One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in ChinaIt is well known that with a population of 1.3 billion people, China's market is moving quickly toward surpassing those of North America and Europe combined. Companies from the United States and around the globe are flocking there to buy, sell, manufacture, and create new products. But as former Wall Street Journal China bureau chief turned successful corporate executive James McGregor explains, business in China is conducted with a lot of subterfuge -- nothing is as it seems and nothing about doing business in China is easy. Destined to become the bible for business people in China, One Billion Customers shows how to navigate the often treacherous waters of Chinese deal-making. Brilliantly written by an author who has lived in China for nearly two decades, the book reveals indispensable, street-smart strategies, tactics, and lessons for succeeding in the world's fastest growing consumer market. Foreign companies rightly fear that Chinese partners, customers, or suppliers will steal their technology or trade secrets or simply pick their pockets. Testy relations between China's Communist leaders and the United States and other democracies can trap foreign companies in a political crossfire. McGregor has seen or experienced it all, and now he shares his insights into how China really works. One Billion Customers maximizes the expansive knowledge of a respected journalist, well-known businessman, and ultimate China insider, offering compelling narratives of personalities, business deals, and lessons learned -- from Morgan Stanley's creation of a joint-venture Chinese investment bank to the pleasure dome of a smuggler whose $6 billion operation demonstrates how corruption greases the wheels of Chinese commerce. With nearly 100 strategies for conducting business in China, this unprecedented account combines practical lessons with the story of China's remarkable rise to power. |
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One billion customers: lessons from the front lines of doing business in China
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictThe promise and perils-mostly the latter-that Western businesses face in China's huge but chaotic market are probed in this illuminating if not quite reassuring primer. Ex-Wall Street Journal China ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction A Startup and a Turnaround With | 1 |
The Grand Bargain Two hundred years of foreign domi | 21 |
Same Bed Different Dreams Avoid joint ventures | 58 |
Eating the Emperors Grain Chinas relationship | 94 |
Dancing with the Dinosaurs Powerful bureaucratic | 126 |
Caught in the Crossfire Government lobbying must | 155 |
The Truth Is Not Absolute The Communist Party | 190 |
The BestLaid Plans Government planning and manip | 225 |
Managing the Future China is a nation always cram | 258 |
Acknowledgments | 295 |
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Common terms and phrases
American Barshefsky began Beijing Boeing bosses build bureaucrats business in China Caijing CATIC China business China Construction Bank China Telecom Chinese companies Chinese government Chinese officials CICC Clinton commercial Communist Party company’s country’s culture deal Deng Dow Jones employees engineers entrepreneurs executives export factory Fang foreign companies friends global Hitt Hong Kong industry Internet investment bank Jack Wadsworth Jiang Jiang Zemin joint venture Justin knew Lai Changxing Lai’s launched leaders Lenovo Levin Little Smart McDonnell Douglas ment military million mobile phone Morgan Stanley Murdoch negotiations nese numbers overseas overseas Chinese partner party’s People’s percent political Premier propaganda satellite Shanghai Shuli smuggling Stanley’s stock market Taiwan Tiananmen Tiananmen Massacre tion told trade Unicom United UTStarcom Wahaha Wang Qishan wanted Western Wu Jichuan Wu Ying Wu’s Xiamen Xinhua Zhang Zhu Rongji Zong