above. If the Emperor asks a subject to die, the subject must do it without question. So it is important that everyone should follow the norms and values stipulated by elders or persons in authority. Collectivism is built upon the hierarchical social framework, so individuals must be loyal. This means that inside the collectivism always has a supreme level, and the collectivism is not equity. The most interesting thing is the Many Faces of ‘Face’. A “special face” means your boss appreciates you or is closer to you than others, so the subordinate must pay more attention to the boss’ face. If someone has a good relationship with others, they cannot have bad reputation because the others feel the one lose of their face. Therefore, the ‘face work’ is building and maintaining a relationship between people of higher or lower social scales.
Working in China, employees must follow the boss’ face, whatever their face is, the employees have to be a ‘smile face’ which makes the boss may like you. And if employees want to be promoted, they must have closer relationship with the boss and give the employer more benefit as much as they can.
Stefan
ReplyDeleteI feel your reading is interesting.
I don't know China are actually goods originating in other Asian countries that are exported to China to be finished and then further exported to the U.S. Before I read your comment, i thought China made the goods and exported to the US. Anyway that is why in the US we always see the goods are made in China. So if the dollar drops, it may hurt China's economy directly.
Tyler Jones: Way to highlight a really interesting point from your book, i agree with your intrigue. I hope to learn more about the growth of China through your posts, although I do believe that you better start reading fast because its already gone much further than I'm assuming it was at when that book came out. But good luck
ReplyDeleteReading through the next chapter of my book was interesting for me because the author was talking about how he got acquainted with China. It started with a trip once every couple of years for business, and then turned into him going to China once every couple of months. It was cool to hear his story about trying to gain the trust of the Chinese businessmen in order to get a real sense of the Chinese culture and its business as opposed to just the screened and perfected version that they want the rest of the world to see. Hopefully later on in the book I'll learn more about the "real China" and its many secrets for success.
ReplyDeleteWeek 2:
ReplyDeleteThis week I finish reading chapter one. There I found one thing that is interested in this chapter. According to the author, it was the first time that Volkswagen had a join venture experience with the country like China. Tough Volkswagen had experience to operate a companies in oversea, Volkswagen had its member in the important positions. However, the joint venture Volkswagen set up with China was an equity and management responsibilities. It was brave for China to request this idea because China does not have experience in automobile as Volkswagen does. But I understand why China wanted a 50:50 management idea. With this kind of management, China can learn faster and know how to operate in the automobile industry. It was a brilliant thought.
@ Michael: It is truth that Chinese concern about virtue. As a Chinese, I have been taught to follow the five virtue from very young such as benevolence, righteousness, manners, wisdom, and credit which Shanshan already mentions to you.
ReplyDeleteWeek 2: After reading more of my book I have seen that it is a little outdated but still it is very interesting. The beginning talks about the internet and how it will play a huge roll in China's future. Edward Tian, CEO of China Netcom Corporation, talks about how they envision the future of China with internet. He talks about their ability to bring limitless bandwidth to all of China bringing about numerous benefit for villages, hospitals, and school. I found it interesting how he said that what CNC has done in less than a year in China took WorldCom and Sprint years to complete in America. The use of the fiber optic cables will be the main drive behind this ultra powerful internet in China. I just found it interesting how China technological infrastructure is growing by leaps and bounds.
ReplyDeleteTyler: That is interesting it will be interesting to see what happens to China in the near future if their political parties can hold up as they become such a huge superpower in the world. My book talks about some of the struggles that the communist party has had with the emergence of the internet and how they are trying to deal with that. They realized that the internet is crucial to success but it will be hard for them to control. Sounds like you have an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteI was reading my book yesterday, and I stumbled upon a quote that just baffled my mind and made me apprecaite mister Tao Te Ching, it said, "Hence, look at the person through the person; lookat the family through the family; look at the hamlet through the hamlet; look at the state through the state; look at the empire through the empire." Now I dont really understand this quote too much, but man do those Chineses philosophers really know how to make you think!
ReplyDeleteTyler, SO YOU THINK COMMUNISM IS COOL!? Im just kidding around I know exactly what you mean. Those Chinese know how to maintain their long lives and clearly their strong political systems. I wonder if they will ever evolve into a more democratic government system, because at the rate their country is expanding it would probably eventually be in their interest to change the way people make money, but the again cheap labor is what made China what it is today
ReplyDeleteDrew Tonack week 2:
ReplyDeleteChina Streetsmart is turning out to be quite interesting. Chan's approach to business in China is, as he would describe, "practical." The first chapter goes is really an introduction to how to use the book. Chan presents four questions to ask whenever reviewing information about China: (1) When did te story or info happen? (2) Where does this story or info take place? (3) who are the "mainland Chinese involved? (4) Who are the forgeiners involved?
Chan also touches base on why China became such a popular business market during the 80s and 90s. He says that the idea of selling billions of items to a given market began a frenzy throughout the world. Then as hundreds and hundreds of companies began doing business in China, a state of hyper-competition and oversupply ensued. This state forced many companies to go bankrupt or leave all together.
Chan says at the end, that the book book can be summed up in one statement: "The biggest secret of doing business in China is - there is no secret; it is just plain common sense."
Sunshine: your book seems fascinating. I thought of choosing that book, too. It is wild how so many factories and industries an be crammed into a single place! But it makes since because so much comes from China! I couldn't tell, but your book sounds like a person's experience; which sounds really cool since it isn't all information necessarily!
ReplyDeleteThe first chapter basically introduces Donyang County. The first part talks about the historical background. Danyang is located in the Zhejiang province. It also said that the County has shrung over the years. It also goes on to talk about the type of economy that fuels the local economy there. It briefly describes the history of the County and the natural environment. The main focus of the chapter is on the past and current economy and what fueled it.
ReplyDelete@ Warren
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that companies eventually caused an oversupply in China and many were forced out of business. It's interesting that it's economy progressed that far and that rapidly. It seems like they had a pretty free market economy. And it looks like over time the market was able to correct itself. I wonder if that could have any applications to us over here?
Week 2: My book Competition, Strategy and Management In China is about the business environment in China, and the role of the Chinese government. It talks about how the Chinese government has taken interventionist and protectionist approach in designing its industrial policies so they will have a competitive advantage in particular industries. Such as setting standards to force firms to upgrade their standards, and even creating new industries to make them internationall competitive. The government plans on promoting educational and training programmes to help with the skill shortage over there.
ReplyDeleteWinston - I think that is very interesting, even though it might be a little out dated that is very true. The internet has changed many things, and how fast news travels. It has definently helped China's economy, and is still helping it.
ReplyDelete@Winston
ReplyDeleteI think it is fascinating how rapid China can improve its internet connections throughout the country. Meanwhile, the United States still has multiple dead spots with its broadband internet and wireless phone coverages. Now, if only the Chinese government could not limit the internet to their citizens the way they did with Google!
I am still without my book, so I decided to write about an article I read from http://www.economywatch.com/in-the-news/interview-doing-business-in-china-24-06.html.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interview with a business consultant, who has been watching the Chinese economy for the past twenty years.
I found it interesting how he said the government wants the Chinese to be the strongest global companies and create their technology. But he states that the way the government is going about this is going to hurt the Chinese economy and hurt their trade policies. Also, he mentions that although the business market is growing, it is very hard and competitive to start a company.
Although overall, the consultant feels optimistic about the future of the Chinese economy and he thinks there needs to be better trade policies between China and the US.
@ Diana
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about knowing the history of the people. A huge part of the way they run their businesses has to do with past experiences. It gives other countries an insight into their background.
The Second chapter of my book explains the origin of the Chinese language. It breaks down the characters used in their alphabet and gives a background on how they were developed. The basic form of the Chinese writing system is pictography. I found it interesting how the contrast from western alphabet based languages and that of the Chinese language is prone to imaginative thinking and Westerners to abstract thinking. The ancient Chinese philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism has greatly influenced the Chinese language and its people.
ReplyDeleteVanessa
ReplyDeleteI too think is ridiculous that the Chinese people have limited freedom that is not fair or right, but I guess we have to keep in mind that everyone country is different and what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for the other. Anyways your book sounds pretty interesting, keep posting more information!
The first few pages of the book talk about China itself; the geography, climate, environment, natural resources, population, economy and evolving business environment. One thing I found interesting was that although they have the largest hydro-power potential in the world.
ReplyDelete@ brandon
ReplyDeleteI love Chinese quotes and proverbs. My favorite is by Confucius: Choose a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.
Myth 1 "One Market: 1.3 billion people" from my last blog, in conclusion:
ReplyDeleteAnyone planning to sell into China must find the right way to segment the market. The way this segmentation will work will all depend on the product and the people that you will be presenting it to, especially if your product has to do with food or drinks. Keep in mind that China is divided into five culinary areas:
1. Beijing and northern cuisine is based on wheat and pork: noodles, delicious dumpling, Mongolian hotpot, Beijing duck.
2. Southern cuisine is the lightest, with plenty of seafood and soup. The soup is often cooked with Chinese medicinal herbs, which help conserve one's vital powers.
3. Western and Sichuan cooking is the most spicy, and can blow the roof of your mouth off. :) Hot and sour sauce/soup originated in Sichuan, though it is now popular all over China.
4. In the very far west, the Muslim Hui people have a central Asian style of cooking, featuring mutton, beef and chicken.
5. Eastern cooking, as in Shanghai, Suzhou and Wuxi, tends to be very sweet. Rice and seafood feature a lot.
So when you are in China and depending which region you are in keep these differences in mind, it might save you from eating something too spicy that will burn you mouth :)
@ Brian:
ReplyDeleteWOW that actually sounds really interesting, I have always thought that it was cool how Chinese can write with pictures rather than letters. To me, being taught English, it seem strange to think of writing with pictures. In a way it seems more efficient though.
The first few bits of my book talked about how the world views China as by far the most rapidly growing competitive threat and market opportunity. The chapter presents the idea that, because of extraordinarily high levels of investment in China, economists are wondering if this will continue to fuel the growth or will the rising investment rates (higher than any the world has seen) create some kind of issue that slows growth.
ReplyDeleteVanessa: I'm also astounded by the level of censorship that China has on their internet. It's so hard to imagine not having the priviledges that we have here in America. And we really do take advantage of it. Can you imagine not having Google or Wikipedia? We use those for everything.
ReplyDeleteMy book spoke about concerns, such as Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), and negotiating with the government. These two are related. IPR is a serious problem because the Chinese government does not enforce a lot of the policies. They don’t care to protect a rich man’s property when so much of their population is in poverty. It’s an ongoing problem to many business leaders in China.
ReplyDelete@ Brian
ReplyDeleteWow. I never knew all that. But the Chinese do like pictures a lot. I wonder if this is why many of them are so creative. They have a lot of innovation to help them become great.