Sounds like everyone has some interesting reading ahead. I'm looking forward to reading more about what you're learning and the thoughts you have to share.
The first Chapter on my book, “Inside the Chinese Business Mind” discusses many levels of maters that will be addressed in the book and set the foundation for many later chapters. The book provides insight for westerners that are planning to conduct business in rural and in modern China. Some fascinating matters that I learned from the reading is that although china is seen as a communist country that is secluded from the rest of the world in actuality Shanghai is a city of internal trade and of vast growth. The book goes in depth about the importance of history in the Chinese business structure. It claims that in order to understand Chinese business it is imperative to understand its history. In doing so, it says that it will help one comprehend why the Chinese operate the way that they do.
I learned some very interesting facts while reading the book that I was not aware of prior to. The one child policy of China was implemented as a result of the Chinese population size and its continual growth which limited the amount of food and resources in the country. Which later resulted in the one child policy. Still many Chinese people (mostly the ones of older generations) believe that having extra fat is associated with someone’s wealth. This was because of the amount of scarcity during prior years in Chinese history. The most interesting fact that I learned was the there are many different dialects and moral systems in China. Although mandarin is the legal language of the country there are many spoken forms that are so different that they would be completely knew to someone that spoke mandarin. The author gave the example that there are 85 different ethical groups in Ethiopia to support the fact that business should not make the mistake of treating every Chinese the same.
I find it interesting that there are multiple ethnic groups in China. At the end of the first chapter in my book, the main character is preparing to leave a small town scene in northern China for the city of Shenzhen, which is very close to Hong Kong. I am predicting that the language and culture will begin to feel very different, and that some of the norms for my character will be drastically put aside as she discovers how to make a living in a new region of the country. -Ashley Blake
It is very interesting to see how different our culture is from theirs. Where here being overweight doesn't mean you have money, over there is a sign of richness just blows my mind. I heard about the different dialects and I was very impressed by it. Mandarin is already a very difficult language and I can't imagine how it might be when people with different dialects get together, must be fascinating.
The first chapter of my book, "Northern Girls", introduces the character Xiaohong. The story begins with a background as to why Xiaohong made the decisions she did. She was born with a full figure, so men were always lusting after her, including her brother-in-law. Right away, the story incorporates the theme of living in a small town, and how easy it is to gossip and know everybody’s business. For these reasons, Xiaohong ended up leaving her home, and going to work in the village near where she lived. Because of her figure, she was objectified by men and women alike, although she did receive special treatment in the area of employment due to her ability to make men like her. This ability brought her a very high-paying job at a big corporation. That job was beneficial for a time, but because the majority of Xiaohong’s worth was found in her looks, her morals were questioned, and she ended up leaving. I was surprised to see how easy it was for Xiaohong to do the work she did, but if you take a good look at how her brother-in-law treated her since she was ten years old, having sex was the norm. She never showed any emotion to how she felt about her work, but one time she admits that her brother-in-law’s treatment of her was terrible, and calls him a foul name. By the end of the chapter, Xiaohong is ready to leave the small town scene. She was ready for better wages and to be treated with more dignity. She was also bored and looking for more excitement, which makes me question her real reasons for wanting a job. Hopefully she can find a better life in the city of Shenzhen. -Ashley Blake
I find myself inspired by Xiaohong! I am highly impressed with how she made a difference in her life all by herself. She is truly a role model for pursuing a life of dignity and leaving where she was not appreciated. And the small town comment is very true! I have always found small societies often lead to more cliques and usually have a poisoned atmosphere due to rumors and individuals who believe they are the leader of the society. It also makes me think of an article I read about how their is a shortage of Chinese woman in China now due to the "one child" law, so some families are hiring kidnappers to steal girls for their sons to wed. Hopefully this story doesn't lead that way! -Sabrina Alward
The first chapter in my book "Invisible China" started off discussing different cultures and languages that exist in China. The first individual we meet is Nurmemet, a street vendor in the city of Fushan. He runs a very successful kebab stand, filling orders as he holds a conversation with Legerton and Rawson. Nurmemet has a family back home in Hotan (Northwest China) and has been in Fushan for two years. Although Nurmemet is Chinese, however he does not speak the same language as all other Chinese. He is quoted to have said: "When I first left my home town, I couldn't speak a word of Chinese. I have been learning the language just from doing business here. I still can't speak it very well, but I now know how o say everything related to kebabs" (pg. 3). While people may be citizens of the People's Republic of China, Nurmemet is different than someone such as Jackie Chan. Chan is of the Han majority, while Nurmemet is apart of the Uyghur, a prominent minority group in the northwest. Even though 55 ethnic minority groups make up about 120 million people, it is just a small percentage of of China's total population. It is impressive that is just China's minorities made their own country, it would be the 11th largest in the world.
China is very big! That is a surprising statistic about China's minorities. I will admit, that when I think of China, I only think of the Chinese people. There are a lot more people who make up the population and affect the culture of the country.
I find this part of your book to be very interesting. When thinking of China it is very simple to only think of Chinese people and ignore other ethic groups in China. Given this, I think it will be very useful to keep this in mind for when visiting China so that there are not any assumptions about someones ethnicity just because we are in China.
I agree with Emily! When I think of China, I also just think of what we are used to seeing in media, whether that be T.V. or other channels. I think recognizing and becoming informed that in many cases, minorities make up a huge portion of a country's population opens our eyes, and allows us to appreciate the culture from a different aspect!
In the first couple chapters of "The Souls of China", the author talks about how slowly and then abruptly religion was eradicated during the Cultural Revolution. Temples were destroyed or turned into storage. Images were crush or put away. But the government soon realized that it could not keep religion out altogether. The people yearned for something intangible and they found it in religion and faith. To the Chinese, religion is more than believing in a God. It is about belonging to a community. That is why, when Mao was in charge, he was not hated because to them, he was the religion. But then he died and they went back to Daoism, Buddhism and even Christian religions like Catholicism and Protestantism. The Chinese are hesitant to say if they are religious but they will willingly say specific things they believe in.
In the next chapter, the author attended a traditional funeral in a rural village. He explains the rituals that the funeral director has to do. It is a hard job that not many people are doing anymore, making it more taxing on the already tired elderly man. This is what the family has been doing for nine generations and son will take up all the duties when his father passes away. I found it interesting the amount of detail and symbolism put into a funeral. The city people who rush about do not have time for it. But I think it is a nice way of spending time reflecting on the life of the deceased and properly sending them away. -Emily Tan
This first chapter illustrates a short history of how China's growth enterprise looked like and how innovation first developed in the second half of the 20th century. It narrates how the innovators of that time were able to leave a mark and change the nature of industry forever. Chinnovation, the mixed of China and innovation, describes the process of translating what could be a simple idea into a global competitive industry. The book gives specific life experiences of innovative people that were able to make their companies one of the best. The author explained the key points: revealing the unique strategies, the administration of mechanisms, and the calculations that the best innovators used. Apart from the good experiences, it also describes the worst ones. Inevitable danger when some risks where taken helped these individuals learn valuable lessons. The chapter's pivot is a small summary of what the rest of the book will talk about which is the journey that entrepreneurs embark when they started building their companies and everything they went through until they were successful enough. Each chapter will analyze key points that each innovator learned.
Innovation is one of the ingredients that makes people successful and I agree with one of the key points that you mentioned which is revealing unique strategies, because in order to go ahead and build a company someone needs several strategies to do so. Also, success does not come without failure, that is part of the process and makes us learn more about our weaknesses, which is important for us in order to learn valuable lessons. I am looking forward to what your next chapter is going to be about!
Good job summarizing the key points of this chapter! Try to give more of your thoughts and reactions to this reading in the context of what you've been learning about China. -Professor Schilleman
I am learning something similar to this in the book I am reading. Chinnovation is what helped China to grow into such a powerful world industry leader. I look forward to hearing more about it.
I am learning something similar to this in the book I am reading. Chinnovation is what helped China to grow into such a powerful world industry leader. I look forward to hearing more about it. -Becky Oxentenko
The first chapter is titled “Understanding the Business Environment and Dealing with the Chinese Government” and it begins by saying how China has been changing the regulations and the way of doing business. In those early years, when there were just a few business regulations, if any misstep occurred it would be considered as illegal. Later on, important economic decisions were starting to be made and from an atmosphere of fear in the early 1980s, China’s economic reforms began to take root. The chapter also mentions one of the international business pioneers that the author from the book interviewed, which his name is Ge Dingkun and he mentioned how to succeed in doing business at China. His key #1 was that the way to be successful is to offer a product or service that is slightly better, faster, or cheaper than existing suppliers. Government support is the second key in China’s currently welcoming environment for entrepreneurs. Also, Professor Ge said that if someone wants to start a company in China, they should start right now because in the future the entry barriers in many industries will be huge. One interesting fact that I founded was that operating in China requires constantly researching evolving rules and regulations nationwide, in other words someone needs to be in touch with China’s rules because they can be changed at any time. However, the CEO of ChinArt named Mark Pummell said that if someone follows every Chinese regulation, they will never move forward, however, people should evaluate the risks and be safe of any illegal framework. According to the cities that you are in, the regulations changes and are interpreted in a different way. Later on the chapter it mentions strategies for successful government relations and how connections are very important and very useful by always smiling and showing respect. In conclusion, the business environment in China has changed enormously. Nevertheless, foreign entrepreneurs in China still consider working with the government to be one of their most serious challenges. Therefore, the first steps to do business in China is critical to develop the right mindset and the appropriate environment.
My book has been going over the regulations and uncertainty that China faces. I honestly sounds like super hard work and a lot of risk but the fact that they have made it normal to keep up with regulations and respond quickly to huge changes is very inpressive. -Coby Federowski
In chapter two of my book it goes over the idea that entrepreneurs must "shift the views of time to compete effectively in unpredictable markets" which is a quality that most successful Chinese entrepreneurs posses. Because of the inconsistency and lack of communication between governmental laws and regulations being passed and the public, firms can easily be forced out of their own markets if they are not on top of things 24-7. An example of these unpredictable regulations and policies and how it affects Chinese business was back in 2003. The government was trying lower bank exposure by restricting loans availability to real estate firms. Basically the real estate office takes out loans to help with the process of new clients purchases. And the reason why the government wanted to lower the exposure rate was because the amount of credit that was already out was so high that the value was beginning to go down. So with the abrupt restriction of important loans necessary to make real estate purchases, the market dropped a large percentage of real estate firms had left the market. Only the firms run by leaders who were up to date with regulatory events were able to maintain their position in the market. This was a very complex chapter so here is what I said above but in a nutshell. The government passed strict regulations on loans without telling anyone. Firms who weren't aware of the regulation ended up losing their entire business. Because the Chinese government is less spoken, Chinese entrepreneurs must be informed to a much higher standard than what is expected in the west. -Coby Federowski
The first chapter of my book "Factory Girls" by Leslie T. Chang introduces the conditions of social life for the girls that worked in factories, and the fact that making friends was not common, questions that girls usually asked each other where limited to work life, like "how long have you been here?" or "how much do you make?" You rarely knew the names of your co-workers, and as the author put it, making true friends was not easy. Throughout the first few pages we see how difficult life is for these working girls. For example, the first two months of work, their paycheck was kept from them, and if they left within the first two months- they would lose that money. Finding work in a factory was easy, the hard part was leaving because it was so hard to find a new job. In this chapter we are also introduced to one of our main characters: Lu Qingmin. The factory she worked at was called Carrin Electronics, it was based in Hong Kong and they made different parts for alarms, calculators, etc. She worked thirteen hours and was only allowed two breaks for meals. Oftentimes, her she worked overtime without seeing that pay. The author says that at sixteen years old, Lu imagined herself working at that factory for the next ten year and felt dread. - Cynthia Roman
In 1978 Deng Xiaoping inherited the China in deep economic, social, and political turmoil. He decided to use private enterprises to restart China’s economic engine. He allowed for a lot of experimental reforms and if any of them were successful he would let them expand nationwide. Many people began investing in township and village enterprises (TVE) where as state owned enterprises (SOE) kept on going stagnant. There were some efforts that were done to try to improve the SOEs. The stock market was used to sell pieces of the SOE but unfortunately it still was not cutting it. He also took some ideas from the Korean monopolistic conglomerates which also ended up not working.In 1997 came a reform of the SOEs in the hopes of revitalizing and making them prosper again. “Gasp the big, let go of the small,” this is what the reform became known as. They would keep and reinforce, with state cash, those SOEs that are involved and doing good and will put them in enterprise groups under strict state control. Those SOEs that were not performing to well and were smaller were forced to shut down or become private. I learned that maybe it was not the best idea to focus all of a country's economy on state owned enterprises because in reality all it does is fluff up the GDP and may not always be sustainable. It was interesting to see how they have tried with the public enterprises and the state enterprises ad they have not bee able to find the right balance. I feel like if they can find a balance they will be better off having the best outcome. -Rodny Aquino
The first chapter of my book examines what the author calls the "wealth battle" between China and the United States. The main idea presented throughout this chapter is that the financial sun is rising over China and setting in the USA. The author speaks about some of the imbalances that this rise in industrial success for China has caused for the rest of the world. China has experienced a surge in demand for raw materials which has inflated the prices for these items throughout the rest of the world. A major source of conflict between the US and China stems from trade imbalances. China has far more wealth flowing in than it has flowing out. In fact at the time of this book's publication in 2010 they had over 2.3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves in comparison with the USA's 83 billion. The author shows how the United States and China have taken very different paths over the last few decades. The Chinese have produced and sold far more then they consume in contrast to our consumer based society. The author believes that these conflicting motivations between the two countries is leading to a war over wealth. He went on to say that in the book we will further explore this war and take a look at why working together would benefit both countries in the long run. I think it should be interesting to see where he takes this. I also look forward to learning more about how we got to this point of tension as the author believes in order to fix the present we must first understand the past. -Becky Oxentenko
Chapter 1 of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom explains the first attempts in starting a economic relation between the Chinese and Americans. In May 1783, a sailor, John Ledyard, returned to the shores of America after being shipped with the Royal Navy and droping out of Darthmouth College where he was a missionary student. He was hungry to make trade with China. America’s first fortunes were made in the China trade from 1783 until the early 1800s and profits from that commerce bankrolled America’s industrial revolution. In the 1830s, the 40-odd Americans living in the tiny trade outpost on the outskirts of Canton boxed far above their weight. Thanks to their labors, the United States became the Middle Kingdom’s number two trading partner after the mighty British. Chinese officials then began what would become a tradition: looking at the United States as a bulwark against China’s enemies.They were eager to test new frontiers just like the name of the chapter.
First Book Responce
ReplyDeleteThe first Chapter on my book, “Inside the Chinese Business Mind” discusses many levels of maters that will be addressed in the book and set the foundation for many later chapters. The book provides insight for westerners that are planning to conduct business in rural and in modern China. Some fascinating matters that I learned from the reading is that although china is seen as a communist country that is secluded from the rest of the world in actuality Shanghai is a city of internal trade and of vast growth. The book goes in depth about the importance of history in the Chinese business structure. It claims that in order to understand Chinese business it is imperative to understand its history. In doing so, it says that it will help one comprehend why the Chinese operate the way that they do.
I learned some very interesting facts while reading the book that I was not aware of prior to. The one child policy of China was implemented as a result of the Chinese population size and its continual growth which limited the amount of food and resources in the country. Which later resulted in the one child policy. Still many Chinese people (mostly the ones of older generations) believe that having extra fat is associated with someone’s wealth. This was because of the amount of scarcity during prior years in Chinese history. The most interesting fact that I learned was the there are many different dialects and moral systems in China. Although mandarin is the legal language of the country there are many spoken forms that are so different that they would be completely knew to someone that spoke mandarin. The author gave the example that there are 85 different ethical groups in Ethiopia to support the fact that business should not make the mistake of treating every Chinese the same.
- Isaac Fernandez
I find it interesting that there are multiple ethnic groups in China. At the end of the first chapter in my book, the main character is preparing to leave a small town scene in northern China for the city of Shenzhen, which is very close to Hong Kong. I am predicting that the language and culture will begin to feel very different, and that some of the norms for my character will be drastically put aside as she discovers how to make a living in a new region of the country.
Delete-Ashley Blake
It is very interesting to see how different our culture is from theirs. Where here being overweight doesn't mean you have money, over there is a sign of richness just blows my mind. I heard about the different dialects and I was very impressed by it. Mandarin is already a very difficult language and I can't imagine how it might be when people with different dialects get together, must be fascinating.
Delete-Allison Barreto
Excellent post Isaac! Good job engaging with the text and applying it to business.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
The first chapter of my book, "Northern Girls", introduces the character Xiaohong. The story begins with a background as to why Xiaohong made the decisions she did. She was born with a full figure, so men were always lusting after her, including her brother-in-law. Right away, the story incorporates the theme of living in a small town, and how easy it is to gossip and know everybody’s business. For these reasons, Xiaohong ended up leaving her home, and going to work in the village near where she lived. Because of her figure, she was objectified by men and women alike, although she did receive special treatment in the area of employment due to her ability to make men like her. This ability brought her a very high-paying job at a big corporation. That job was beneficial for a time, but because the majority of Xiaohong’s worth was found in her looks, her morals were questioned, and she ended up leaving. I was surprised to see how easy it was for Xiaohong to do the work she did, but if you take a good look at how her brother-in-law treated her since she was ten years old, having sex was the norm. She never showed any emotion to how she felt about her work, but one time she admits that her brother-in-law’s treatment of her was terrible, and calls him a foul name. By the end of the chapter, Xiaohong is ready to leave the small town scene. She was ready for better wages and to be treated with more dignity. She was also bored and looking for more excitement, which makes me question her real reasons for wanting a job. Hopefully she can find a better life in the city of Shenzhen.
ReplyDelete-Ashley Blake
I find myself inspired by Xiaohong! I am highly impressed with how she made a difference in her life all by herself. She is truly a role model for pursuing a life of dignity and leaving where she was not appreciated.
DeleteAnd the small town comment is very true! I have always found small societies often lead to more cliques and usually have a poisoned atmosphere due to rumors and individuals who believe they are the leader of the society.
It also makes me think of an article I read about how their is a shortage of Chinese woman in China now due to the "one child" law, so some families are hiring kidnappers to steal girls for their sons to wed. Hopefully this story doesn't lead that way!
-Sabrina Alward
Nice summary Ashley! Try to give a little more of your own thoughts about what you've read.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
The first chapter in my book "Invisible China" started off discussing different cultures and languages that exist in China. The first individual we meet is Nurmemet, a street vendor in the city of Fushan. He runs a very successful kebab stand, filling orders as he holds a conversation with Legerton and Rawson. Nurmemet has a family back home in Hotan (Northwest China) and has been in Fushan for two years. Although Nurmemet is Chinese, however he does not speak the same language as all other Chinese. He is quoted to have said: "When I first left my home town, I couldn't speak a word of Chinese. I have been learning the language just from doing business here. I still can't speak it very well, but I now know how o say everything related to kebabs" (pg. 3). While people may be citizens of the People's Republic of China, Nurmemet is different than someone such as Jackie Chan. Chan is of the Han majority, while Nurmemet is apart of the Uyghur, a prominent minority group in the northwest. Even though 55 ethnic minority groups make up about 120 million people, it is just a small percentage of of China's total population. It is impressive that is just China's minorities made their own country, it would be the 11th largest in the world.
ReplyDelete-Sabrina Alward
China is very big! That is a surprising statistic about China's minorities. I will admit, that when I think of China, I only think of the Chinese people. There are a lot more people who make up the population and affect the culture of the country.
DeleteI find this part of your book to be very interesting. When thinking of China it is very simple to only think of Chinese people and ignore other ethic groups in China. Given this, I think it will be very useful to keep this in mind for when visiting China so that there are not any assumptions about someones ethnicity just because we are in China.
Delete- Isaac Fernandez
I agree with Emily! When I think of China, I also just think of what we are used to seeing in media, whether that be T.V. or other channels. I think recognizing and becoming informed that in many cases, minorities make up a huge portion of a country's population opens our eyes, and allows us to appreciate the culture from a different aspect!
DeleteMake sure to sign your name if it shows up as unknown! Otherwise I won't be able to give you credit.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
In the first couple chapters of "The Souls of China", the author talks about how slowly and then abruptly religion was eradicated during the Cultural Revolution. Temples were destroyed or turned into storage. Images were crush or put away.
ReplyDeleteBut the government soon realized that it could not keep religion out altogether. The people yearned for something intangible and they found it in religion and faith. To the Chinese, religion is more than believing in a God. It is about belonging to a community. That is why, when Mao was in charge, he was not hated because to them, he was the religion. But then he died and they went back to Daoism, Buddhism and even Christian religions like Catholicism and Protestantism. The Chinese are hesitant to say if they are religious but they will willingly say specific things they believe in.
In the next chapter, the author attended a traditional funeral in a rural village. He explains the rituals that the funeral director has to do. It is a hard job that not many people are doing anymore, making it more taxing on the already tired elderly man. This is what the family has been doing for nine generations and son will take up all the duties when his father passes away. I found it interesting the amount of detail and symbolism put into a funeral. The city people who rush about do not have time for it. But I think it is a nice way of spending time reflecting on the life of the deceased and properly sending them away.
-Emily Tan
Good post Emily! Try to give more of your thoughts and reactions to the reading but this is an excellent summary.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
This first chapter illustrates a short history of how China's growth enterprise looked like and how innovation first developed in the second half of the 20th century. It narrates how the innovators of that time were able to leave a mark and change the nature of industry forever. Chinnovation, the mixed of China and innovation, describes the process of translating what could be a simple idea into a global competitive industry. The book gives specific life experiences of innovative people that were able to make their companies one of the best. The author explained the key points: revealing the unique strategies, the administration of mechanisms, and the calculations that the best innovators used. Apart from the good experiences, it also describes the worst ones. Inevitable danger when some risks where taken helped these individuals learn valuable lessons. The chapter's pivot is a small summary of what the rest of the book will talk about which is the journey that entrepreneurs embark when they started building their companies and everything they went through until they were successful enough. Each chapter will analyze key points that each innovator learned.
ReplyDelete- Allison Barreto
Innovation is one of the ingredients that makes people successful and I agree with one of the key points that you mentioned which is revealing unique strategies, because in order to go ahead and build a company someone needs several strategies to do so. Also, success does not come without failure, that is part of the process and makes us learn more about our weaknesses, which is important for us in order to learn valuable lessons. I am looking forward to what your next chapter is going to be about!
Delete-Manelkis Javier Garcia
Good job summarizing the key points of this chapter! Try to give more of your thoughts and reactions to this reading in the context of what you've been learning about China.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
I am learning something similar to this in the book I am reading. Chinnovation is what helped China to grow into such a powerful world industry leader. I look forward to hearing more about it.
DeleteI am learning something similar to this in the book I am reading. Chinnovation is what helped China to grow into such a powerful world industry leader. I look forward to hearing more about it.
Delete-Becky Oxentenko
The first chapter is titled “Understanding the Business Environment and Dealing with the Chinese Government” and it begins by saying how China has been changing the regulations and the way of doing business. In those early years, when there were just a few business regulations, if any misstep occurred it would be considered as illegal. Later on, important economic decisions were starting to be made and from an atmosphere of fear in the early 1980s, China’s economic reforms began to take root. The chapter also mentions one of the international business pioneers that the author from the book interviewed, which his name is Ge Dingkun and he mentioned how to succeed in doing business at China. His key #1 was that the way to be successful is to offer a product or service that is slightly better, faster, or cheaper than existing suppliers. Government support is the second key in China’s currently welcoming environment for entrepreneurs. Also, Professor Ge said that if someone wants to start a company in China, they should start right now because in the future the entry barriers in many industries will be huge. One interesting fact that I founded was that operating in China requires constantly researching evolving rules and regulations nationwide, in other words someone needs to be in touch with China’s rules because they can be changed at any time. However, the CEO of ChinArt named Mark Pummell said that if someone follows every Chinese regulation, they will never move forward, however, people should evaluate the risks and be safe of any illegal framework. According to the cities that you are in, the regulations changes and are interpreted in a different way. Later on the chapter it mentions strategies for successful government relations and how connections are very important and very useful by always smiling and showing respect. In conclusion, the business environment in China has changed enormously. Nevertheless, foreign entrepreneurs in China still consider working with the government to be one of their most serious challenges. Therefore, the first steps to do business in China is critical to develop the right mindset and the appropriate environment.
ReplyDelete-Manelkis Javier García
My book has been going over the regulations and uncertainty that China faces. I honestly sounds like super hard work and a lot of risk but the fact that they have made it normal to keep up with regulations and respond quickly to huge changes is very inpressive.
Delete-Coby Federowski
Excellent post! Really good job summarizing this chapter.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
In chapter two of my book it goes over the idea that entrepreneurs must "shift the views of time to compete effectively in unpredictable markets" which is a quality that most successful Chinese entrepreneurs posses. Because of the inconsistency and lack of communication between governmental laws and regulations being passed and the public, firms can easily be forced out of their own markets if they are not on top of things 24-7. An example of these unpredictable regulations and policies and how it affects Chinese business was back in 2003. The government was trying lower bank exposure by restricting loans availability to real estate firms. Basically the real estate office takes out loans to help with the process of new clients purchases. And the reason why the government wanted to lower the exposure rate was because the amount of credit that was already out was so high that the value was beginning to go down. So with the abrupt restriction of important loans necessary to make real estate purchases, the market dropped a large percentage of real estate firms had left the market. Only the firms run by leaders who were up to date with regulatory events were able to maintain their position in the market.
ReplyDeleteThis was a very complex chapter so here is what I said above but in a nutshell. The government passed strict regulations on loans without telling anyone. Firms who weren't aware of the regulation ended up losing their entire business.
Because the Chinese government is less spoken, Chinese entrepreneurs must be informed to a much higher standard than what is expected in the west.
-Coby Federowski
Make sure to proofread your post. The ideas are good but need a little polish to be communicated most effectively.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
The first chapter of my book "Factory Girls" by Leslie T. Chang introduces the conditions of social life for the girls that worked in factories, and the fact that making friends was not common, questions that girls usually asked each other where limited to work life, like "how long have you been here?" or "how much do you make?" You rarely knew the names of your co-workers, and as the author put it, making true friends was not easy. Throughout the first few pages we see how difficult life is for these working girls. For example, the first two months of work, their paycheck was kept from them, and if they left within the first two months- they would lose that money. Finding work in a factory was easy, the hard part was leaving because it was so hard to find a new job. In this chapter we are also introduced to one of our main characters: Lu Qingmin. The factory she worked at was called Carrin Electronics, it was based in Hong Kong and they made different parts for alarms, calculators, etc. She worked thirteen hours and was only allowed two breaks for meals. Oftentimes, her she worked overtime without seeing that pay. The author says that at sixteen years old, Lu imagined herself working at that factory for the next ten year and felt dread.
ReplyDelete- Cynthia Roman
Good summary Cynthia! Try to give your reaction to the reading too.
Delete-Professor Schilleman
In 1978 Deng Xiaoping inherited the China in deep economic, social, and political turmoil. He decided to use private enterprises to restart China’s economic engine. He allowed for a lot of experimental reforms and if any of them were successful he would let them expand nationwide. Many people began investing in township and village enterprises (TVE) where as state owned enterprises (SOE) kept on going stagnant. There were some efforts that were done to try to improve the SOEs. The stock market was used to sell pieces of the SOE but unfortunately it still was not cutting it. He also took some ideas from the Korean monopolistic conglomerates which also ended up not working.In 1997 came a reform of the SOEs in the hopes of revitalizing and making them prosper again. “Gasp the big, let go of the small,” this is what the reform became known as. They would keep and reinforce, with state cash, those SOEs that are involved and doing good and will put them in enterprise groups under strict state control. Those SOEs that were not performing to well and were smaller were forced to shut down or become private. I learned that maybe it was not the best idea to focus all of a country's economy on state owned enterprises because in reality all it does is fluff up the GDP and may not always be sustainable. It was interesting to see how they have tried with the public enterprises and the state enterprises ad they have not bee able to find the right balance. I feel like if they can find a balance they will be better off having the best outcome.
ReplyDelete-Rodny Aquino
The first chapter of my book examines what the author calls the "wealth battle" between China and the United States. The main idea presented throughout this chapter is that the financial sun is rising over China and setting in the USA. The author speaks about some of the imbalances that this rise in industrial success for China has caused for the rest of the world. China has experienced a surge in demand for raw materials which has inflated the prices for these items throughout the rest of the world. A major source of conflict between the US and China stems from trade imbalances. China has far more wealth flowing in than it has flowing out. In fact at the time of this book's publication in 2010 they had over 2.3 trillion in foreign exchange reserves in comparison with the USA's 83 billion. The author shows how the United States and China have taken very different paths over the last few decades. The Chinese have produced and sold far more then they consume in contrast to our consumer based society. The author believes that these conflicting motivations between the two countries is leading to a war over wealth. He went on to say that in the book we will further explore this war and take a look at why working together would benefit both countries in the long run. I think it should be interesting to see where he takes this. I also look forward to learning more about how we got to this point of tension as the author believes in order to fix the present we must first understand the past.
ReplyDelete-Becky Oxentenko
Chapter 1 of The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom explains the first attempts in starting a economic relation between the Chinese and Americans. In May 1783, a sailor, John Ledyard, returned to the shores of America after being shipped with the Royal Navy and droping out of Darthmouth College where he was a missionary student. He was hungry to make trade with China. America’s first fortunes were made in the China trade from 1783 until the early 1800s and profits from that commerce bankrolled America’s industrial revolution. In the 1830s, the 40-odd Americans living in the tiny trade outpost on the outskirts of Canton boxed far above their weight. Thanks to their labors, the United States became the Middle Kingdom’s number two trading partner after the mighty British. Chinese officials then began what would become a tradition: looking at the United States as a bulwark against China’s enemies.They were eager to test new frontiers just like the name of the chapter.
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