Submitted By: Kerry Huang

See this Wall Street Journal article (Chinese Investors Crunching Numbers Are Glad to See 8s).

In the US and most developed nations, investors carefully study companies before making investments. Financial institutions with seasoned analysts account for a bulk of the transactions on the stock exchanges. However, in China many of the investors are unexperienced individuals who base their decisions on “lucky numbers”;  specifically, the number eight, which signifies “wealth” in Chinese.  According to the article, investors will buy a company’s stock if the number eight
is in it.

Many will find this practice laughable but the Chinese take lucky numbers very seriously.  For example, as we ride the elevators in China one will notice that the buttons for floors 14 (”want death”), and 24 (”easy death”) do not exist.  With 60% -80% of China’s trades being made by inexperienced investors, one wonders what will happen to the stock market? Will these superstitious investors crash the market? How will the government regulate such trades?

Side note:  Even Chinese American’s who grew up with superstitious parents are affected by lucky numbers. My normally rational friend freaks out every time she looks at the clock and it reads 4:44, which is “death death death.”

As a follow up to my previous series of posts on leadership and the soft skills of business (Leadership and the Himilayas — Part I, Leadership — Part II, Leadership Part III, Leadership - Part IV, Primping A Resume With ‘Soft’ Skills) …

Check out the most recent WSJ article, How Stanford is Grooming Next Business Leaders, to learn what top MBA programs are doing to push this issue forward. Impressive stuff, and all a part of its modest $45,921 in tuition/price tag alone, PER YEAR.

But shoot, at that price, everybody coming out of Stanford’s MBA program better be the CEO of a Fortune 500 firm or a US President within 10 years of their graduation, or they need to ask for their money back.

While it will never win me a popularity contest at Cal Poly with a variety of stakeholders, oh, my goodness, the things I could do for you and the program if Cal Poly and the CSU system “belled the cat” and charged, and folks paid, half the going MBA market rate of $40K to generate significant revenue to in turn bury right back into the program …

My 6 year old daughter calls me on my inconsistencies every time.  Kids don’t miss a thing …

Same is true in business.

The Silk Road International blog, a really outstanding blog that focuses on quality inspection and assurance and supply chain management from its base in southern China, recently made a good post containing an excellent tip for doing business in China …

[I]f you expect your suppliers to follow their contracts and respect your IP then you’d better do the same. If you bust your supplier’s butt over IP violations and then have the factory driver take you to the local knock-off golf or DVD shop, what message are you giving to the factory? Yea, what you do personally does influence how you are seen by your Chinese supplier ….

As a number of my Chinese friends say to me over dinner and maotai, “why do American’s who come here seem to think their own rules apply to us and not to them?”

I still don’t have a good answer. I instead offer a toast on some lame topic of “friendship and goodwill between us” to try and change the subject ….

What is would have been your response and/or how do you see this topic?

We have had some nice discussion on this blog on whether a lengthy prison sentence or the death penalty is appropriate for the Chinese business people who knowingly did things like allow the sale or export of poison food, fake infant formula, toothpaste, pet food, etc. and whether the death penalty is appropriate for corrupt Chinese government officials who abuse their power for personal gain.

See, e.g., comments 3 and 4 to Lindsay Yoshitomi’s good post, Counterfeit Drugs.

And see my prior post on this topic, Throw the Bums in Jail.

And see this NY Times article — “China Sentences Former Drug Regulator To Death.”  This poor chap made the mistake of letting bribes get in the way of doing his job.  For the haunting confession he wrote before he was executed, see my prior post, Sins and Mistakes.  Bum or not, I felt true empathy and compassion for this man and his family as I read his confession.

And finally, see this  WSJ article, China Executes Chongqing’s Former Justice Chief.

Should we adopt this Chinese approach in the USA? E.g., when our business leaders or public officials really blow it like this, its off to prison for a long time or even the firing squad for them?

Would this encourage or discourage people from taking public office or taking leadership positions in business; and is that a good or a bad thing?

If you are a big law and order hard liner, if YOU had to personally make the call and sign off on an execution (not somebody else), would you have the guts, ethics and leadership ability to do so?   (Saying somebody else should do it is a totally different issue.)

And if you could make public policy in the US with the wave of your hand (similar to what our US Supreme Court can do via a majority opinion), what would your ruling be on an issue like this, and why?  And would such a policy be “executable” (pun intended) in the US from a practical and political standpoint?

Discuss.

We recently had some good email discussion re: the deep sixing of our planned boat trip between Suzhou and Hangzhou, and the Plan B that I proposed of a visit to WuZhen.

The China Daily recently published a nice article that relates to this deviation from our original plan titled, “Urban Tourists Lured by Call of Countryside.”

It turns out that while the rural migrants of China are flocking to the cities to try and crawl their way out of poverty, the urban population is in turn seeking out the romanticized, picturesque villages of China to get away from the grind.

This in turn reminds me of the recent WSJ article, No Satisfaction: Why What You Have is Never Enough. A must read for anybody in business.

This article posits two theories for why some people are miserable: (1) humans are not built to be happy; and (2) humans are terribly bad at forecasting what it takes to be or make us happy.

Which theory to you adhere to?

And were the Stones right? You/me/we just can’t get no satisfaction?

Check out this three minute video (called “Christianity in China”). This video is by the NY Times’ Nicholas Kristoff of China Wakes fame. And here is the subsequent NY Times Op-Ed piece, From Torture to Plaintiff: Pilgrim’s Progress in China, who wrote that relates to this video.

So what do you think — does economic development promote or work against religious faith? In Europe? In the US? In China? In South America? In Africa?

All or none of the above?

This is an interesting question I had never thought of before I came across this video.

Relatedly, here is a cool Business Week article about an MBA program for monks at Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. Jiao Tong is a well respected school in China.

When we are in Guangzhou, you will meet Lonnie Hodge of One Man Bandwidth fame, and some of his students. Great guy. Smart and quick as a whip. Kind as can be.

As you will likely be taking lots of pictures in China, you may want to jump in on this China photo contest he is pulling together. This contest is part of a coffee table book that will raise funds for China charities, including the amazing yet sadly now down to the last remaining survivor, original League of Extraordinary Chinese Women.

Great idea, Lonnie!

Clarification to make sure there is no confusion:

1. On your individual blogs, each individual is supposed to have a short recap of each facility we will be visiting (noted *** in your information booklet).

2. Each team is responsible for approximately 5 “focus” firms to be ready to be the catalyst for questions when we are on the road - but nothing needs to be posted on your blogs ahead of time.

From the China Q & A Blog. Do you know the answers to any of the below questions?

It’s pretty well known that dog is considered a delicacy in many parts of China and even though an increasing number of Chinese are keeping dogs as pets the eating of dog meat shows no sign of falling by the wayside.

What breeds of dog are most popular for human consumption? (border collie anyone?)

How is it most commonly served? (dog on toast?)

What does it taste like? (chicken?)

Are there any supposed health benefits? (lets face it, almost everything you eat in China is supposed to be good for your health.)

Mmmm good, mmmmm good. That’s what little doggies are …. mmmmmm good.

In the US we tend to take property rights for granted, in addition to having a body of well developed law on our shelves and an independent judiciary to help us sort out property disputes between parties.

Not so in China.

See this WSJ article, China Sports Stars Face Hurdles in the Race for Ad Riches.

This is a great piece on how this issue is a mess and much more complex in China.

And it’s also interesting from a public policy standpoint which facets of these sports star contracts in China should be/not be enforceable and to what extent the talent of such sports stars can and should be “owned” as an enforceable property right.

If you were the judge, which side would you rule in favor of, and why? The athlete, or the state? If you ruled for the athlete, would you require as a condition that he/she return to the state a dollar amount that equals what the state invested in that athlete and how do you quantify such an amount?

These are some of the interesting issues your business attorney gets to work on and think about in dealing with contract disputes.

June 3 Professor Carr Addendum:  A great NY Times article relating to the above just came out about Liu Xiang, the great Chinese 110 meter hurdler. See, A Runner Taking Each Hurdle as it Comess.  He made $7 million US last year in endorsements alone!  $7 million US is roughly equivalent to $56 million in China.  Good for him.  Seems like a good fellow.