Danwei FM

China Businesscast: interview with James McGregor


McGregor on Xinhua:
"We should have driven a stake through their heart ten years ago."
In 2005 James McGregor released his book One Billion Customers, Lessons from the Front Lines of Doing Business in China. The book became a best seller, seen by many as the defining book on doing business in China. Propelled by the success of his book, McGregor started a company focusing on strategic consulting, research, and China-focused fund-of-funds.

In this talk we cover several topics including China's media industry, failures of foreign web companies and possibilities for success, how China should focus on enhancing the competitiveness of its private firms, and how a little TLC goes a long way with Chinese employees.

Listen

Links and Sources
There are currently 1 Comments for China Businesscast: interview with James McGregor.

Comments on China Businesscast: interview with James McGregor

This is a fantastically useful, insightful and no-nonsense interview. It doesn't take more than three sentences to hear that this guy has a rock-solid grasp of the cross-cultural issues involved in doing business here. I've admired McGregor from afar, but this makes me want to read his book right away, even though I'm not in the business world. Everything he says about Chinese culture rings so true, it gives me a high degree of certainty that most of his opinions about the Chinese economy are probably right on. His remarks about China being a "negative-reinforcement culture" is an example of a deep cultural characterization that can only be based on decades of being seeped in the culture. This guy has got great instincts. He never lapses into stereotypes, and never ventures beyond what he really knows (which is clearly a lot!). Bravo danwei! Good stuff. (And how's that for positive reinforcement?)

Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
090609guardian2.png 090609CNN3.png
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
laomo2008fpA.jpg
Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
AXL091030storiesforthcoming.jpg
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12)
+ The horrors of SMS messaging (2007.09): Naraka 19 (地狱第19层), based on the Cai Jun (蔡骏) novel, gets neutered by SARFT.
+ China's illegal yellow press (2005.05): On the left is the front page of 'Military News', a newspaper without masthead, contact phone number or any kind of publication licence (required by Chinese law). The paper was purchased on the Beijing subway for two yuan, which is relatively expensive, as most of the city's daily newspapers cost only half a yuan.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky rsschiclet2.png (on the mainland)
or Feedburner rsschiclet.gif (blocked in China)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links)
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Top Links: Links from the top bar
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Jobs: Want ads
rsschiclet2.png rsschiclet.gif Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30