One Billion Customers

James McGregor’s book “One Billion Customers” discusses key business and management issues. He shows how Chinese companies will have to become internationally competitive. He argues that foreign companies will need to build an effective Chinese executive group and the most effective technique is a planned mentoring system.

The combined company of IBM and Lenovo is an example of cultural integration (McGregor, 2006). He calls this a laboratory where the different styles of management may be studied. This is a blended model of both systems.

McGregor, J. (2006). One billion customers : lessons from the front lines of doing business in China. New York: Free Press.

Return to Dragon Mountain

In Return to Dragon Mountain, Jonathan D. Spence tells the life story of Zhang Dai, a late Ming man who started life with all the luxuries. His family owned a lakeside villa, spacious homes, and massive library and paintings (Spence, 2007). He had many interests and cultivated tastes for example he collected tea.

The activity that entranced me was moon viewing. He kept a boat near to his residence so he could use it any time. He would lie in the boat and look at the moon. Spence notes that “As he drifted one evening at leisure on Hangzhou’s West Lake, at the time of the September moon festival, despite the varied delight of the occasion there was nothing more absorbing to Zhang than watching the other people who were also out on the lake watching the moon. “(Spence, 2007, p. 29)

This book follows the memories of Zhang’s long life and years of declining wealth, opportunities, and health.

Spence, J. D. (2007). Return to Dragon Mountain : memories of a late Ming man. New York: Viking.

Memory Palace

Today is New Year’s Eve and I am preparing to leave in the morning. I wanted to post about my favorite author on China, Jonathan D. Spence. I have access to all my books here to help discuss them.

His book The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci portrays the Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci, an Italian, who tired to bring Christian faith and western thought to Ming dynasty China. A “memory palace” is a series of mental palaces, places, or pavilions that are either real or imagined. These mental constructs are storage spaces for any concept of human knowledge (Spence, 1985, p. 2). Ricci wrote that for each thing one wishes to remember, one should give an image.

Each image is assigned a place in one of the palaces or buildings. When the item is needed, one mentally walks through the room and finds the item of knowledge.

The book is a wonderful work of cultural history.

[Simon Baker’s “The Mentalist” on CBS mentioned the technique of a memory palace in a recent episode. He used his childhood memories of a circus as the palace where he placed items to be remembered.]

Spence, J. D. (1985). The memory palace of Matteo Ricci. New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books.

River Town

Peter Hessler’s “River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze” is a book about his experience as a Peace Corps volunteer. His experiences strongly remind me of my own as a volunteer in Malaysia in the 1970s.

He discusses how beautiful the city was at night while being not so attractive during the day. He is mystified by some of the routines and rules in the school. Croquet was played differently than in the US.

Students are amazed when a fellow, female volunteer acts very casually during a class lecture. She removes her sweater and ties it around her waist!

He acknowledges that he made mistakes but that the people were understanding and attempted to help the volunteers adjust.

His experiences in this wonderful book reminded me of my own experience so many years ago. Of course, thirty-six years ago, the very idea of a Peace Corps presence in China was out of the question. In 2009 many people visit, live, and interact with citizens of China.


You can read some exerpts at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0060953748/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link


Hessler, P. (2001) River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. Harper Collins Publishing: New York.

Hills Beyond a River

In 1975 I completed two years and three months service with the Peace Corps in Malaysia. I left my posting in Kota Kinabalu in the state of Sabah in late November to travel through Asia on my way home. I visited Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan. Of course, in those days, travelers could not enter the mainland of China. This was too soon after the1972 Nixon diplomatic breakthrough and long before Deng Xiaoping opening of the economy.

In Taiwan I spent several days at the National Palace Museum. I remember looking at vast halls of ceramics, jade, bronzes, and statues. But the area that struck me was the paintings. I particularly became entranced by the Yuan Dynasty (1279 -1368)-Masters. Below is my favorite of them all Ni Tsan’s The Jung-hsi Studio.

The painting is accompanied by a poem. Cahill (1976) notes that painting and poem were “to be absorbed together as parts of a single aesthetic experience” (Cahill, 1976, p. 18). The poem was added two years after the painting was completed. The painting contains a number of seals. The seal can be a name or penname of the owner of a painting. The value of the work is increased by the presence of the seals of famous collectors or other artists.

References

Cahill, J. (1976). Hills beyond a river : Chinese painting of the Yèuan Dynasty, 1279-1368 (1st ed.). New York: Weatherhill.

Why We Blog

Writing in November’s The Atlantic, Andrew Sullivan describes his experiences in blogging. He notes that his blog has porous borders and is accountable to readers and other bloggers. He compares blogging to an extreme sport, free-form and less formal. He says “Blogging is writing out loud.” Sullivan claims that blogging has exposed a “hunger and need” for traditional writing. (Sullivan, 2008)

I will continue to add to my blog before my study trip and will add to it each day while away.

Thanks for reading!

Sullivan, A. (2008). Why I blog. The Atlantic, 302(4), 106-113.

Rob Gifford's China Road

One of the recommended readings is China Road by Rob Gifford. He has lived in China for 20 years. His next assignment will be NPR bureau chief in London (Gifford, 2008).

He used several of these stories on NPR. I remember one particular story of Gifford making an impromptu sermon to a small Christian Church.

Interspersed with his experiences travelling China’s route 312 he gives an interesting précis of China’s history and development.

I highly recommend this book.

Gifford, R. (2008). China road : a journey into the future of a rising power (Random House Trade Paperback ed.). New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.

Welcome and Introduction

Hello!! Welcome to my Blog.
I have the honor of receiving the Frank Smith Wilkinson Lectureship Award to participate in the two-week faculty development in international business titled, “China: An Emerged Economic Powerhouse in the Global Economy.” It will take place January 4-16, 2009.
The program is sponsored by The Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) which is part of the Institute for International Business (IIB) at the University of Colorado at Denver. The website states that faculty will gain “firsthand knowledge of the dynamic growth of two of China’s leading economic regions”
The intended participants are business faculty who want to internationalize their courses, explore research opportunities in China and Hong Kong, and network with faculty and businesses in China and Hong Kong. Here is a link to the website: http://www.cudenver.edu/International/CIBER/Pages/China%20FDIB.aspx

The Wilkinson Lectureship is funded by a grant from the Wilkinson family to support study and travel designed to enhance our understanding of the global economy by broadening our perspective of other cultures, and by deepening our knowledge of how persons, firms, and communities may deal more effectively across national and cultural boundaries

Thank you to North Carolina Wesleyan College for making this available.

To my students:
Because I will be away January 13 – 16, please see My.NCWC.edu for assignments. I will meet classes beginning Tuesday, January 20.