Customer Reviews

One Billion Customers: Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China

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I loved this book, by far the best book I've ever read about doing business in China, where I lived for 12 years. The writing is clear. The story-telling is superb. But most of all, the broad perspective and specific analysis of how things work in China combine to deliver a compelling guide for anyone who wants to better understand that mysterious country. It is deeply revealing about Chinese culture, pointedly instructive about why China is such a hard place to do business and ultimately satisfying with its description of success stories.

McGregor came up with a structure that works well. Each chapter tells the story of a particular corner of China business, with a context that is drawn with a journalist's economy and insight, and then a conclusion about what it means. The first one, about Morgan Stanley's efforts to create the first Western-Chinese investment bank, is simply masterful: An engrossing tale, with fascinating characters and a sequence of events that tells a lot about how surprising, frustrating and exciting it can be to work in China. McGregor is remarkably clear-eyed about China, quite admiring and then equally candid about its shortcomings. You trust him as a narrator, because he is evidently in command of his material, but also because he has an incisive eye for human behavior, cultural misconceptions and dumb luck. It makes the whole book very readable and quite enjoyable.

In contrast to many other books that portray China as a machine, or a cold monolithic state, 'One Billion Customers' is deeply perceptive about China's true strengths and glaring weaknesses. The author's personal background comes through clearly: as a journalist, and then as a businessman, he has learned a tremendous amount about how things work in China, and lucky for us, he has the writing ability to communicate it with us. Highly recommended.

I have been involved with the legal side of China business for many years and as I was reading this book I would find myself nodding along to virtually all of the stories and to nearly all of the end of the chapter suggestions on how to conduct business in China. It was not until I finished the book, however, and really started thinking about it that I realized that well over 90% of my Chinese business encounters are very different from those described in the book. This caused me to realize that this is not really a book about doing business in China so much as it is a book about doing big business in China. Among other things, the book eloquently details the difficulties of establishing a foreign wireless network, a foreign media empire, and a large scale foreign investment bank, but it never delves into the nitty gritty of the small and medium sized manufacturing and service businesses that operate so successfully in China. So while this is the best book I have read for understanding the Chinese business persona, the China picture it paints does not really apply to most foreign businesses coming in to China. Indeed, early on, the book reveals that nine out of the ten most successful brand names in China are foreign. If everything were indeed so bad there, this obviously could not be true.

China's new fleet of hard-nosed businessmen turned starry-eyed optimists would benefit from reading James McGregor's new book, "One Billion Customers: Lessons Learned from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China." The author, who has spent 15 years in China, first as the Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief, then as a businessman and entrepreneur, offers a well-written and often humorous insiders' guide on how -- and how not to -- do business in China.

The lessons come in the form of several case studies of ventures that either soared or crashed. Each chapter gives the details of a troubled venture in China, which is followed by a section entitled "What This Means for You," in which Mr. McGregor offers street-smarts on how the example can help the reader's business. Each chapter finishes with "The Little Red Book of Business," a pithy summary of Jim McGregor's own observations.

Some of the best pearls of wisdom come from this section at the end of each chapter. At its core, James McGregor writes, Chinese society is all about self-interest. It is very strong on competition but very weak on cooperation. In China, a conflict of interest is viewed as a competitive advantage. Deep scars from the Cultural Revolution and the upheaval of a sudden shift to getting rich has created an atmosphere in which nobody trusts anybody. In China business, the expectation is to be cheated.

The book is based on solid reporting, hard research, grassroots legwork, and lots of personal experience of doing business in China. Any foreigner hoping to sell China a billion of anything would be well advised to pick up a copy and read it on the plane coming over.

It is obvious from the get-go that James McGregor knows China inside out. This isn't the standard 10 Lessons For Doing Business in China that characterize so many business guides. Instead, it is a deeply sophisticated examination of how one of the world's premier business-oriented societies is regaining its skills after decades of bizarre governance and economic stagnation under Mao. As McGregor points out, when economic reforms were unleashed in China 25 years ago the only place in the world where one could find large numbers of poor Chinese was in China. The book is really a series of stories about people and events in China that illustrate the subtleties that other books miss or gloss over. The stories are interesting and even fun, but they should be read as cautionary lessons about rushing headlong into a place about which most Westerners know very little. McGregor drives home the lessons in sections at the end of each chapter entitled "What This Means For You" and in the very clever "Little Red Book of Lessons," a compendium of pithy observations like "In China, a conflict of interest is viewed as a competitive advantage." The book covers a wide range of issues, including U.S. government policy toward China, which comes off as a mixture of old-fashioned Red baiting and unelightened self-interest. While our government puts restrictions on the export of sophisticated equipment to China, European and Japanese manufacturers are eagerly selling that same equipment in what is rapidly becoming the world's biggest consumer of technology and capital goods. The paradox of One Billion Customers is that after reading it many business people will be itching to get a piece of the China pie, but terrified of what might happen to them there. That's exactly the point.

This is a good book for non-Chinese who want to understand the reality of doing business in China. Mr. McGregor brings out many points that are not in other books and writings about China available in the West.

As a person who grew up in China, I'd say this is also a great book for Chinese to see how Chinese ways of thinking and behaving are seen and interpreted through foreigners' eyes. For example, "The Chinese appear to the West to be a collective society... But always simmering just below that collective veneer is a dog-eat-dog competitive spirit that makes the Chinese among the world's most individualistic and selfish people." Being Chinese, I understand and agree with what Mr. McGregor says, and he is able to explain the complexities of the Chinese world in ways that make sense.

However, understanding the reality in China is only the first step in doing business there. Your attitude toward those realities and your creativity in dealing with them are important. As Jack Welch said in Winning, "Have a positive attitude and . . . never let yourself be a victim; and for goodness' sake - have fun." This is the most effective approach to doing business in China. Instead of complaining, for example, that your designs and products are being copied, or being frustrated because things are not as they are supposed to be (that is, according to Western ways), determine to turn every danger into opportunity. For example, instead of thinking of yourself as a victim of piracy, figure out how to turn things around so, in fact, the pirates are actually doing marketing campaigns and distributing "product samples" for you at little or no cost to you. People who buy fake Rolexes can't afford the real ones anyway, but as soon as they can, they will be sure to buy authentic ones from you.

With insights and advice from this book, plus your positive attitude and imaginative ideas on how to apply them to your unique situation, you have much better odds of winning one billion customers in China.

Books are often written from the memory. However, the best books are those that are written from experience. One Billion Customers by James McGregor beautifully paints the chaotic Chinese business environment in a systematic and chronological manner. Being in China when it was undergoing vast changes in its system, sitting in the passenger's seat through the journey the author has brought with him valuable lessons and insights in doing business with China. This book is a must read for all who plan to do ventures in China and its people.

This book is written by a seasoned journalist who actually resided in China for more than two decades. On top of that, he's in the thick of action, having business interests in China. Being a Chinese businessman myself who was based overseas, and who travelled frequently to China to do business, it's almost impossible to know for sure if people that we are dealing with there are genuine or not. Unless we are inducted into their "circle of trust" by those Chinese peers, we have to reply upon our street smart ability to read and gauge all those subtle signs or hints, body languages, strategies and tactics that they might use to outwit us, manipulate us, getting useful information out of us and so forth. The author doesn't stop there. He also dwelt into joint venture relationships, dissecting the dynamics of working relationships in China, putting into light the huge gap of understanding between the Western thinking and the Eastern thinking, putting into perspective how Chinese perceive the Westerners in these modern days, the inner politicking of Chinese system, how to overcome the gray areas (many in China) and so forth. Just like everyone else, the author has tremendous faith in China and the direction that it's heading. Whilst he's waried of certain elements of China, there's a tremendous amount of goodwill, faith, and respect that he's showing towards the "Middle Kingdom". Not for once I gauge that he's bashing the Chinese at all. One outstanding feature of this book is utilisation of a lot of real life case studies which made it contagious to read as they involved many key people or key companies that are known internationally. Highly recommended if your intention is to do business in China or that you are simply curious about China.

If you want to impress a future joint venture partner with well-honed banquet etiquette, then AVOID this book... McGregor debunks much long accepted China business wisdom, digging deeper into the roots of success and failure than any other author I've read.

A mutual admiration society is at work here - Seth Faison and Paul Mooney (two of Amazon rewievers) are mentioned by McGregor in his book as "people who made this boook possible".
While the book is OK, it peddles earth-shattering truths such as
"mutual respect and equality are extremely important", "stress respect and equality with your Chinese partners", "be fair and honest" - perhaps it comes as a shock to American businessmen that their Chinese counterparts (or any other nation for that matter) should be accorded such treatment.

If anyone could illuminate the intricacies of doing business in China, it had to be James McGregor. The Minnesota native first became interested in Asia after a youthful tour of duty in Vietnam, but did not return to the region for many years. While enjoying a successful career as a journalist, during the late 1980s McGregor recognized that Asia's economy was beginning to take off. So, he risked everything and headed for Taiwan, where he became The Asian Wall Street Journal's bureau chief, at the age of 33. Realizing that Asia's future was happening largely on the mainland, he moved on to become The Wall Street Journal's China bureau chief in Beijing. During his tenure there, he traveled extensively throughout every region of the country. His ability to absorb and utilize the nation's nuances as an Old China Hand landed him his next role as the head of Dow Jones's business operations for China. In 2000, McGregor became a partner and the China managing director for GIV Venture Partners, a venture capital fund. In addition to these responsibilities, McGregor also served as a governor for the American Chamber of Commerce and in 1996 was elected Chairman of that organization. He currently serves on several other China-business-related and philanthropic boards. Between his experiences as a journalist and a business leader, McGregor has gained extensive knowledge of China's business climate. The results are the vital insights and excellent suggestions he shares in this must-read book.

Within the pages, McGregor presents his argument for how China's history influences the present business system and how to work with that result. In the first chapter, the story of Morgan Stanley illustrates the challenges of partnering with a Chinese company. While the two firms shared one objective, their culture clash nearly ruined the joint venture. Another chapter uses the story of a successful Chinese entrepreneur to show the power of personal relationships, government attempts at anti-corruption, and how to keep your employees honest. The Dow Jones story illustrates methods McGregor himself used to deal successfully with government bureaucrats. The following chapter deals with the airline industry and the steps Boeing took to eventually achieve its goals. One of the more interesting stories is Rupert Murdoch's struggle to develop and bring the country's media system into the millennium. The battle for world's largest telecom system is also an engaging chapter that offers key insights. The book's final chapter deals with suggestions for managing Chinese employees and structuring your business. Throughout the book, the author provides indispensable "tips" on doing business in the world's largest market.

McGregor's book of "best practices" is overall well written and enlightening. He uses excellent examples to illustrate his points, which are remarkable stories in themselves. Each chapter provides a "what this means for you" section and a handy "Little Red Book" at the end of each chapter. The Little Red Books' bullet point summaries make taking notes or underlining unnecessary and allow readers to easily find and review particular points later on. One Billion Customers is essential reading for any non-Chinese person employed in--or thinking of doing business in--China. General readers--especially those living in Shanghai--may also find it a worthwhile read.