Despite being ironically spoken through the, anything but brief, words of Polonius, Shakespeare's quote--"Brevity is the soul of wit,"--still rings true. It takes true talent to be able to condense one's thoughts into a short, but complete statement. On the other hand, many times short thoughts are anything but complete. Keep this in mind as you post and comment over the next several weeks, being sure that your words reflect careful thought and pertinent content.
Monday, March 23, 2015
Week 6 Posts Due March 27
Despite being ironically spoken through the, anything but brief, words of Polonius, Shakespeare's quote--"Brevity is the soul of wit,"--still rings true. It takes true talent to be able to condense one's thoughts into a short, but complete statement. On the other hand, many times short thoughts are anything but complete. Keep this in mind as you post and comment over the next several weeks, being sure that your words reflect careful thought and pertinent content.
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My most recent reading switched from life in the city and factories to life in the village. The author was invited home with one of the factory girls over the Chinese New Year holiday and the experience and time spent in the village is in such contrast to the city/factory life. The girl that the author went with had spent two years in the city and this was her first time returning home since leaving. She at first was full of new ideas and improvement plans for her family's home. One improvement she attempted to enact was the set up and use of a trash bag in the home. In the village trash is just thrown anywhere and everywhere and then every so often someone will sweep the dirt floor to gather all the trash and deposit it outside. The zeal for these improvement plans was short-lived, however. Another aspect of village life brought out was how the roles were experiencing a generational change. In the past, the youth expected a gift of money from the elderly. With the increase in youth going to the cities to work, it was now expected that the youth would bestow gifts upon the elderly in the village. It is interesting to read about the differences between the the pace and way of life between the factory and the village and also to note the cultural changes that are taking place gradually as more people move to work in the factories.
ReplyDeleteCaitlin, it is very interesting to read about how different the city is when compared with life in the village. When I think of China I never think of an area in which they are sweeping dirt floors to remove trash that has been thrown on the ground. The contrast between city and village life is vast. I also find it interesting that the reforms were so quickly disregarded. Change is difficult but it seems like something as simple as throwing away trash would be something people would want to adopt.
DeleteThe section I am now reading in “How China’s Leaders Think” is about reform. To get a clear understanding of what reform meant for the Chinese in the last 60 years the author gives an insightful overview of the wars, changes in leadership, and the establishment of communism in China. The next chapter discusses agricultural reform and Kuhn tells the story of a man who was an active Chinese politician, had a wealthy, landowning father, and implemented Chinese agricultural reforms that helped to feed China. This man was socially humiliated because of his support of President Liu Shaoqi, another Chinese reformer. He was exiled from politics and forced to work manual labor in a factory only to be reinstated a couple years later. This story is a good reflection of Chinese government and the way Chinese think because it shows the pride of the citizens. Even though this man was humiliated and exiled his pride and vision for China helped him to be able to come back and make reforms that helped feed China and make China better in many ways. It also shows the way leaders think because of the way they dealt with an individual that was supporting something that the leaders of the party did not like.
ReplyDeleteI find it intriguing that they reinstated him after he was exiled. It's very unusual to hear of someone being accepted back in after being exiled. While exile seems harsh, it is an interesting idea that someone can return from exile and makes it seem like there might be some possibility of grace to the punishment.
DeleteIt is so crazy to think about what China has gone through in the last century: changes in leadership, political reforms, and so much suffering on the part of thousands of citizens, especially those who did not agree with the various ideologies in power. It is amazing that this man in your book had such a loyalty and love for his country that he did not become jaded and discouraged by his suffering but instead continued to do all he could to help China.
ReplyDeleteThe section I read about was how China became such a strong country so fast. China makes 5 and 10 year plans that state where it wants to be on those given future dates.
ReplyDeleteThese plans allow China to have a focus and a common goal that everyone is working towards. It is this homogeny that allows China to work so seamlessly. However, these goals do come at a cost. The Chinese government has little regard for the environment and regards its people as an input that is expendable. If China is not able to calm some of the resentment, then it could loose some of the homogeny that made it such a powerful machine.
I think it is always great to create 5 and 10 year goals. China seems like they have all of their "ducks in a row" for the future. However, it sounds as though the Chinese government doesn't care how the goals are met, but as long as they're accomplished. It's truly sad to think that a government is willing to do whatever it takes in order to get the task done, even if it means hurting its own people. And I think they will one day realize the harm they are causing when the government realizes that all of their citizens are against them and their future goals. It is harder for goals to be met unless everyone is willing to work together and enjoys putting in the time to get something accomplished.
DeleteIn my most recent reading I have learned about the importance of leaders. The Chinese government has a very interesting viewpoint on how they think their leaders should lead. In many cases they make decisions on whatever would make China the #1 country in the world instead of what would be best for their people as a whole. The Chinese are more interested in doing whatever means necessary to reach their goal of being #1. Chinese government has and always will be very secretive. They have monitors on all of their citizens and in some cases they watch what they do on their technology too. I know that the United States has the capability of doing this, but they don't do it unless need be. Chinese government is very controlling and very micromanaging. The term, "big brother is watching you" is a serious issue in China because it's not just a paranoia, it's a real thing. The amount of paranoia that would be on my mind is unfathomable if I were living in China. However, the Chinese probably don't know what it's like not to have someone watching them all the time. It's not freedom, that's for sure. But then that concept plays into the fact that China is a communist country, not technically perhaps but definitely a "capitalistic economy with socialist tendencies."
ReplyDeleteChina is such a driven country. Most of the times we view success as possessing large amounts of money. Is that success? Many great business men seem to suffer in their family life. I am glad to live in a country that was founded off the principals of freedom and have principals such as freedom of speech. I wonder if China will become more democratic as it continues to adapt business practices from western countries.
DeleteI think it's admirable that Chinese citizens are so devoted to making their country the best over their own personal interest. I think many Americans could learn a lot from them. At the same time, it makes me thankful that I live in the US.
DeleteI see a theme in the reading reactions posted here- control. China, from an outside and inside view, is attempting to become the most powerful country in the world by controlling its people. The power behind them is their use of money on a carrot stick. In my book it talks about how the Chinese government motivates its employees (public and private sector) heavily through compensation- stocks, bonds, and higher pay. The United States does not mirror this. There is an intrinsic value to work that is understood and cultivated in our employees. Money is a motivator but so is affirmation and a positive work environment. I see this as being healthier and creating a more stable work force and ultimately, a more stable economy.
DeleteRecently, my book has been discussing the bond markets in China. China's banks hold over 70 percent of all bonds so the use of instruments are in question. Bonds were first introduced to encourage institutions, other than banks, to hold corporate debt. In reality, the main reason is the national government needs financing. China's bonds are not being traded and this is because there is no real yield curve from the Ministry of Finance. Instead, the bonds are valued by the interest rates on loans from the Peoples Bank of China. It seems like to me that China will wiling to disregard 'normal' business models to further their growth. I would be very hesitant to practice business in a country that is still trying to fully develop their financial instruments.
ReplyDeleteJeffrey I completely agree with your last sentence. I don't think I could manage doing business in a country whose government may or may not care about giving accurate information. We're lucky in America that although there's corruption, in general the government will side with the uncorrupt. In China I'm not so sure, and I think it would worry me too much to do business in that environment.
DeleteFrom Business Leadership in China:
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese want managers who are willing to lead from the heart: not because they have to but because they genuinely care. Most current manages are not like this, but the really admired ones are. For a company's leadership to switch the culture from leading for the numbers to leading because you care, the author claims it usually takes one year. Additionally, in the United States truth comes before courtesy. In China it's the opposite. The story is all too familiar to western managers of Chinese employees leaving the company without any forewarning to coworkers or supervisors because they do not want to hurt anyone feelings. Westerners can cure this by being clear about their expectations, explaining how important it is you receive accurate information, and select a worthy confidante who can give you the information no one else will.
You bring up a good point. I'd never thought of the managerial differences in that way before. It sounds like there simply needs to be a desire to learn and understand cultures from both perspectives. If the Chinese manager understood how frustrating it was to the US workers for him to simply quit without warning, he'd understand that in trying to avoid hurting peoples' feelings, he was doing exactly that. So I agree, having clear communication and instilling a desire in the workers to learn about the other workers' cultures could ease some of this tension.
DeleteThe chapter I read recently talked a lot about the proper protocol for business meetings in China. It's quite different from the US. When doing business in China, you must expect that your first meeting will not be about business. This meeting is about learning a little bit about each other and seeing if you seem trustworthy. Often, the actual business negotiations won't even begin until the third or fourth meeting. Chinese meetings tend to go long as well. Don't be surprised if they last three or four hours. In fact, its important to remain patient because any sign of rushing through a meeting is considered extremely rude. Lastly, don't be shocked if a Chinese person walks out in the middle of your meeting with no explanation. This might be rude in America, but in China it just shows that the person is feeling relaxed. This type of behavior is quite normal. So, if you ever happen to need to conduct a business meeting in China, now you'll know the proper protocol.
ReplyDeleteMy book talked a lot about this as well. They said that the lines between business and personal relationships often blurred because of the extensive 'extracurricular' meetings they were having. Their culture really values respect and loyalty, and thats why i think they do it. I guess through the forbearance of the meetings and interactions, which got to be on purpose, are a test of whether you are genuine or not. That's cool how our books are speaking in-tune with each other about this. It must be a trustworthy observation.
DeleteAfter reading your comment I feel a little bit more comfortable, knowing that they expect us to do things that are not appropriate for them. But I still want to always have in mind the respect that we need to show them. I dont want to feel awkward doing things that are not allowed or offensive for them.
DeleteLike you said, keeping a humble attitude is the key for both cultures to keep good, open communication.
For my most recent reading, the author covered the copyright, counterfeiting, and trademark infringement issue that is a daily occurrence in China. This wasn't a surprise to me because we'd covered this problem in class and had been warned about the real possibility of having our identities and apps hacked if we connected to the internet in China. The book stresses on the fact that companies are successful because of their patents and copyrights - that's what differentiates them - therefore it makes it very difficult to do business in China when the chance of having the companies identity stolen is such a problem. The book suggested that companies either have back-up plans in the chance that they get hacked, or simply outsource their transaction and business information from China and leave production in China (where it is cheapest). That way they reap the benefits of cheap labor and materials, but keep the safety of their intellectual property rights.
ReplyDeleteThe problem of intellectual property is one of the big challenges that any company that does business with China needs to be aware of and address. Some companies adapt to this market, while others fail in the process. Like you said, companies need to adapt to new markets and find ways to be profitable. They cannot just miss out on the big market that is China if they want to grow.
DeleteReading this book is giving me new perspectives, and I am learning more about China. This chapter talks about marketing in China. The chapter talks about the consumerism in China, which is different and not expected for a country like China. It also talks about how companies are advertising to appeal to the consumer base there and how difficult it is to provide and obtain business services.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that I want to share about this chapter is the consumerism in China. The distribution system is not yet fully developed there, and this causes difficulties to retail transportation and results in the lack of public information. Sometime is hard for the consumer to buy exactly what they want. The other problem is the lack of credit cards and the difficulty for people to get loans, which affects both the consumers and the sellers.
The other point that I want to talk about is the growth advertising in China. At this point, China’s government and businesses are handling advertising well. It is the consequence of the move from state-owned economy to a free economy. Today Chinese are brand conscious, because of this.
The last thing that I want to share from this book is that providing and obtaining business services in China is a challenge. This area of business is one of the most regulated and protected in China, making it harder to sell something nationally. It is beginning to change now, and the Chinese economy will be benefited by this change. Foreign companies still have more trouble, but this is changing too, just more slowly than for national companies.
In conclusion, consumerism, advertising, and providing and obtaining service in China is changing and developing, but these changes take time. The government still wants to have control of everything to protect their people from what they think is bad for them. Marketing in China is changing quickly and will keep changing.
First, I want to respond to what you mentioned about the fact that purchasing on credit is not yet super easy and accessible as it is here in the States. I wonder if there's a cultural lag there could be responsible for this. And I guess the fact that even with those regulations, China must be doing something right to make it the focus of many investors right now :) I definitely agree that China is keen on the elements that can boost its economy, and it seems to be active about enabling maximum growth. Seems like an interesting read!
DeleteChina Entrepreneur:
ReplyDeleteWhile reading this book it just became very apparent to me that everything that these 40 entrepreneurs were dealing with was all because of the hindrance and disallowance of the Chinese people, by their government to be westernized. Not that Westernization is the solution but rather one of the characteristics that defines Westernization. The identity of the individual. I believe it’s this change in the identity of the human and what a human is ‘allowed’ to do, in the mind of the Chinese people, that is moving China forward in economic industry and adding to its power as a nation. Of course the government allowed this to happen through interaction with foreign industry, its just that they are not excelling forward into new territory, but merely catching up with where they would have been had they, as a people, been allowed to develop (culturing the individualistic mindset) with the rest of the world. But now, China is accelerating towards this Western mindset. The book explains that the Chinese may struggle with something like teamwork and group projects for example, yet it is nothing like what it was twenty years ago. For this example, the book identifies the link: China’s super competitive education system. A recently graduated employee can work intensely to solve a problem by his/herself but when it comes to creatively working together with other people, there’s a roadblock. Various case studies in the book harmonize the theme that the mindsets of the Chinese people really make or brake your Westernized foreign industry. Their ability to adapt to and identify with certain ideals plays a bigger role in the numbers and literal well being of a company than most people realize. You can maneuver around various obstacles of funding and target demographics and government relations, but when it comes to dealings with Human Resources, HR takes precedence. The authors state, “If you are able to manage human resources in China, you can manage China.”
A possibility to why the people may not do so well when working in creative group projects is because the government usually decides what project they want the people to work on. In westernized civilization, the government is for the people, while in Communist countries like China, the people are for the government. The competition in schools over there must be fierce, because that is their only opportunity to better their lives. They have to look out for themselves more, (not saying they are selfish, but just a product of the government system), which is why they probably do better on individual projects rather than creative group projects. It will be interesting to see how the Chinese people respond if China continues to grow towards the Western mindset.
DeleteThe next part of Invisible China was about the Korean immigrants who live in China. Above the North Korean border, in the city of Yanji, the Koreans reside. They do better off than most of the other minorities in China, and sometimes just as well as the top Chinese business men. While the majority of them are South Koreans, there is a handful of North Koreans. The North Korean government owns a few fancy restaurants in Yanji, as well as souvenir shops closer to the border, all promoting N. Korean culture, and its leaders. The South Koreans conduct business in the city, as well as the tourist shops, and usually make a decent living for themselves. What stuck out to me was that people from all over the world are always trying to make a better life for themselves. An elderly tourist shop owner said she left her home on the coast, where she had a job she loved, but came to Yanji for a better living, but a job she did not care for that much. Her ultimate goal was to get to Japan. Thousands of people from N. Korea illegally immigrate to China, just in hopes of making half the living the elderly lady does. It does not matter your ethnicity or gender or age, the common trait is that people all are looking to better their lives and their families lives through doing whatever it takes to get a better job.
ReplyDeleteThis is really interesting because I have heard of a lot of people even coming from the states to go live in China to work. In fact there were some members of my church that when i told them I was going to China said that their son was there working i think in teaching. But this is definitely very intersting to me because I never knew there were so many different people trying to go live in China. Although I think that I get this idea because my family migrated from China to America for better lives.
DeleteThe very last stratagem discussed, "The Escape Ploy," is a desperate stratagem, and it basically means to avoid head on confrontations when you know your army will probably lose. Bercu's business application is that smart business strategy entails knowing which markets to actually refrain from pressing into.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated the real world illustrations for this particular stratagem because it refers to cultural tensions between expanding businesses and eastern markets. For example, when KFC first attempted to expand into Hong Kong in 1967, it failed because the "cheap fast food" sell didn't work for that market, but its later re-entrance as a completely different brand that appeals to the middle-class is a current success.
The effects of colonialism should teach us in the West that a sense of supremacy is doomed to result in negative consequences, and companies can actually learn and from the cultures of others.
In fact, since this is our last blog posting, that is my overall takeaway from this book. The Chinese are successful for a reason, not just for an abundance of resources in material and labor, but for mindsets that are stemmed from cultural principles unique to and ingrained in them.
This week we talk about leadership and synthesis. Mostly synthesis. The author talks about how when doing business with the chinese you man have new and innovative ways of doing things but there are still customs and ways that the chinese have of doing things and at the end of the day you have to balance these things. You have to learn from the outside environment and still be able to apply those things that you have that are innovative. Basically what this is saying is to go in with no expectations and no limitations so that you can be ready for whatever happens.
ReplyDeleteThe reading I did for this week discussed why working and doing business in China is so difficult. The author, James McGregor, explains that one factor that makes working in China often difficult is that its laws are often only laws that benefit China. McGregor writes, “"Negotiations can take forever and the resulting agreements can be promptly ignored." With an underlying reputation for corruption and secrecy, he adds, Chinese partners, customers and suppliers have a reputation for stealing technology and trade secrets from foreign companies.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting question that was answered in my reading for this week was why do outsiders fail while attempting to do business in China? The author writes about how foreign executives often get "run over by their Chinese competitors, the Chinese government, or their Chinese partners — or sink themselves through various combinations of unrealistic expectations, impatience, and lack of common sense."
The reading was interesting. Also saddening in a way if I may add. It seems that rather than the Chinese wanting to help outside businesses, they attempt to do the opposite. I’d be interested to hear back from others if they have read similar testimonies from their books.
This chapter in my book talked about how the Chinese use cost innovation for their corporations from start up to growth- continuing to use this innovation to build their company. The purpose; to obtain a competitive advantage over established U.S. companies.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that they undercut their competitors by using mass production and low cost labor- passing the savings onto their customers. The most surprising fact is that they do this with high technology products such as supercomputers and make them available to the average consumer in mass quantities. They can flood the market with these products and thus kill their competitors that rely on the high product margins that are received from controlled quantities.
These Chinese businesses can maintain this competitive advantage because they apply recombinative innovation, described as, "Creating new, improved models by recombining existing ideas and technologies in novel ways, rather than by developing additional products internally from scratch." The question I am asking myself now is, "If I own a business, how do I combat a potential Chinese takeover of my industry and personal livelihood?" I believe the first step is to know the threat.
After reading about all the rules and customs of China, I was beginning to feel a little bit afraid of doing or saying something that would be considered extremely offensive. However, my book's last chapter ends with a little bit of encouragement for us Westerners. The Chinese pretty much expect us to be barbaric. America is a relatively new country compared to China, and we don't have the very old customs and philosophies that they do. However, if you do something impolite accidentally, don't be too hard on yourself. While it's not pleasant to realize that everyone in China think Americans are barbarians, it takes some of the pressure off. As long as we keep a humble attitude and are ready and willing to embrace a culture that is unfamiliar, we/ll be fine. Humility is key to avoiding becoming one of those "ugly Americans".
ReplyDeleteThis chapter from the book I’m reading is focused on “traveling in China.” Most of the points in this chapter are recommendations and advice that we were given from our professors, so I will not repeat much.
ReplyDeleteA couple of the things that stood out to me were the fact that hotel rates are negotiable. And though it is not so important, it caught my attention that the beds are almost hard. I am mentally preparing myself for this. Another interesting things is that most of the hotels in China have a business center with with a fax machine, etc.
The other thing that the author talks about in this chapter is the need to apply for a visa and have a valid passport. In the chapter “Some helpful travel trips,” I found many tips that we can use. The author also mentions that it is necessary to have time to adapt to the time change, something that will be necessary on this trip. The author also recommends bringing medications for flu, allergies, headaches, etc. His other point is a reminder about the electricity, because Chinese power is 220 volts.