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China Businesscast: Strategic Consulting with Shaun Rein

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Shaun Rein is the chief executive at CMR China Market Research Group, based out of Shanghai.

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Shaun believes that the end is near for the strategic consulting companies that depend on the Henry Kissinger model of using personal relationship networks to ease clients through the ins and outs of the system. He believes rather, that only the firms that provide the best data and analysis will succeed.

In part one of this episode, Shaun introduces us to the concept of "China's baby boomers", the label he applies to the generation born after the Cultural Revolution. Like America's baby boomers, they lived the first thirty years of their lives in a period of economic optimism. They care primarily about making money, which they want to spend rather than save. Their parents, having been through hard times, encourage them in their pursuit of the materialistic good life.

If this is true, both my father and girlfriend are baby boomers.

Listen to Part 1

In the second part of this episode, Shaun talks a bit more about baby boomers, then goes into what is good and bad about the venture capital industry in China, speaking from his experience in that industry. This is a segue into a conversation about China's VC industry in a coming episode.

Listen to Part 2

Mainland listeners use these links:
Listen to part 1
Listen to part 2

There are currently 6 Comments for China Businesscast: Strategic Consulting with Shaun Rein.

Comments on China Businesscast: Strategic Consulting with Shaun Rein

On your technical problems: I have no problem whatsoever to work with Blogger from Shanghai. Actually, all the Google services kept on humming even direct after the Taiwan earthquake.
Apart from the Blogger-interface there are a few other methods to post on your blog. First is by email (although it varies how fast it show up and I had sometimes some lay-out problems). Otherwise, if you only upload text and links Google Docs&Spreatsheets offers a good alternative to update your weblog directly.

Great interview by Shaun Rein, too bad the host couldn't pronounce Rein or Kissinger correctly ..tsk tsk..

Sorry, don't agree with Shaun's comments on the end of strategic consulting firms. The firms with the best data and analysis are the big strategic consulting firms. Because they have the capital and un-ending waves of warm bodies to throw at projects, they will continue to remain major players in China's corporate ascent. However this is not to say that there isn't room for boutiques like CMR. To say that strat consulting in China is near the end sounds more like a plug for CMR than the actual situation. With all that being said in the end the majors (Bain, McKinsey, etc) know "what" and "who" to know.

I think that maybe the previous poster actually agrees with Shaun. The impression that I got from the businesscast was that top strategic consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, or CMR, that base their work on thorough data analysis will find success in China when compared to firms that rely solely on 'connections.'

I think Adam is right. I cannot believe Shaun would be saying firms like McKinsey and Bain have no place in China. I took him to mean that those firms that trade on their purported connections and not their expertise will be gone and on that I concur.

Shaun?

i think Shaun is right. I am actually one of china's boomer. I understand and accept western culture and living style very well. and this group of people (millions) will become the main consumers pushing the economy of china and world.

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