Revised Proposals: Thursday March 5th Deadline

There are plenty of great ideas out there for projects; all of them a great start. And all of them are more ambitious than they need to be, when you consider the short time we have together as a class and the short time we have on the ground in 中国。

What My Comments Suggest
I assigned a "thumbnail" score to the idea and the work plan, but please know that this is not a grade: just a way for me to keep track of how your project is progressing. Don't be dismayed or worried if you received a 5/5. That means you have an acceptable, even a good idea; it also means that you need to make some clarifications and some revisions.

When Revisions Are Due and What I Expect
I don't expect a wholesale re-write (except perhaps in one or two cases). Nearly all the topics are appropriate. What I would like to see is a one—or possibly two-page—revision in which you narrow down your topic and lay out, in bullet points if you like, what steps you plan to take to address your now more narrow problem or question.

If you have not received comments from me by Thursday of this week, please do let me know and I"ll re-send! Do not hesitate to write me at ken.paceth@gmail.com . I appreciate your requests for feedback and I nearly always get back to you within 48 hours, so don't be shy.

China Market Watch

Bloomberg reports that some very wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs are in hot water. The article is worth a read, especially if you are interested in transparency, the Chinese stock market, and the way that guanxi works.

Here is William Mellor's article.

Provinces and Administrative Regions of China

China is organized into 23 provinces (which of course include Taiwan), four autonomous regions, (Tibet, Xinjiang, Ningxia Hui, Inner Mongolia, and Guangxi Zhuang), and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR).



It pays to be familiar with the capitals of each province, the history of the two SARs, and each Autonomous Region. The Western, and Southwestern provinces are targeted in the present five-year plan for extensive development. These are the areas experiencing rapid urban growth. How many provincial capitals can you name? Can you name a few key characteristics of a few of them? Dig around in Wikepedia, and be ready to ask people in China where they are from and what their city is famous for.

Guanxi, Leadership, & Making Connections

Only by focusing on building relationships with your Chinese business partners will you achieve economic and cultural success in China. You have to develop real depth in your relationships. I believe this starts first by challenging your own assumptions and stepping outside your own frame of reference - and most of all listening. Listening leads to understanding and that leads to trust. --Ed Gilligan, Harvard Biz Weekly

Guanxi: Its the Relationship and More
Guanxi was among the words in our lexicon recently. As you are all trying to build new relationships in China, its time to unpack that word. It really is more than "relationship." Its about a particular kind of relationship.

Dr. Gallos shared a link to a short piece by Ed Gilligan yesterday that hints at the re-thinking we need to do when we consider the importance of relationships in business, in leadership, and in strategy. Reading the article left me wondering if we shouldn't apply the same ideas to all our business relationships and not just those in China.

Take the picture of Mr. Ming, above, who is showing his video camera to a group of rural middle school students from Sichuan Province. These are Yi kids from up in the highlands; our team was able to visit after two years of getting-to-know-you meetings, on and off, in Chengdu. Students of friends, colleagues of colleagues made the connections for us. And we'll be back--we aim to, and if we want our China practice to be sustainable we have to be back. That's because the guanxi we established in Sichuan runs all the way to Beijing and the National Academy of Social Sciences. Guanxi is no short-term networking meeting. It isn't speed-dating. Its a lot more than that.

So what about here in the USA? We need some re-thinking of what we mean by business relationships, and I think we should start using the word guanxi. Makes sense to me. Give the article a look!