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CHINA - The Race to Market: What China's transformation means for business, markets and the world order
What China's transformation means for business, markets and the world order "Here is a book on China that places corporations center stage. Story paints the broad canvas of China's transformation in all its dimensions, while providing sound advice to senior management. Here is corporate strategy on a grand scale. A must read".
Pa r-Anders Pehrson, Vice President Leadership, Ericsson "A very informative analysis of the political and economic transformation taking place in China and how this impacts business decisions, but more generally is a good analysis of China for western audiences."
Eric A.Hyer, Brigham Young University, Utah "Jonathan Story has written an admirably clear, well informed and judiciously timed book that should deservedly attract a wide readership among those seeking a comprehensive yet penetrative knowledge of contemporary China, set in its international context". Professor Jack Hayward FBA , Chairman, China Programmes, The British Academy. Making strategies for the business future of China With WTO membership under its belt and a new leadership emerging, China could be ready to take its place in the global economy as an economic powerhouse. But despite its immense economic progress transformation, the political challenge facing China's leaders could yet undermine the transformation. Is the Chinese dragon about to take flight or run out of puff? How far will this transformation go and what are the implications for business? China's present and future challenge is the business world's future opportunity. In China; The Race to Market , Jonathan Story helps you and your business to answer three essential what direction is China's development taking? Will china successfully emerge as a world power? And what do we need to know to do business with or invest in the emerging China? The book provides sharp insights on how to tailor corporate strategies to local conditions, and links public policy, corporate strategy, and markets in a smarter global business perspective. How can the business world make strategies for a country as multi-faceted and complex as China? The answer requires us to consider the future, where risks and rewards really lie, and to look at a much broader canvas than we conventionally do when we consider business or investment strategy. We have to understand the forces making China's future before we can learn about making business strategy there. Markets, politics, demographics and technology all have a role to play This book discusses the drivers and possible outcomes for the development of China - covering issues such as Sino-American relations, entry to the World Trade Organisation, the state-market relationship, and internal reform - and sets out a framework for understanding and doing business with the Chinas that emerges. By covering the politics and economics of China on different levels - international, national, and local - and by digging into history where necessary, the book will offer an informed judgement about where China is heading and what this means for business people. It will also investigate key industry sectors, such as telecoms, finance and automobiles, from the viewpoint of western corporations, Chinese companies, and state or provincial authorities.
"A fine and very informative book" - Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Director of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China, Hong Kong "Well-structured, balanced in perspective and profound in analysis."
Li Chunfang, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Pa r-Anders Pehrson, Vice President Leadership, Ericsson "A very informative analysis of the political and economic transformation taking place in China and how this impacts business decisions, but more generally is a good analysis of China for western audiences."
Eric A.Hyer, Brigham Young University, Utah "Jonathan Story has written an admirably clear, well informed and judiciously timed book that should deservedly attract a wide readership among those seeking a comprehensive yet penetrative knowledge of contemporary China, set in its international context". Professor Jack Hayward FBA , Chairman, China Programmes, The British Academy. Making strategies for the business future of China With WTO membership under its belt and a new leadership emerging, China could be ready to take its place in the global economy as an economic powerhouse. But despite its immense economic progress transformation, the political challenge facing China's leaders could yet undermine the transformation. Is the Chinese dragon about to take flight or run out of puff? How far will this transformation go and what are the implications for business? China's present and future challenge is the business world's future opportunity. In China; The Race to Market , Jonathan Story helps you and your business to answer three essential what direction is China's development taking? Will china successfully emerge as a world power? And what do we need to know to do business with or invest in the emerging China? The book provides sharp insights on how to tailor corporate strategies to local conditions, and links public policy, corporate strategy, and markets in a smarter global business perspective. How can the business world make strategies for a country as multi-faceted and complex as China? The answer requires us to consider the future, where risks and rewards really lie, and to look at a much broader canvas than we conventionally do when we consider business or investment strategy. We have to understand the forces making China's future before we can learn about making business strategy there. Markets, politics, demographics and technology all have a role to play This book discusses the drivers and possible outcomes for the development of China - covering issues such as Sino-American relations, entry to the World Trade Organisation, the state-market relationship, and internal reform - and sets out a framework for understanding and doing business with the Chinas that emerges. By covering the politics and economics of China on different levels - international, national, and local - and by digging into history where necessary, the book will offer an informed judgement about where China is heading and what this means for business people. It will also investigate key industry sectors, such as telecoms, finance and automobiles, from the viewpoint of western corporations, Chinese companies, and state or provincial authorities.
"A fine and very informative book" - Jean-Pierre Cabestan, Director of the French Centre for Research on Contemporary China, Hong Kong "Well-structured, balanced in perspective and profound in analysis."
Li Chunfang, from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
- GenresEconomics
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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August 13, 2016
I finished reading this rather out-dated analysis by Jonathan Story but it is indeed still very relevant. Jon presents a detailed set of facts and figures in an entertaining way showing the nature of China’s rapid progress since the opening of its markets. The book is intended to be a rough guide for those interested in doing business in China but with an informed optimism, it is a lot more than that.
The problems with the Chinese SOEs had been severe in Jon’s view. SOEs, based on “protect the large, release the small” ideology (zhuada fangxiao), didn’t just present challenges because of their dismal performance but because of deeper governance issues. He doesn’t shy away from talking about scam rates in China having been higher than those in the neighbouring countries. When he brings up a case of poor, unsanitary working conditions that prevailed in a factory taken over by Haier, he is unequivocal in admitting the clash of cultures in the transition of China. Taking up the case of Whirlpool, which left China after discovering severe structural issues in distribution channels, he explains that Western companies had grossly underestimated the local problems they were to encounter as they tried to compete. That the less developed areas of China exhibit rule-by-law rather than rule-of-law comes as a surprise to those who have celebrated centuries of order in China.
The transition away from SOEs was never to be easy. When SOEs were dismantled, he points out, 6m jobs were being lost in rural areas ever month. It would also turn out that 68% of SOEs had falsified their balance-sheets – a problem that was thankfully rectified using debt-equity swaps. The point that the book visits again and again is China has believed in a gradual “transition”. Mr. Story seems seems to go both way on whether these small steps were deliberate or were taken only because of slow admittance of Western dominance. He explains the uniqueness of Chinese situation with respect to that of a typical Communist state – Mao’s was a a vision of decentralized control as he had clearly stated that he did want not to take Russia’s top-down approach. But as agrarian challenges became tougher in China and extreme poverty prevailed, Communist party’s market democracy survived as the only working model for China. The final results have indeed been mixed - 180,000 people died in China every year because of pollution related problems he points out. The Chinese relationship with the US is shaky at best and China needs N. Korea to avoid S. Korean nordpolitik.
Despite the experience that Western companies had in achieving transition away from Soviet-era economies in the East Europe, it took them a long time to get accustomed to Chinese way of business. The business didn’t expect that China so severely lacked the structure to support free markets. The 1997 crisis probably offered help in restructuring the Chinese infrastructure. The Chinese administration seemed to have realized that informal methods were better than inactivity. Learning from the mistakes from Mao’s experiments, evolution was chosen over revolution by the decision-makers. There seemed to have been a certain desire among Chinese people to get away from CCP’s paternalism altogether. The end was well. Deng’s open door strategy helped China get more easier loans from the World Bank while his appeal to the Chinese diaspora which had significant control in South-East Asia had an impact in its increased post 2001 influence.
There is not as much focus on the historical reasons for Chinese reluctance (this is not a postcolonial essay after all) but Mr. Story does offer some insights. He hints at a feeling in China of having been humiliated by the West in the years after 1600. He takes data on China’s share of the world economy however and shows that China hasn’t actually posted as much progress (relative) in the past as is often assumed in its media. What Story probably intends to show is that the past-glory that Chinese might be inclined to believe in might be an imaginary one. However, he clarifies that China is neither a hegemon nor as nationalistic or close-minded as Japan.
Despite the discussions on corruption and favoritism in Chinese governance, the book expresses a persistent optimism – a welcome for new institutions and laws in China. These are instances when full-foreign ownership was allowed (1986), CSRC was set up in 1993, Basel was adopted (in 1998 when smaller IBs were closed) or when credit control dismantled (1998). 1998 also saw the establishment of Anti-corruption bureau in China after cases where criminal money was channelled into benefits for a party member were uncovered. The preconception of a top-down “communist” rule that one may have for China can get severely challenged when one reads about the case of Yu Zoumin who organized tens of thousands of villagers and migrants holding steel pipes to confront 400 armed police which was sent to arrest him on reports of exploitation (http://www.china.org.cn/english/China...). The transition was also helped by a boom in debt-markets – opening up options that weren’t available in the Mao era. People’s Bank which was the only central bank was split into four strategic banks – for agriculture, industry, infrastrucutre and foreign-trade.
To the investors in the West, the high scam rate and persistent corruption are not easy to get around. The suggestion that the author makes is to conduct business through Hong-Kong as it may offer far more structure than a Westerner may usually take for granted.
The problems with the Chinese SOEs had been severe in Jon’s view. SOEs, based on “protect the large, release the small” ideology (zhuada fangxiao), didn’t just present challenges because of their dismal performance but because of deeper governance issues. He doesn’t shy away from talking about scam rates in China having been higher than those in the neighbouring countries. When he brings up a case of poor, unsanitary working conditions that prevailed in a factory taken over by Haier, he is unequivocal in admitting the clash of cultures in the transition of China. Taking up the case of Whirlpool, which left China after discovering severe structural issues in distribution channels, he explains that Western companies had grossly underestimated the local problems they were to encounter as they tried to compete. That the less developed areas of China exhibit rule-by-law rather than rule-of-law comes as a surprise to those who have celebrated centuries of order in China.
The transition away from SOEs was never to be easy. When SOEs were dismantled, he points out, 6m jobs were being lost in rural areas ever month. It would also turn out that 68% of SOEs had falsified their balance-sheets – a problem that was thankfully rectified using debt-equity swaps. The point that the book visits again and again is China has believed in a gradual “transition”. Mr. Story seems seems to go both way on whether these small steps were deliberate or were taken only because of slow admittance of Western dominance. He explains the uniqueness of Chinese situation with respect to that of a typical Communist state – Mao’s was a a vision of decentralized control as he had clearly stated that he did want not to take Russia’s top-down approach. But as agrarian challenges became tougher in China and extreme poverty prevailed, Communist party’s market democracy survived as the only working model for China. The final results have indeed been mixed - 180,000 people died in China every year because of pollution related problems he points out. The Chinese relationship with the US is shaky at best and China needs N. Korea to avoid S. Korean nordpolitik.
Despite the experience that Western companies had in achieving transition away from Soviet-era economies in the East Europe, it took them a long time to get accustomed to Chinese way of business. The business didn’t expect that China so severely lacked the structure to support free markets. The 1997 crisis probably offered help in restructuring the Chinese infrastructure. The Chinese administration seemed to have realized that informal methods were better than inactivity. Learning from the mistakes from Mao’s experiments, evolution was chosen over revolution by the decision-makers. There seemed to have been a certain desire among Chinese people to get away from CCP’s paternalism altogether. The end was well. Deng’s open door strategy helped China get more easier loans from the World Bank while his appeal to the Chinese diaspora which had significant control in South-East Asia had an impact in its increased post 2001 influence.
There is not as much focus on the historical reasons for Chinese reluctance (this is not a postcolonial essay after all) but Mr. Story does offer some insights. He hints at a feeling in China of having been humiliated by the West in the years after 1600. He takes data on China’s share of the world economy however and shows that China hasn’t actually posted as much progress (relative) in the past as is often assumed in its media. What Story probably intends to show is that the past-glory that Chinese might be inclined to believe in might be an imaginary one. However, he clarifies that China is neither a hegemon nor as nationalistic or close-minded as Japan.
Despite the discussions on corruption and favoritism in Chinese governance, the book expresses a persistent optimism – a welcome for new institutions and laws in China. These are instances when full-foreign ownership was allowed (1986), CSRC was set up in 1993, Basel was adopted (in 1998 when smaller IBs were closed) or when credit control dismantled (1998). 1998 also saw the establishment of Anti-corruption bureau in China after cases where criminal money was channelled into benefits for a party member were uncovered. The preconception of a top-down “communist” rule that one may have for China can get severely challenged when one reads about the case of Yu Zoumin who organized tens of thousands of villagers and migrants holding steel pipes to confront 400 armed police which was sent to arrest him on reports of exploitation (http://www.china.org.cn/english/China...). The transition was also helped by a boom in debt-markets – opening up options that weren’t available in the Mao era. People’s Bank which was the only central bank was split into four strategic banks – for agriculture, industry, infrastrucutre and foreign-trade.
To the investors in the West, the high scam rate and persistent corruption are not easy to get around. The suggestion that the author makes is to conduct business through Hong-Kong as it may offer far more structure than a Westerner may usually take for granted.
Displaying 1 of 1 review