Views On China
Several months ago, Joni Evans, a good friend of mine, began a new Web site www.wowowow.com (“The Women on the Web”) that is oriented to women, 40 years of age and over. Joni, a veritable powerhouse in the publishing industry whose career includes serving as president and publisher of Simon & Schuster and publisher at Random House, identified women over 40 as an underserved market on the Internet, and decided to create a Web site targeting this segment. To help her create, run and write for the site, Joni organized 15 extremely successful women, including Lesley Stahl (broadcast journalist), Peggy Noonan (political columnist), Mary Wells (inventor of modern day advertising); and entertainers, Whoopi Goldberg, Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin, and Marlo Thomas into a powerful team.
Why do I mention this on Managing the Dragon, a site devoted to China? Trust me, there is a China angle– I’m getting to it. But first, a bit more background.
A popular feature of the site is the “Question of the Day” which each contributor is asked to answer. One of the first questions was a doozy. Followers of New York politics will recall that in mid-March, Eliot Spitzer, the self-righteous former Attorney General of New York who had been elected Governor in 2006, was literally caught with his pants down when an investigation uncovered that he had been spending tens of thousands of dollars on hookers over a 10-year period. All of New York and the United States watched as Governor Spitzer stepped down, effective March 17, a distraught Mrs. Spitzer by his side. wowowow’s Question of the day: “Should Silda Spitzer Stand By Her Man?”
Now to the main point. As the Olympics draw near, and all things relating to China take center stage, one of last week’s questions of the day on www.wowowow was: ”It’s been 19 years since the protests in Tiananmen Square. What do you think about China today?mebeli”
One way or another, this question will be asked over and over again in the coming months. Whether you think the views of these very accomplished women represent a cross section of Americans or not, they are opinion makers and their comments provide interesting reading.
I confess to being most impressed with the comments made by Mary Wells, whose opening lines demonstrate a refreshing open-mindedness regarding China:
It is easy to complain about China but can you find a country you fully admire and have no complaints about? Including America? There have been big differences in China since Tiananmen Square and if you haven’t been there in awhile a visit there is astonishing. You can’t think about Tibet without being reminded of America’s own mistakes and you can’t visit Beijing without being reminded of America’s past capitalistic growth.
Well said.
She continues with a common sense, pragmatic prescription for the future:
I think this is the time to start encouraging our young people to learn to speak and to write Chinese in school. I would guess that in their primary career years the timing will be such that to be expert in Chinese will enhance a career and, in an important competition, make the difference.
Unfortunately, many Americans and Europeans do not share the same balanced perspective as Mary Wells. On my recent trip to the United States, I was surprised by how frequently I heard negative remarks made about the country and its leaders. The focus on the Olympics and the publicity surrounding anti-China demonstrations is drawing true sentiments to the surface. Jack Cafferty of CNN said it most crudely, but I suspect his comments speak for many.
If the Beijing Olympic Games, by bringing millions of first-time visitors to China, help to close this “understanding” gap, they will be considered a great success.
Marilyn,
Many thanks for passing that along. I will check it out and am particularly interested in reading the historical articles.
This is a bit off-subject, but I wanted to post a Bloomberg/Reuters story here which is proof of Jack’s point in Chapter 15 of his book: “China’s Technology Gap”. I’m a believer that China is capable of innovation and it is only a matter of time before we see it unfold. Microsoft’s new R&D campus in Beijing is proof of this, and I’m happy to see that in the following report:
“In the face of rampant piracy on the mainland, Microsoft Corp is taking action by investing US$280 million to build a research and development campus in Beijing , its largest outside the United States.
The investment also reflects the company’s acknowledgement of China’s rising role in innovations, beyond low-cost manufacturing.
“This campus represents the role China is playing to help shape Microsoft’s growing portfolio of products and services as the company expands its business across the world,” said Microsoft China chairman Zhang Yaqin of the 101,000 square metre compound to be located in Beijing’s high-technology Zhongguangcun area, on the sidelines of its groundbreaking ceremony yesterday.
“Through investments such as this, we are building on our capabilities as one of Microsoft’s key global R&D centres,” said the man who helped establish the US company’s China Research and Development Group in 2006.
The forthcoming project is in addition to a centre the software giant set up jointly with the mainland’s Lenovo Group (SEHK: 0992, announcements, news) , the world’s fourth-largest personal computer maker, in Beijing last year to develop software applications for mobile devices and other technologies.
Made up of two environmentally friendly buildings, the new research and development centre will have 5,000 workers on completion in 2010.
Microsoft plans to double the number of full-time research staff to 3,000 by 2010. It now employs on a project basis about 1,500 researchers who work in rented offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen .
Microsoft will increase its research and development commitments to boost sales in a market where more than 80 per cent of computer software is pirated.
“Piracy in China is putting pressure on companies to develop software products that aren’t as vulnerable to illegal copying,” said Liu Ning, an analyst at research company BDA China. “Piracy is getting less out of hand in China but will stay a problem in the short term.”
About 82 per cent of software run on personal computers on the mainland in 2006 was pirated, costing firms including Microsoft US$5.43 billion in lost revenue, according to data from the Business Software Alliance published in May last year.
The mainland’s information technology sector could reap a hefty windfall should the government succeed in curbing software piracy by up to 10 per cent over the next few years, a study in January by the alliance and International Data Corp said.
A reduction of that size would add 355,000 jobs in the information technology sector, earn US$1.6 billion in tax revenue and put in US$20.5 billion worth of economic growth by 2011, the study said.
Architecturally, Microsoft’s new Beijing campus will adopt innovative technologies to cut energy consumption. These will include “double-skin facades” on the south exterior walls to maximise daylight and keep out heat, solar water-heating systems, potable water-conservation and recycling schemes, and innovative “vertical parks” called Skygardens linking every three floors to promote better air circulation.
“As a company, we are committed to reducing the environmental impact of our business operations,” said Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist.
Microsoft had earlier announced plans to increase its budget for software, hardware, talent-training and technical support in the Chinese market to at least 250 million yuan over five years.
In May 2006, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to support innovation in the information technology sector.”
Bloomberg, Reuters
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As a self-described “global” company, if the “cost perspective” is your only criteria for hiring people, you should employ Africans, other Asians and people from around the world too - since Chinese aren’t the only ones who are frugal. You proudly proclaim that you’ve built an empire without learning Chinese, so why not hire frugal staff from all over the world to beef up your operations in China and abroad - you could test a potential African candidate for work against each and every of your Chinese staff to see who values money more. I’m a bit tired of the “sacred” principle that companies must “localize” in China and worship at the alter of Chinese nationalism. What passes for the gospel here in China would be seen as a limiting factor in expanding a global organization in other countries, including the United States. We believe in diversity to strengthen an organization and to serve global customers and address global competition. Indeeed, one of the great weaknesses of wholly-Chinese businesses in going global is that they (like any 99% “ethnically-pure” business), fail to understand the big-picture in dealing with overseas customers, and they repeatedly stop themselves from investing in services (legal, marketing, quality, political, scientific) unless there is an immediate payback. It is also a major turn-off to potential business partners and customers in foreign markets that Chinese businesses expect the overseas partners to invest in everything while they (the Chinese enterprise) behave like stingy paupers. It may work in many businesses, but it turns off a lot of people who are interested in long-term efforts and building something of value beyond cheap, cheaper, and cheapest.
Cafferty should apologize for racism but not for critizing the government.
When people in liberal societies have to shut their mouths or stop drawing political cartoons to please authoritarian governments and ideologues in other countries, then we might as well all be ruled by those political and belief systems ourselves.
Maybe more time could be spent asking the Mainland media why it blacks out the news and can’t publish anything contrary to the official party-line? Wouldn’t China be stronger as a country if its government could face regular criticism the same way that many other governments can and do by their own citizens and by people around the world? This is not kindergarten.
Some of the Americans in China in a position to say something should be bolder, but they should learn to speak Chinese first. In addition to being able to talk in Chinese, these same influential Americans would then actually understand the hyperbole directed at the West coming out of the mouths of Phoenix TV pundits, before these same Americans go on to criticize loud-mouth pundits who deride authoritarian governments. The whole debate is rather limited, but I know which side actually allows a great variety of views to be expressed by an actual variety of kinds of people.
rreynolds,
First things first. I never said that “cost perspective” was my only criteria for hiring people. What I said is that I have learned that for companies to have any chance of long term success in China, their managers should have the same cost perspective as their customers and competitors. Obviously, they must have other capabilities as well.
Secondly, what I wrote in the book and what I write on this site are based on my own experience. I am only passing along what I have learned and what has worked for me in China with the thought that my experience may help others. The lessons I have learned may or may not work for you, and you are entitled to your own opinions. However, you cannot argue with the fact they have worked for me.
Finally, whatever one thinks of a particular person or country does not excuse making rude and ignorant comments such as those made by Cafferty.I’m sorry. I was not brought up to think and speak that way.