In Parts I and II of my Spanish versus Mandarin posts we had some great discussions and debate (click here and here). This is also a good follow up to Steve Feng’s recent post and kind offer to lead getting some of you together to learn some Mandarin.

I just can’t seem to let a sleeping dog lie:

Per this Wall Street Journal article, “Mexico’s Case Study: Looking to China, and Away From It,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was asked by a Mexican MBA student at Tsinghua University (an elite school in China) while Paulson was recently visiting Beijing, “How will countries like Mexico, who are still emerging markets, compete with this monster that is China?” Paulson replied to the effect of, “See China’s growth as an opportunity.”

I.e., look for ways to do business with these folks and no more whining about how China is kicking your butts.

Per this article, and as I alluded to in Parts I and II of this discussion thread, think of the professional opportunities here for those students armed with a Cal Poly MBA who speak English (as you all do), Spanish (some do) and Mandarin (??). In my view, with some more hard work, continued networking, talent (see/refer to my earlier post on skills needed for successful expats in China) and yes, a little luck along the way, the world would be your oyster if you spoke or took some time off to learn to speak all three languages reasonably well.

Ah, if only I were in my 20s again …

Was I the “only” guy in college who seemed to have the good fortune of having dated the girl that always seemd to get migraines when eating Chinese food because of the alleged monosodium glutomate (MSG) monster?  It was one of those gigs where when she was miserable, ”I” was expected to be miserable.  Here’s a good NY Times article (”China’s True Dash of Flavor”) that reminded me of those days of patience and personal growth, citing reputable medical studies that debunk the MSG health issue myth.

I agree with the article pointing out that Chinese food in US restaurants is less than stellar but the real deal in China is worth gulping down. Beijing is considered by many to be THE culinary capital of the world, and I could not agree more (sorry Paris, France you are not even in my top 10). Some of the best food I have ever eaten is in that smoggy Chinese city. You will see for yourself!

Submitted By: Steven Feng

Speaking Mandarin or Cantonese would enhance the experience of the trip. We could interact with more people if we could speak the dialects. Unfortunately, it takes years of practice, and we have less than six months before the trip. Still, we should make an attempt to learn some basic words and phrases or to practice the language for those that already speak one dialect.

I am proposing we have an informal discussion/practice once a week for an hour during the spring quarter. If you are interested, please leave a comment. Include in your comment:

• The language, Mandarin or Cantonese, you would prefer to speak

• The weekday and time you prefer to meet (I figure the following times would be most appropriate, but you could suggest an alternative:  Tuesday 11-12 and Thursday 11-12 on the days we are not in a China lecture)

I will count up the votes, and majority to set the time and language. I looked on the internet for books and the least expensive is about $15 with a CD.

Thanks to Erik Slayter for giving the heads up about this wonderful Wall Street Journal article, “In China’s Offices, ExPats Might Get an Earful.” (See also my related Wei? Wei? post and discussion thread).

I loved this article. It made me laugh so hard I read it twice. It does a great job of highlighting some of the cultural differences between Chinese and Western business offices.

If/when somebody in China tells me that I am fat, due to this article I now have a great comeback – “Why, yes, of course! There is so much good food here!”

Whether you are one of our older or younger MBA students, I suspect that when your parents found out we/you were going to China, they may have said the same thing my own mother asked me when I started pulling this trip together several years ago and that she still asks me each year because she loves her youngest boy and wants him to stay safe: “Oh my goodness. I hear it’s not very safe there. Why don’t you go to England or Italy?”

Five thoughts:

1. Yeah, right, Mom. Like lilly white Europe is any safer! I was once mugged in a train station in Milan. I was once peed on by a drugged out Frenchman in a park in Paris because he felt, in his apparent state of hallucenating, that my 25 feet away from him while walking along a flower path in the garden was not far enough from him (in the US we call that an assault and battery). I was once caught in the middle of an ugly soccer hooligan brawl (more like a riot) in a pub in London, where I was really, really scared and just wanted to crawl under a table to make sure I survived.

2. China is where business is happening right now. In my own bullish (and admittedly biased) view on China, it is the future of business for at least the next several decades. Let’s go see and experience it while we can. Crime occurs everywhere, including in California.

3. I have never felt unsafe in China. But, I am a pretty big guy and I ALWAYS try to be aware of my surroundings and try not to make stupid decisions that put me in danger. I agree with Dan Harris’ recent CLB post, “Mapping Crime in China and Democracy in Action” (a must read; check it out) where he writes:

“When clients ask me whether they need to worry about crime in China, I typically say it is hard to know because the statistics are so unreliable…. I then talk about ‘my sense’ of things, based on my own experiences (so far, so good) and that of the people I know (both Chinese and foreign) in China (mostly petty crimes like pickpocketing).”

That has been my experience as well. Dan goes on to note:

“[T]he Danwei blog just did a great post, entitled, ‘Thief Maps Let Netizens Fight Crime,’ on the growing phenomenon in China of citizens mapping out crime locations on the Internet using “thief maps.” These maps are set up so users can contribute their individual run-ins with thieves and those incidents get mapped.”

Be sure to check out this Danwei post. This is an absolutely fascinating development. Is this, as Dan writes, democracy in action in China because by letting this occur on the Internet the government is in effect admitting they can’t handle this facet of crime effectively and by letting citizens take this into their own hands they are allowing some meaningful freedom of association and assembly to occur? I think so, and agree with Dan on this point. If so, this is pretty powerful stuff and China may, indeed, be changing for the better, albeit slowly.

4. I also sense and smell a business opportunity or two in this “Netizens Fight Crime” development in China. Do you, and if so, what do you see and smell?

As an MBA student, I want you to come out of our program always looking for and being able to quickly recognize business opportunities, because you will find you will have to reinvent yourselves professionally every so many years as you change, as the economy changes, your firm changes and/or your industry changes.

5. While we are in China, here I again repeat what I have advised you before on several occasions – always be aware of your surroundings, keep your bags/luggage close to you and your eye on them, look out for each other, and NEVER get drunk during your off time and thereby make yourself a prime target for crime and thieves, etc. (see, e.g., my earlier related post, Burning A Hole In Your Stomach, Chinese Style). (Several of the questions in your Frequently Asked Questions document also address these and other points.) I.e., be and remain the smart Cal Poly MBA students with good judgment that you are.

What are some of the nuggets of information and value you took away from Professor Frayne’s session?

She advised me that she had some great questions during and after the session, that she may be able to respond further to. So, please be checking the comments section below for her response. And, if you have additional questions, use the comment section below and she can get back to you with a responsive comment.

This is one of the beauties of on-line learning — we can do follow-up learning in cyber space with no need to further physically meet.

When you run into her on campus, be sure to thank her for her time!

Do you take time to think about the quality of your life?   What about this — do you take time to reflect on whether you control money, or does money control you?  Do you think about your financial surroundings and whether to cost of that is too low, about right, or too high?

This post builds off my earlier posts: Living and Working Abroad — Why Not?, the On-Line Exercise re: Living and Working Abroad, and Critical Success Qualities for an Expat Managaer in China ….

Introduction, and please read this twice before you read any further, as I know that for some this blog post can be an explosive cocktail:   The purpose of this post is not to convince you to move to China or India or (Kansas) or to bash the US (or California) or imply who should or should not be the President.  The purpose of this post is to highlight the issue of cost of living and doing business in California in general, to suggest one reason talented Chinese and Indians, after they complete their undergraduate or graduate degree in the US, high tail it back to China or India to live and work, and, to touch on how over time such cost differentials can have geopolitical impacts (see the Fareed Zakaria book you will read for one of your book reviews).  So as you look at the below rough, back-of-the-envelope numbers, be open minded, and take a chill pill if you think somebody is trying to suggest to you that you move or abandon your California or American citizenship.  Now, please go back and read this introduction and disclaimer one more time before reading further …

[Body of post -originally written for one of our China trips]

A number of Americans I have run into over the years return from their 10 day stay (only in four or five star hotels), China visit “convinced” we have it better than our equivalents in China (or other parts of Asia).

Or do we? And did these visitors to China do their homework while they were there, investigate beneath the surface of what they (thought they) saw, and do their due diligence? Did they apply the Mark Twain quote I had you read, or did they ignore his advice?  Did the consider how to use and leverage China in their own portfolio, or was this just a check the box trip for them to get their MBA degree?

Stay with me on this one. Reading the rest of this post may be worth it.

[My thanks to my good friend and Chinese colleague, John Wu, for helping me fill in some of the gaps re: the below China numbers and expenses when I drafted this post. John is a Professor at CSU San Bernardino, just down the road from us.]

I have friends in China who, like you and me, have a high level of formal education and have good jobs and make good money (for China). I am not talking about the poor peasants of China or the factory workers in Shenzhen or Guangzhou in this post. I am talking about our equivalents in China. I am trying to compare apples to apples here, to the extent I can, and I need you to keep this in mind.

Yet a number of these friends in the PRC retain a simple and admirable goal – work hard for a while, save some money, and then to move to Lijiang or Yangsuo in southwestern China or to Hangzhou or Suzhou in the Yangtze River Delta to open a tea shop, and slow the down and enjoy a very low key life with low expenses.  Having lived in high octane California for well over 20 years now, I never fully understood or appreciated this view until I gained more experience with and in China and the Chinese (see below discussion) and how they spend their money and live their lives.

Using an admittedly over-simplified example, here is where they are coming from and what I would like you to think about:

Exhibit A – Cal Poly Undergraduate Business Student Who Wants to Stay in California:

Revenue:

• Starting salary: $50,000 (US) (this is probably an optimistic number for an undergrad and will, of course, depend on the field)

Expenses:

• State and Federal income taxes: 1/3 of your salary, which is roughly $16,000 (and I am assuming this person is paying the taxes they are supposed to pay to Uncle Sam)
• All the sales tax we pay when we buy something or stay in a hotel, the tips we pay when we go out for a meal, etc.: $1,000 per year (I think this is a low estimate)
• Rent and utilities (including cable, water, gas, electric, cell phone, internet, etc., etc.): $12,000 per year ($1,000/month)
• Food: $3,600 per year ($300/month)
• Car payment: $3,600 per year ($300/ month; you can’t drive a crappy car when you have to impress your boss and meet and work with clients)
• Gas: $1,800 per year ($150/month)
• Student Loan Payment: $1,200 per year ($120/month)
• Entertainment, clubbin, movies, that yearly Vegas trip, meet your friends in Tahoe for that ski weekend, etc.: $3,600 per year ($300/month)
• Clothes for work (suits, dresses; gotta look good for clients), and getting rid of those 3 year old jeans you wore to class: $3,500 per year
• Insurance of all kinds: car, health care, dental, worker’s comp, renter/home owner, etc.: Let’s add another $1,000 per year for this item

• Vacation each year: probably two weeks, maybe three if you are lucky. Let’s assume you spend $500 on each vacation (this is a very conservative estimate), for a total of $1,000 per year

• Misc./all things I forgot to list??: Let’s add $1,000 per year to be safe

Net: Roughly $700, give or take a few bucks. (MBAs - yes I know you will make more per year than an undergrad but I also think your above expenses (which are already conservative numbers), will also be higher for you given where you are in life and related lifestyle so while you may gain a few bucks on this $700 number, I don’t know that it will be a big change).

$700. And with this $700, you STILL will want to buy that house in California, right?

By the way, as of a year or so ago the median price of a house in SLO was $580,000 (probably $680,000 plus for Bay Area and decent areas in LA), and you need 20% down to get into the housing game so you will need to save up for that 20% down payment.

Men, also don’t forget the $$$ you will need to meet and impress and wine and dine your future spouse, etc. – that ain’t cheap and above I did not include a category above for “Dating”. Heck, the above also does not include Christmas presents. Nor is the cost of your wedding in there.

Exhibit B – Undergraduate Business Major from a Good (not a crappy) Chinese University Living in a Tier One City in the PRC

Revenue:

• Starting salary: $6,000 (US) (that’s right, this is not a typo)

Expenses:

• State and Federal income taxes: $500 per year
• All the sales tax we pay in China when we buy something or stay in a hotel, the tips we pay when we go out for a meal, etc.: $0 (There is no sales tax and people/the locals don’t normally tip in China!)
• Rent and utilities: $1,200 per year (also note that for many young professionals, early in their career, this amount may be $0 for a number of years because they live with their parents in part because it is culturally expected they do so)
• Food: $1,200 per year
• Car payment: $0 (Public transportation is convenient and inexpensive and move people use it. For example, a bus ride in Beijing costs 5 cents (yes, 5 cents) and subway 40 cents)
• Gas: $0
• Student Loan Payment: $0
• Entertainment: $1,200 per year (Many times the entertainment expenses are picked up by the company you work for. Going out with colleagues and bosses is common and expected.)
• Insurance: $0
• Clothes for work: $750 per year
• Vacation each year: two weeks, and spend $200 each on each vacation, for a total of $400 per year
• Misc./all the things I forgot to list: $300 per year

Special note from Professor Wu: “You need to be aware that a lot of things in China can be bartered. For example, I will give you a free medical check up because my in-law works at a hospital and you help me get my vacation free because your grade school classmate works at the city government where the national park is located. I got a deeply discounted cell phone and monthly plan because I helped his friend (who is a manager at China Mobile) get his car fixed at his other friend’s garage. When you have a large enough personal network or guanxi, you can live a comfortable and affordable life. Get it? Also, since rent is so cheap in China, why bother to buy a house and enter that rat race?”

Net: Roughly $450, give or take a few bucks

[Similar to the Cal Poly graduate example, this $450 does not take into account gifts for Chinese New Year, getting married and the cost of a wedding, etc.]

Summary Thoughts:

So who has the better quality of life? The Cal Poly grad, or, his/her Chinese equivalent? Who is more of a slave to money and the cost of living? The Cal Poly grad, or, his/her Chinese equivalent?

Some will say, “But I don’t care what you say, my family means everything and I must be near them.”  Ya’ think?  No kidding.  Who doesn’t want this?  This post is not about the obvious family issue that we all care deeply about, it is asking you to consider other things in life that also matter (if we are being honest with ourselves).  This post is asking you to push deeper.

When I was 25, I would have said the we/us have a higher “quality of life”, hands down. But now that I seen other parts of the world, now that I better understand places like China and India, and now that I (not my parents or in-laws) have to send in that friggin’ California mortgage check each month in this over-heated housing market on the West Coast, this boy sometimes questions and may not carte blanche accept the California definition of “success” and what makes for a high quality of life. (Click HERE and see this related WSJ article about a small southern California business who thew up its hands and said “screw it” to California and its high costs and moved its operations to North Carolina.)

You may conclude in your own analysis that here in California we DO have a higher quality of life, and if so no problem. The purpose of this post is not to argue one is right and one is wrong, but to make you reflect on this issue while you are still young enough and free enough to make the decisions that will impact the rest of your life, to ask yourself some questions you have never asked yourself before, do your analysis and reach your conclusion.  As I have run this post over the years I have also noticed a rough trend — for the student who was blessed to have parents or grandparents alive and how paid for their undergrad, grad school, down payment for a house AND their wedding they tend to say “Ho, hum, who cares.  I love Cali and I ain’t going anywhere else and/or my family is the only thing that matters to me” and for those who do not have such financial support from their family I tend to see more along the lines of, “Holy ****[plug in any cuss word that may fit here[, that sucks.  I did not know what I was looking at on the financials the next 40 years of my life if I stay in California.  Maybe I need to reconsider that job offer I had in Boise or Omaha that I turned down because the only place I am open to working in is San Diego because I just love that town."

In China and many part of Asia, yes, you don't make much; but as you can see above you also don't spend much because things do not cost as much and good guanxi connections also help you minimize your spending.  You may also have a better chance of starting and owning your own company, where people work for you you don't work for "the man", in an emerging market like a China or an India than in a more developed economy.

So to repeat, yet again, I am not suggesting we all leave Cali and move to China. You will see for yourself that Asia is not for everyone. And, yes, I know that the above over-simplifies things and that there are things you can’t quantify like crowded cities, pollution (and yes it totally sucks in China's major cities), being able to take your kids to Avila Beach, living close to your parents, the value of wine tasting, having that 2,500 plus square foot house and driving your own car to work each day (while claiming to be an environmentalist?!; versus taking that hot sweaty bus to work each day or riding your bike to work in Beijing), the value of that $5.00 cheap foot massage in Shenzhen (priceless in my view!), quality of health care and education in a country and access to it, etc. I also appreciate, very much, that the above very general example has holes in it and/or that anyone can change the above numbers, criteria and variables and nit pick it to death to obtain the result they want to get to.   But one of my purposes here was to throw out a general example to illustrate why sometimes you meet people from other parts of the world that have no interest to to invest or buy into the American lifestyle and now you may understand where they are coming from so you don't make embarrass yourself at a dinner party you both attend, whether in LA or Shanghai.  Fareed Zakaria is right, it's not that the US is in decline, it's that others are raising their game and catching up.  This will present business opportunities to people on both sides of the ocean that are smart enough to spot said opportunity, come up with a good idea or product, and then execute better and faster than the competition.

(By the way, here is some rough data I pulled off the US Census Bureau website re: the median family (not individual; this means multiple people in the house are working trying to survive and pay their bills and send their kids to school) income in California for 2009:  2 person family - $61,954, 3 person family - $67,562, 4 person family - $77,596, 5 person family - $66,106, 6 person family - $63,109, 7 person family $70,741).

For more information and a wonderful related post on this topic, see the China Law Blog’s "China on $128 a Month" and related discussion thread – some good stuff in those comments. Be sure to also read the hyperlink posted there (“Living on $1,000 RMB a Month in Shanghai”)   [FYI -- as of the date of this post $1,000 RMB = about $125 US.]

Some Other Questions to Consider re: Quality of Life:

1. How much you make vs. how much you save? (See above.)
2. How much happiness you can buy with your disposable. income (life’s many pleasures such as going out with friends, intimate relationships, foot massage in China, a hair cut and shave, eating out, travel, reading, going to movies or performances, etc., often cost very little in China).
3. Living in a convenient city with clean air and worry-free traffic?
4. Did anyone mention chronic work fatigue?

See also/refer to the Quality of Life Index (QLI) developed by Ferrans and Powers and their website. And, see also this link and where you can do a living wage calculation for where you live or wish to live (I don’t know where/how they got the numbers and data they did and use, because at least in the case of San Luis Obispo some of their estimated living expenses are way off and ridiculously low).

Above I have publicly put on the table some of my own lifestyle cards, views, values and biases. I look forward to reading about yours. Read the above, think about your future and what you want it to look like, and then comment below, but please, no jihads, be rational and respectful in doing so.  Let’s learn from each other.

Professor Carr October 26, 2008 addendum: See this excellent related post by Dan Harris of China Law Blog fame - Go Ahead and Quote Me: $100 = 100 RMB. See also this related blog POST from a guy who walked away from his $300,000 a year job and burned his Harvard degree, not out of spite or bitterness toward Harvard, but to symbolize his move and decision to simplify his life (you may be able to still watch the actual burning ceremony by clicking on his video link).

Professor Carr November 29, 2010 addendum: To now throw a wrench into much of what I typed above, see this counter post and topic I came across on the China Law Blog titled,  97% of Chinese Want to Live in the United States.  Is This Really True? (Answer: I don’t think so, but an interesting article nonetheless!)   Be sure to read the comments thereto as that is where the more interesting sub-issues, meat, and themes can sometimes appear in a blog post.

Post Submitted By: Patrick McQuire

Very few people would be surprised to hear that a very large percentage of American companies are moving into China. That’s the name of the game these days. You have to be in China if you want to do business in today’s world. One billion customers and one billion laborers—who can resist? You can find many stories in the media about Wal-Mart driving its suppliers into China for the lower manufacturing costs. But one aspect of the Chinese market that is largely overlooked is another significant business decision—tax exposure.

China built its economy up over the last couple decades with a lot of investment from foreign companies, including most of the companies we hear about, talk about, and buy from everyday—Microsoft, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, etc. But they haven’t just used their population to attract these companies. They’ve provided tax incentives to foreign companies, even charging lower tax rates for foreign companies than they do for domestic ones. (How about that for a supposedly “communist” country?)

With the Chinese economy continuing to post sustained, high growth (higher than 7% per year for more than 25 years, according to this The Wall Street Journal article (”Why China Grows So Fast”), Beijing is coming to the decision that they might not need to entice so many foreign companies to invest in their economy. This second Wall Street Journal article (”China Close to Ending Global Firms’ Tax Break”) points out that this shows China is so attractive to foreign companies that the incentives aren’t as necessary anymore (supply and demand, of course, says charge more when demand is high—again, is China really a “communist” country?)

The other interesting thing I found is that China seems to be coming to the decision that their economy has too much foreign ownership. Such irony–you’d hear the same thing from most TV commentators if you asked them about the state of the American economy today! In the session with Professor Ramezani, we talked about the impact Foreign Direct Investment has on an economy. Many Americans, of course, are concerned by the trade deficit America has with China, and the concerns over foreign investment. China obviously runs a trade surplus, but just like the USA, they are also worried that their economy is becoming too foreign (evidence of this may be the expulsion of Starbucks from Tiananmen Square) and that domestic businesses are being held back by the prevalence of foreign companies.

Now FDI certainly helped China over the last few years. China’s economy is humming along, but maybe now they don’t need or want so much help. A concept that really fascinated me in one of my international economics courses while studying in Ireland (a country also a major beneficiary of FDI) is Convergence—developed countries invest in less developed countries because the room for growth (and the Return on Investment) is so much higher. As the country becomes more developed, the marginal return shrinks, the growth rate slows, and the ROI comes closer in line with rates in the investing country. The levels of development “converge”, eventually meeting up at a moderate growth rate. China’s economy still has a very high growth rate, of course. It is clear that there is still a very high ROI rate possible with Chinese investment if Beijing feels it can raise tax rates without a negative impact on investment. But it seems that China now feels its economy is healthy enough that its domestic business can carry the economy further.

Here are some things to think about:

• If China is now trying to put more emphasis on domestic economy, does this mean that convergence has done its job and we’re going to see slower growth in China?
• Will we start to see less foreign involvement in China? Is China going to become less attractive to foreign companies if the tax incentive is removed? Will this make the USA more attractive once again for American companies? Or is the Chinese labor force enough comparative advantage? Will China soon become more marketplace than manufacturing base?
• Will this help or hurt the Chinese economy?
• Will this help domestic Chinese companies compete with the foreign companies? And will we in turn see more Chinese companies investing in the US?
• Where is China on the convergence curve? How far has it come and how much longer will it be before the country’s economy has “converged?” Is the change in tax policy a sign that China has made significant progress on the convergence curve? Could the change in policy toward foreign businesses slow China’s convergence?
• Is this a real threat or an empty threat? I read another article about Las Vegas Sands the parent company of the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas (and Macau, a Chinese Special Administrative Region), which also holds land on Hengqin Island in China. For years, the company has avoided property taxes on the land because the Chinese has not enforced its Land Appreciation Tax. However, the Chinese government recently announced that they intend to being enforcing that tax, which could result in millions of dollars in tax liability for the LVS if China does not create a special exemption for Hengqin Island. Does this example show that China is now getting tough on taxes or does it show a history of goodwill on tax enforcement?
• Is China making the right decision for its economy?

[Professor Carr Addendum:  See also the related and informative China Law Blog posts on taxes in China -- click here and here.]

This is the promised follow-up to my post of January 27.

Between January 27 and today (over two weeks), 29 students responded as requested and required. Thank you. Four students made the choice to not check in and/or respond; they get a zero for this assignment (over two weeks and no response?).

I found it impossible to pick a “winner” from the four to six responses I felt were on track with what I was looking for. So as an alternative to my promise to pick a winner and award a Starbucks coffee drink, I will instead sing for you, one (and only one) American song, of my choice, at a Kareoke club in China. I am sure you will enjoy listening to me make a fool of myself.

Here is what the China CEOs suggest they look for in a successful manager and decision maker in China (see the summary at page 27 in the book):

PROFESSIONAL QUALITIES:

1. Technical and Corporate Expertise: Select people with a rock-solid professional background and an excellent knoweldge of the company. Send your best personnel to China.

[Professor Carr Note: This suggests that if you don't like stats, accounting, finance, marketing, econ, etc. sorry, but you will need those skills and can't dodge them forever to first be able to excel at the company HQ in Des Moines, Iowa and prove yourself. It also suggests that you need to prove yourself in perhaps a less important and less exciting foreign local before you get the plum China assignment (see below for more on this point). Their collective CEO response also, in my view, also calls into question a number of international business undergraduate programs across the US (not all) that attract students with the misleading marketing message of "come get an undergrad degree with us in international business and your next stop will be Florence or Tokyo" -- according to these CEOs, much more development needs to take place before one heads overseas.]

2. International Expertise: A posting in China becomes vastly more manageable after an assignment either in an Asian location or another developing market, or both.

PERSONAL GLOBAL QUALITIES:

3. Multicultural Mindset: When selecting an executive for an overseas posting, look for someone with an adventurous spirit, a sense of humor, and an open mind.

4. Committment to Learn: Learn from those around you. Listen to your employees, JV partners, clients, and customers.

PERSONAL CHINA-SPECIFIC QUALITIES:

5. Humility: Be humble and avoid using an authoritarian style. Influencing and coaching is the way to get the best out of your Chinese employees.

6. Strength: Be unyielding in defending core corporate values and culture.

[Professor Carr Note: I.e., No paying for favorable media coverage/publicity, EVER, even when your competition is doing it; no paying bribes, EVER, etc. If you think it's easy to follow this precept and are convinced, "I would never be dumb enough to do that", well, I would certainly hope so -- but you need to check out the following great China Law Blog posts here, here and here on these topics to get a feel for how easy it is to succomb to this dark game and side of business.]

7. Patience: Be patient; use a step-by-step approach in China, not a Big Bang approach.

8. Speed: Be flexible and quick. Stay well informed; the business enviroment in China is in a constant and rapid flux, probably much more so than in other markets.

9. Guanxi-building: Build your guanxi not only internaly (with subordinates, peers and superiors) but also externally with clients, suppliers and government officials). A strong guanxi network is a fundamental element of your success in China.

Professor Carr Note: Granted, several of the above items are so broadly stated as to not be terribly helpful at first glance (or they may be “common sense” to some); but, to be fair to the book and its authors, if you go to this chapter and read the entire chapter the authors do give some very, very good examples of each item that make them really come to life.]

Your thoughts? What’s not on the above list that you would think would or should be there?

Do you fit the above criteria? If not, which ones do you need to start working on, now, to improve, and what is your strategy to get you there for if/when that day comes where you might want to pursue an opportunity like this?

[Feb. 14 update: Dan Harris at the CLB just did a nice post that builds off of this post and adds some good meat to it. Click here to check it out!]

Submitted By: Erik Slayter

I stumbled across this posting Google put up promoting their “Seattle-Beijing Collaboration“. On that page is a 53 minute video covering a lot of ground including the Internet in China and specifically how Google fits into that. I haven’t had a chance to watch the whole video yet, although from what I have seen it does look interesting. Of course, Google also gives you a link to go apply at their company. If Google had existed 15 years ago I would have been very tempted to reconsider my career plans to include them.

Enjoy the video and if you get a chance, report back with anything that specifically strikes you. I’m impressed with Google’s plan.