China entrepeneurship: how do 700,000 global and Chinese multinationals, hightech compete? : Miami IMC

China, India, Asian century and globalization : how many challenges and conflicts are ahead ?

Reviews of 2 new books:

1. China's Global Reach: markets, multinationals, and globalization

2. China and the new world order: how entrepreneurship, globalization, and borderless business are reshaping China and the world

by Sinomania China News Service

"Empty talk destroys prosperity," so goes the current wisdom in author George Zhibin Gu’s hometown Shenzhen in the booming Pearl River delta of Guangdong province, long China’s export powerhouse. But empty talk you won’t get from Gu’s insightful and timely discussion of the Chinese economic resurgence and its implications for the world.

This new book "China’s Global Reach : Markets Multinationals Globalization" is an at times urgent appeal against isolationism and protectionism. Critics of China’s "peaceful rise" argument will find most surprising Gu’s assertion that you cannot equate the business of China (export dominance, job outsourcing, etc.) with the government of China or China as a national entity. Indeed Gu emphasizes the essential importance of international involvement in the reform of China’s state sector and in ultimately untangling the knot at the center of China’s problems - the impasse between party-bureaucracy and private life and property at all levels.

Gu expertly dissects the reality behind the huge numbers of Chinese trade and economic performance and shows how hard it is to criticize China’s trade surplus with the USA, for example, in light of its impact on Wal-Mart’s (and numerous other American multinational corporations (MNCs) profits. There is a tremendous amount of information regarding MNCs in China throughout the book.

On one level, "China’s Global Reach" is a celebration of how far China has come in such a brief period by a son of the first post Cultural Revolution generation. On another level it fits into the "peaceful rise" line that is predominant in China today, that is that Chinese economic ascendancy is not the emergence of a new hegemony but benefits the whole world. And Gu’s book serves also as a good antidote to rising sinophobia, particularly in the USA, by contrasting the Chinese global reach with that of Japan.

It was not so long ago that the same criticisms leveled against China - trade deficits, job displacement and so forth - were directed at Japan. The bogeyman of the 1980s was "Japan, Inc." just as today many of the same voices (The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Economist, just to name very few) claim China aims to take over the world. However, Gu gives numerous examples of just how different China’s global reach is from that of Japan and how much more open the Chinese economy is compared to Japan where foreign involvement is still severely restricted. More significantly, Gu shows how global-minded the Chinese are themselves particularly with their embrace of foreign products.

The rise and success of consumerism in China is one of the main themes of "China’s Global Reach" and the book goes a long way toward explaining to a foreign audience (the book is available in English and Portuguese so far) how the ruling Communist party equates its political authority with unfettered materialist determination.

Capping Gu’s book off nicely is an Afterward by Andre Gunder Frank who died last year before finishing his sequel to the ground-breaking and influential "ReOrient : Global Economy in the Asian Age." Frank’s comments are a powerful encapsulation of China’s global impact and a reminder to Americans specifically that the only thing to fear about a rising China is the USA’s response to it.

A delightful read, full of useful information, and interesting anecdotes, "China’s Global Reach" belongs on the desk and bookshelf of anyone with a serious interest in what’s going on in China. Get your copy today !

CONTENTS of China's Global Reach: Markets, Multinationals, and Globalization

Introduction
Three New Lessons
Growing Up in China
Going International
Returning Home
This Small Book
The Big Picture

Acknowledgments

Part I China as a New Global Theater

1. Ambitions of Foreign Multinationals in China
Today’s Versions of Columbus and Magellan
International Rush
Why Are They Here?
Why China?
One Big Factory-Market
More Sectors, More Players

2. The Business of China Is Business!
“Empty Talk Destroys Prosperity!”
Foreign Bankers
Spouses and Children
Welcome!

3. Creation of a Global Manufacturing Center
Unexpected Contributors
Arrival of Indian Companies
A Crowded Market
Galanz: the Manufacturer of the World
Convenient Settings
Future Trends

4. The Ultimate Driving Force: Explosive Consumption
Unexpected Development
Impressive Outcome
Continued Consumption Surge

5. Sharp Rise of Private Sector
One U.S. Banker’s Discovery
40 Million New Businesspeople
Rural and Urban Entrepreneurs
Buttons Create a New Industrial Town
Jinjiang, Fujian: Biggest Exporting Center for Sport Shoes
Low-End Players

6. All Players Are Important
Competing International Players
Auto Market
International Banks
International Listings
Consumer Views

Part II Global Interactions, Business Dealings, and Job Transfers

7. Learning - A Big Industry
Demand for Education
A Top School
International Involvement

8. The Officials’ Global Reach
Officials Lead the Way
Guangdong versus Inland
Abolishing Bureaucratic Tricks
International First
New York versus Beijing

9. “Capital Is Not Enough”
No Shortcuts
Two Lessons to Remember
Volkswagen versus Beijing Jeep
“Capital Is Not Enough”
Ericsson’s Seven Mistakes
Bashing Carrefour

10. Global Job Transfers
One International Question
Hiring by Foreign Multinationals
New Era of Global Job Transfers
Job Worries around the World
Hiring by Chinese Players
Global Job Transfers: China versus India

Part III China’s New International Experiences

11. Price, Price, Price
A Chinese Edge
GE in China
Japan’s Global Efforts
Cisco versus Huawei
Microsoft in China
Global Price Reductions

12. When Can Chinese Companies Become Global?
Weakness at Home
Foreign Observations
Low Benefits for China
State Banks: “The Troublemakers”
A Long Way to Go

13. Chinese Multinationals
Some Sizable Chinese Companies
Buying Into International Markets
Overseas Operations
Creating More Partnerships

14. Bringing Foreigners In
Trade Fairs
Industrial Parks
Foreign Acquisitions

Part IV China’s Reform at Home: The Unfinished Task

15. Problems Outpacing Solutions
The Ownership Issue
State Assets and Death on the Nile
“Two Pockets of the Same Jacket”
Lack of Weapons and True Owners

16. How Can a Man Still Wear Baby Clothes?
Credit Crisis and Banking Problems
The Richest Man in Shanghai
Corruptive Partnerships

17. Crises of State Sector
Rapid Changes in the Managerial Class
Hiring Foreign Managers
Long Live Competition!
Reform Difficulties
Painful Layoffs
Government Trimming

18. When Can China Achieve Meaningful Restructuring?
A Saturated Market
Difficulties for a Rational Order
The CEO in China and Elsewhere
Who Is Responsible for Wealth Creation?
Buying Parties Ready?
Need for Greater Determination

19. Employment Traps
Resident Permits
Lives of the Migrants
Employment Difficulties for Other Groups
Death of a College Graduate

20. Bureaucratic Tails
Tails Everywhere
Lucky International Players
“The Red Building”

Part V Globalization in Light of History

21. An Unbroken Circle?
The British Isles as a Global Center
China’s Missed Opportunities
The U.S. Way: Dumping Losers
Expansion and Wealth Creation, Past and Present

22. Universal Companies and Global Expansion
Bigger and Bigger Multinationals
First Strategy: A Strong Home Base
Second Strategy: Creating a New Form of Dominance
Third Strategy: A True Global Reach
China’s Participation in the World Economy

23. More on the Circle
Who Has Affected Globalization the Most?
First Factor: Japan’s Global Reach and Retreat
What Is Going On in Tokyo?
South Korea: Glories and Bubbles
Second Factor: Asia’s Financial Crisis
Third Factor: The World Trade Organization
Unexpected Developments
Global Development Orbit

24. How Does China Achieve Sustained Growth?
A Great Paradox
Effective Government, Different Role
The Big Picture
A New Model
Getting Out of the Box
A New World Order

Afterword: China, United States and Global Development
by Andre Gunder Frank

Notes

About the Author

George Zhibin Gu, a journalist/consultant based in Guangdong, China. A native of Xian, he was educated at Nanjing University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of Michigan. He holds two MS and a PhD from the University of Michigan.

For the past two decades, he has been an investment banker and business consultant. His work focuses on helping international businesses to invest in China and helping Chinese companies to expand overseas. He has worked for Prudential Securities, Lazard, and State Street Bank, among others. He generally covers mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, business expansion, and restructuring.

Also, he is a journalist on China and its relations with the world. His articles or columns have appeared in Asia Times, Beijing Review, The Seoul Times, Financial Sense, Gurus Online, Money Week, Online Opinion, Asia Venture Capital Journal, and Sinomania, among others. He is also a member of the World Association for International Studies hosted by Stanford University.

He is the author of four books : 1.China and the New World Order : How Entrepreneurship, Globalization and Borderless Economy Reshape China and World, foreword by William Ratliff (Fultus, 2006) ; 2.China’s Global Reach : Markets, Multinationals, and Globalization, afterword by Andre Gunder Frank (revised edition, Fultus, 2006) ; 3. China Beyond Deng : Reforms in the PRC (McFarland, 1991) ; and 4.Made in China ( English edition forthcoming, Fall 08; Portuguese edition, Centro Atlantico, 2005).