Customer Reviews

China CEO: Voices of Experience from 20 International Business Leaders

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This is a MUST READ for anyone desiring to conduct business in China. We are the first American university to partner with the Chinese government to deliver university education in Tianjin. I wish this had been available 3 years ago when we began our project in Tianjin. Every page is right on! I just ordered 6 copies for my management team.

Joe West
Dean
School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
Florida International University
Miami, FL, USA

I have just finished reading this book, after hearing the author giving a presentation at the book launch in Beijing. As a business person and member of the Australian business community here in Beijing, I can thoroughly recommend this book. I found it to be very interesting, but not surprising - the common issues identified in the book are indeed real, current and important to the success of foreign businesses here in China. I recommend it to anyone in the corporate world, whether you are the person sent here to China to set things up, or working back in th ehome office.

This book is a must-read beause it offers experiences and insights from a variety of players involved in different industries and functions in China. The book's special strength is its well-organized framework offering experience based explicit conclusions, lessons, and recommendations on the various challenges and opportunities encountered in China. While there are many excellent and highly readable books on China, frequently the emphasis is on what can go wrong and on how to avoid problems. One does not hear so much about successes. Yet, companies keep coming to China and keep expandng their investments here. Something must be going right. Maybe we hear less about success because, certainly in ultra competitive China, it is generally a good idea to keep very silent when things go very well. In this book however we also see much attention paid to the success side of the coin, hearing from people who created success in China. If you can read only one book about business in China, this is definitely that book.

This book is constructed around a collection of question-and-answer format of 20 CEO from fortunes 500 MNC (Multi National Corporation). Mr Fernandez and Mrs Underwood do a good job in completing the executives answers to the following issues:
- Qualities of an International manager in China
- Managing Chinese employees
- Facing local competitors
- Battling Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
- Negociating with the Chinese Government

Top executive or not can this be transferable to you ? If you plan a business in China and don't know where to start. YES. Should you Joint Venture or not ? The local partner can offer connections to authorities (first check if there are regulations in your industry ) and can give insight market knowledge. For instance L'Oréal partner gave invaluable information on Chinese skin. Otherwise starting a Wholly Owned Enterprise from scratch is generally simpler.
For local competitions, avoid cost-based products. Chinese mentality is somewhat different from a Western perspective. Sony noted that IT product manufacturers produced a maximum to saturate the market and slash prices thus rendering the sector unprofitable. They are fast learners adjusting to international standards while keeping price low.
When it comes to manage Chinese employees, smart people have an ambition for fast track career. One trick is to create more layers in the hierarchy.

Now I just want to point out how MNC operate in China. The expat (home salary + relocation package) population accounts for less 1% of the Chinese work force. The authors describe the succesfull expatriates must have:
- professional qualities (expertise, international experience)
- personal qualities (multicultural mindset, commitment to learn)
- china specific qualities (humility, patience, guanxi-building).

Nowadays most expats are on temporary assignments fulfill specific tasks. At the same time, Chinese managers have overseas assignement. More and more foreigners are turning to local contracts. 10 years ago speaking Chinese was sufficient to find a job as a foreigner. With China growing faster and faster it's no longer valid to start in a MNC and hope for a 'real' expatriate package in China after 2 years. Like Chinese laws, its international job market evolves so fast. What was true 5 years ago may not be anymore.

I just want to quote Wilfried Meyer, Head of Human Ressources Siemens China, who generously offered his contribution

"Out of the more than 50,000 employees Siemens has in this country, 99.60 per cent are Chinese. The 200 expatriates that we have here on temporary assignments fulfill specific tasks. The typical expat job, as it was defined a few years ago, does often not exist anymore. Foreigners are managing projects of an international scale, are responsible for a whole region, such as Asia Pacific and are setting up local operations in China for Headquarter Business Divisions. At the same time, we have more than 100 Chinese managers that work for Siemens overseas on a one-year or longer assignment.

Yes, indeed we here in China have in the meantime lots of expatriates on a local contract and we hire mainly based on experiences/skill sets which we cannot find in the local market or where the quality might just not fit 100% with local candidates - because speed is everything we cannot wait until we can develop the missing skill sets but we rather need to recruit directly from the global labor markets.

In China more and more MNC are having significant problems finding excellent international or local talent since in most cases in the meantime also many international Chinese companies are offering the same salary packages, trainings, overseas assignments as MNC with - in many cases - 1 significant difference that the CEO of the Chinese company is Chinese and therefore there is the theoretical chance for each and every chinese high potential to become CEO compared with many MNCs where the CEO is still a foreigner."

This book tells what determines your success in China, no matter whether you are foreign expat working in China, or a local ambitious young business executive reaching the world outside China, more specifically for those who are working for multinational companies. Can-do attitude and building your soft skills in navigating yourself and your company through the world of uncertainties, you and your venture will sustain great successes in China.

China CEO is a smart, simple-to-read, how-to manual on navigating the intricacies of doing business in the Middle Kingdom. Ms. Underwood and Mr. Fernandez have done a great job interviewing some of China's "old hands", capturing their views from working in the field, and exploring everything Chinese from Guanxi to Government Influence in the Market to IP Rights. Highly recommended for those currently working in or aspiring to work in China.

Having been an ex-pat myself (ex-pat, meaning, someone working in a foreign land), I can tell you that a book like "China CEO" is invaluable. I lived in Europe and worked in Asia as well, including a brief bit in China. It's abundantly clear that a country with a culture completely foreign to one's own requires you to get a guide, to learn, to study and to adopt new ways in order to do business.

Fernandz and Underwood put together an overview of everything from negotiating to settling in an ex-pat community and its impact on your family. While this is not, and could not be a complete how-to on setting up shop in China, it is a good glance through the issues that you are going to confront. As a guidebook, this will lead you to study various single aspects of your own business in China, getting you to be aware of issues and to find help for achieving your goals.

The book is a compilation of essays by 20 business leaders including some from Airbus, Alcatel, L'Oreal, Unilever among others. There is a section on intellectual property, a hot issue as the Chinese laws differ from European and American, though they are in flux at the moment.

This is a MUST-READ for anyone contemplating doing business in China or already doing business there. Easy to read, well-written and wide in scope, this is a very useful volume for any business library. RECOMMENDED READING

CEO or not, it is worthy to be read if you attempt to do business in China and it must be read if you intend to expand business there.
Dreaming to be successful in China? Let's start from China CEO.


Bing Xie
President
Texas Instruments Semiconductor Technologies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

As a journalist and author who has lived and worked in Greater China for the past two decades I heartily recommend "China CEO" to anyone who wants an insightful look into how some of the big players in global business operate in the China market. As anyone working or doing business in China can tell you, the opportunities are many, but the potential obstacles and pitfalls are numerous as well. It would be unrealistic to expect that any one book could overnight turn you into an expert on doing business in China. However, I think "China CEO" contains some very valuable information that can make it easier to sort out the many confusing aspects of navigating the China business environment. "China CEO" is well written and well organized, and I believe should be helpful both to beginners and those with experience in doing business in China.

I enjoy reading China books using two opposite approaches. Some books I ingest in five minute chunks over a several week period. Other books I digest in one sustained swallow on those long direct flights from the USA to China. In the first case the book has to hang together well enough that cutting it into small chunks does not produce a mush. In the second case it has to be engaging enough that I do not fall asleep.

This is one of the few books on China that can be easily digested using either method.

The authors have done a superb job of taking excellent content and organizing it to make it reader-friendly. They have also allowed the rich experience and voice of these top China CEOs to be clearly heard. One unique aspect of this book is talking about the personal issues that lead to failure or success in China, especially family adjustments.

If you are serious about your business or career in China, this is a must-read book.