The Chinese Tao of Business E-Book

George T. Haley

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Seitenzahl: 433

Beschreibung

How can managers discover, develop and implement successful business strategies for China and our global economy? Drawing on in-depth research with top executives of successful Chinese and Western companies, this book provides a road map for profitable business strategies in our interconnected economy. In the process, the authors describe and examine both Chinese and Western strategic management, their weaknesses and strengths. Starting with an analysis of the historical, cultural and legal antecedents of Chinese strategy, the authors identify potential for synergy and dominance between companies from Western, industrialized economies and Chinese companies. The book closes with recommendations on how the managements of non-Chinese companies, now pouring into China, can most effectively compete and interact with Chinese businesspersons and governments. The Chinese Tao of Business offers guidance to compete successfully against local companies and in foreign markets through: * Unique insights into Chinese bus iness strategy, including its origins and influencing factors; * Insightful perspectives on the evolution of China's market and business environments; * Incisive analysis of Eastern and Western strategic decision-making styles and how they differ; * Cogent identification of hidden and overt threats, pitfalls and opportunities that Western companies face in China and how to plan for them; * Effective direction through an Adaptive-Action Road Map (ARM) for successful business strategies in China and the global economy.

Leseprobe

Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Part 1: The civilization Chasm

Chapter 1: Understanding the Civilization Chasm

Introduction

The Tao Te Ching

The Essence of Chinese Philosophy

Eastern Vs. Western Cognitive Styles

Delineating the Chasm: Russia Vs China

Conclusion

Part 2: The Ancestry of Chinese Strategy

Chapter 2: Economic and Ethical Roots of Chinese Strategy

Introduction

The Economic Roots of Chinese Strategy

The Contradiction of Profits

The Primacy of the Family

The Ethical Roots of Chinese Strategy

The Limits of Ethics

Trust and Uprightness

Network-based Economies: Fusing Economics and Ethics

Communism and Taoism: Harmony in Disharmony

Chapter 3: The Historical Roots of Chinese Strategy

Introduction

The Emperors and the Merchants

The Evolution of Chinese Bureaucracy

The Communist Sojourn

Implications for Business in China

Chapter 4: The Legal Roots of Chinese Strategy

Introduction

Historical Influences on China’s Legal system

Characteristics of Chinese Commercial Law

Business-Government Influences on Litigation

Counterfeiting in China

Intellectual-property Rights in China

Chapter 5: The roots of the Networks

Introduction

Economic Roots of the Networks

What is a Chinese Network?

Contextual Morality

Distinguishing Cultural Traits of Asian Networks

Differentiating the Overseas Chinese Networks

The Limits of Networks

Part 3: Eastern Vs. Western Strategic Planning

Chapter 6: The Components of Chinese Strategy

Introduction

Information Search in Chinese Strategy

Decision-Making in Chinese Strategy

Managerial Functions

Chapter 7: Evaluating Chinese Strategy

Introduction

Chinese Core Competencies: Spinning Webs

The Strengths of Chinese Strategy

The Weaknesses of Chinese Strategy

Some Strategies that Work

Some Strategies that Fail

Webs Anchored on Grease

Chapter 8: Strategically Evaluating Western Strategy

Introduction

Pouring Foundations

The Strengths of Western Companies

The Weaknesses of Western Companies

Some Strategies that Work

Some Strategies that Fail

Part 4: Travelling Towards Strategic Convergence

Chapter 9: A Unified Model of Strategic Planning

Introduction

Cognitive Styles and Strategic Decision-Making

Managerial Convergence

Chinese-Western Convergence

The Silk Road to Managerial Convergence

Chapter 10: The Silk Road of Strategic Planning

Introduction

ARMing Managers for Success

The Road of Knowledge

The Road of Speed

The Road of Action

The Road of Results

The Road of Relationships

The Road of Quality

The Road of Passion

The Road of Legacy

Appendix A: List of Interviewees

Appendix B: Bibliography

Index

Copyright © 2004 by John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd

Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte Ltd

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• Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN 0470-82059-4

We dedicate this book to those who instructed us in the “Way”:

Helen Basila Haley, James B. Haley and Sarah Basila;

Nandini Venkatesan and Dr. C. Venkatesan;

Indira Bellare and Vasudevrao Bellare;

Khoo Loo Eng and Tan Thye Bee

Acknowledgments

George T. Haley,

Usha C. V. Haley, and

Chin Tiong Tan

USA & Singapore July 2004

A book of this nature requires the support and co-operation of several people. In particular, an international group of senior managers gave us considerable time and valuable insights; to these managers (listed in Appendix A), we extend our sincere thanks.

We owe an enormous debt, too, to the businesspeople, colleagues and students with whom we have discussed and refined the ideas in this book. We thank them all, particularly Csaaba Soos (formerly of Artesyn Technologies) Frank-Jurgen Richter (Director for Asia, World Economic Forum), and Indra Nooyi (President and Chief Financial Officer, Pepsico). Winnie Hu and Austin C. T. Hu (Deputy Chief of Mission, The World Bank Office, Beijing) provided enormous assistance for our interviews in Beijing.

We also owe sincere thanks to Nick Wallwork, Malar Manoharan and David Sharp of John Wiley & Sons Publishing. Without their faith, patient support, encouragement and occasional nagging, we would never have completed this project.

This project was funded by a grant from the Scholarly Research Grant Program of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and we thank Oscar Fowler and David Schumann for providing this support.

Tan Poh Lin, at the Singapore Management University, provided efficient help by transcribing interviews with managers.

This book went through several iterations and required co-operation of numerous people across myriad time zones — in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and the USA. We owe a deep debt to our families, and heartfelt thanks to our friends and colleagues, as well as George and Usha’s cats, Comet Baby and Marmalade, for easing strain, making life enjoyable, and for their support and patience when deadlines loomed and tempers frayed.

Finally, we owe an intellectual and emotional debt to our parents and grandparents for showing us the Way, the foundation for a meaningful life; to our ancestors, we dedicate this book.

About the authors

George T. Haley

George T. Haley, Ph.D. (University of Texas at Austin), is Director of the Center for International Industry Competitiveness and Professor of Industrial Marketing and International Business at the University of New Haven where he teaches in the graduate and executive programs. He has taught on the faculties of other top universities, including the Institute Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (Monterrey, Mexico), the National University of Singapore (Singapore), the Queensland University of Technology (Brisbane, Australia), Thammasat University (Bangkok, Thailand) and Harvard University (Cambridge, USA). He has also presented seminars to academics, businesspersons and government policy makers in Vietnam, Thailand, India, Singapore, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand.

A frequent public speaker for corporate executives and government policy makers worldwide, and an award-winning author, George has over 100 books, book chapters, articles and research reports. He also wrote New Asian Emperors: The Overseas Chinese, their Strategies and Competitive Advantages, the top-selling book on Asian business strategies worldwide in 1999, also referred to as “an important study” by the Economist.

An expert on emerging and industrial markets, including the historical, cultural and legal environments in which Chinese business strategy is formulated, George consults with several multinational companies and governments in Asia, Australia, Latin America and the USA. His expertise includes strategic forecasting and the management and auditing of technology and intellectual property in emerging markets.

He is on the Review and Advisory boards of several US and European journals including International Marketing Review, IndustrialMarketing Management, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, and the Journal of Management Development, where he lends his expertise on Asia and other emerging economies. Additionally, he has guest edited several journal special issues on business in emerging economies and on Internet-Based B2B Marketing.

George’s research is regularly profiled in the media including the Economist, the Far Eastern Economic Review, CNN, Voice of America, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, China Business Weekly, Marketing News and IndustryWeek. Some of this coverage, including research and reviews for the Chinese Tao of Business is available at www.ChineseTao.com. Please contact him at [email protected] or tel/fax: [phone].

Usha C. V. Haley

Usha C. V. Haley (PhD, Stern School of Business, New York University) is Director of the Global Business Center and a Professor of International Business in the School of Business at the University of New Haven. She has more than 100 books, journal articles, book chapters and research presentations on international strategic management. Her latest books include New Asian Emperors: The Overseas Chinese, their Strategies and Competitive Advantages (Butterworth-Heinemann); Strategic Management in the Asia Pacific: Harnessing Regional and Organizational Change for Competitive Advantage (Butterworth-Heinemann); Multinational Corporations in Political Environments Ethics, Values and Strategies (World Scientific); and, Asian Post-CrisisManagement: Corporate and Governmental Strategies for Sustainable Competitive Advantage (Macmillan/Palgrave).

She has taught International Business and Strategic Management at major universities in the United States (including Harvard University), Singapore (at the National University of Singapore), Australia (at the Australian National University), and Mexico (at ITESM, Monterrey Campus). Additionally, she has taught in major corporate, governmental and universities’ executive-development programs, for top and middle managers and policy makers, in the United States, Australia, Russia, Mexico, Hungary, Vietnam, Italy, Finland, India and Singapore. She also consults on strategic management and foreign direct investment for several multinational corporations in North America, Australia, Europe and Asia, sits on six journal editorial boards, including Journal of International Management, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Management Decision, Asia Pacific Business Review and Journal of Business Strategy, and serves as Regional Editor (Asia Pacific) for two academic journals.

An expert on the multinational corporation and international strategic management, especially in Asian and emerging markets, Usha’s research on China and the Asia Pacific has been regularly covered in the media and business publications including the Wall Street Journal, Wall Street Journal (Europe), Forbes, the Economist, Barron’s, Red Herring, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Salt Lake City Tribune, CNN, PBS’s Wide Angle, Voice of America, Asahi Shimbun, The China Post, The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, The HindustanTimes, The Guardian, The South China Morning Post, China Business Weekly, and several others. Some of this coverage, including reviews of The Chinese Tao of Business, may be viewed at www.ChineseTao.com.

In 2003, Usha received a Life-time Achievement Award in Management from the Literati Club (UK) and a panel of businesspersons, policy makers and academics, for her contributions to the understanding of business in the Asia Pacific. She currently sits on two company and governmental boards and is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who in American Education. Please contact her at [email protected] or tel/fax: [phone].

Chin Tiong Tan

Chin Tiong Tan (PhD, Marketing, Pennsylvania State University) is the Provost of Singapore Management University. He spent 20 years of his career at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he was Professor of Marketing, Chairman of Executive Programs of the Faculty of Business Administration, Co-Director of Stanford-NUS Executive Program and Director of the NUS Office for Continuing Education.

He is active in management development and consulting. He is a sought after speaker in the US, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and South Africa. Prof Tan was the Academic Advisor to Singapore Airline’s Management Development Centre for 10 years. Organizations he has worked with include the Standard Chartered Bank, Swiss Bank Corporation, Carrier, Hewlett-Packard, Acer Computer, Altron Group (South Africa), Motorola (Asia Pacific), Cultur (Finland), Akzo Nobel (The Netherlands), and others. He is also on the Board of Directors of several Singapore-listed companies and served as strategic and business advisor to many organizations. He is Past President and Chairman of Senate of the Marketing Institute of Singapore.

Prof Tan has published in many international journals including the Journal of Consumer Research, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Marketing and Psychology, International Journal of Marketing, Journal of International Business Studies, Research in Marketing, International Marketing Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, European Journal of Marketing, and other journals. He is also the co-author of Philip Kotler’s Marketing Management: An Asian Perspective (3rd Edition, 2003, Prentice Hall), John Quelch’s Strategic Marketing Cases for 21st Century Asia (2000, Prentice Hall), Marketing in the New Asia (2001, McGraw-Hill), New Asian Emperors: The Overseas Chinese, Their Strategies and Competitive Advantages (1998, Butterworth-Heinemann), and Marketing Insights for the Asia Pacific (1996, Heinemann Asia).

PART I

THE CIVILIZATION CHASM

CHAPTER 1

UNDERSTANDING THE CIVILIZATION CHASM

“Hence, look at the person through the person; look at 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,”

Tao Te Ching

Book 2, Chapter 54, Stanza 124

Introduction

The small town of Camden, South Carolina, with about 8,000 people, has a heavy Southern drawl. Locals shop at the Wal-Mart, Kmart and Piggly Wiggly. Fried chicken and steak, grits and biscuits dominate the local restaurant fare. Here, a pioneering Chinese-owned factory is establishing its presence. As the first units roll off the line at the 300,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art refrigerator factory owned by the Qingdao-based Haier Group, one wonders whether Haier will fit well with provincial Camden. The Camden plant’s Chinese and US managers say they often struggle to communicate with one another, and much of this difficulty centers on cultural issues and assumptions. “I think it’s a learning situation for the Chinese on how to manage Americans, especially Southerners,” said Nelson Lindsay, the Kershaw County Economic Development Office’s director. “The Chinese had plenty of questions for local officials concerning employee recruitment and benefits,” he said.1 Yet the Chinese appear more comfortable than early Japanese arrivals in delegating day-to-day operations to US managers. Bernie Tymkiw, the factory’s highest-ranking US manager, with about three decades in the home-appliance industry, and its human-resource director, Gerald Reeves, said they have wide latitude to manage as they see fit.2 Understanding the civilizational chasm appears the first order of business.

To remove workers who might clash with Haier’s corporate culture, prospective employees must undergo a 40-hour initiation program before Haier hires them. The program stresses teamwork, safety and the importance of quality, as well as an understanding of Chinese history, culture and philosophy. In 2001, Haier flew 10 workers to China for a two-week training program to instill its corporate values. This trip included climbing the Great Wall.

This book provides insights for effective management by Westerners in China as well as Chinese in the West. This first chapter introduces the Tao Te Ching, which offers an understanding of ancient power relationships and their acceptance in modern China. The next section outlines Chinese moral, social and legal philosophies on which later chapters will elaborate. The ensuing section delineates differences between Western and Chinese cognitive styles. Finally, the last section sketches how China’s history has taken a unique trajectory because of these philosophical and cognitive differences.