vol. XVI no. 1

				A Changing China, continued China's development and growth have been driven by its urban areas. Can you summarize the characteristics of change in China's cities? While some of China's urban development has been carefully planned and orchestrated, much of it has been badly planned and chaotic. But in the biggest cities - such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou (Canton) - dramatic new buildings and remarkable infrastructure projects dominate the skyline. These are truly world-class cities, and they are attracting considerable foreign attention and investment. Shanghai, for instance, is literally a different city each time I visit, even though my trips are seldom more than a few months apart. Recently I learned that passengers arriving at Shanghai's splendid Pudong Airport, now an hour's drive or more from downtown, will soon be able to take a magnetically elevated monorail at a speed of 200 miles per hour, making the trip in less than 15 minutes. Also in the good-news category, China's most famous coastal cities are now attracting a gathering of excellent artists, designers, musicians and filmmakers. China is experiencing a true cultural revolution quite different from the Maoist experience just 30 years ago. The big cities, however, are haunted by some real structural problems - most notably urban overdevelopment and an antiquated banking system. While I do not predict collapse for the Chinese economy, I think that many cities will confront boom-and-bust cycles, demanding that municipal leaderships handle these crises well. It will be crucial to develop new regulatory systems, more effective accounting practices and anti-corruption institutions. So I foresee different cities facing these challenges at various times in the decades ahead. Eventually, such challenges will create a better regulated, more predictable environment not only in these cities themselves, but also in the hundreds of miles of "urbanized rural China" that surround them. As a result, foreign businesspeople will feel rising confidence about trading and investing in China. What will the high-profile events - the Olympics and Expo ­ bring to China within this decade? With the Olympics in Beijing in 2008 and Expo in Shanghai in 2010, China receives a global nod of approval. Traditionally, Asian countries have used such important events to reshape cities and modernize national economies - for example, in Tokyo in 1964 and Seoul in 1988. With China hosting two world events in rapid succession, leadership will seek to showcase municipal modernization. The Chinese government is planning dramatic settings for the events, reshaping urban infrastructure and addressing serious problems such as pollution and urban sprawl. Substantively and symbolically, these forthcoming events are crucial benchmarks of China's progress toward modernization, both for millions of foreign visitors and for the 1.3 billion Chinese themselves. What arrangements are you making for Robinson College Executive MBA students to study in Thailand and China this spring? Why is it important for our international business students to study in the field? Dean Sidney Harris and the faculty leaders of the Executive MBA program have long embraced the notion of exposing students to foreign business with the tradition of study trips to Japan, Singapore and Thailand. But this is the first year that students will travel to the People's Republic of China. I think this is a very healthy development as Robinson College focuses its attention on the single biggest story in modern Asian business. We began preparing for the trip a year in advance, including an extensive site visit in which I accompanied Associate Dean Preston Wilson and Professor Sevgin Eroglu to Bangkok, Beijing and Shanghai. Students begin their preparations months in advance, studying the history, micro and macro economies, and business practices of both Thailand and China. For both students and faculty, the central concern is to focus on case studies of companies operating in those countries. When we travel to Asia, we will visit Coca-Cola (in both Bangkok and Shanghai), General Motors, the Siam Commercial Bank, a major Western-style hospital, a Japanese investment venture in Shanghai, Solectron and Nike. I also have a deep personal conviction that knowledge of history and culture is crucial to success in foreign business. In addition to my own lectures, students will see such attractions as China's Forbidden City and the Great Wall not as tourist sites, but rather as major clues to values, practices and attitudes that shape today's commercial environment. These trips offer the chance for mid-career professionals to really dig into a society from the top down and bottom up. In understanding any culture, you need to absorb the history, the language and the long-established societal patterns ­ all of which are relevant to the way business is done in that country. Immersion is an essential prerequisite before undertaking international business. You have forecast a cautious optimism for the Pacific region. Do you predict rapid and continued change for China? While I have no doubt that China's course will be filled with obstacles, I am convinced that it will emerge as a major geoeconomic and geopolitical superpower over the next several decades. Just as many other Asian countries have benefited from coping with the serious currency crisis of the late 1990s, China too will benefit from meeting serious challenges in the years ahead. The next round of changes in China will occur in that duller area we might call the "regulatory revolution." It will be a period dominated by technocrats seeking to create new laws, oversight bodies and planning agencies. China's future hangs on its leadership. I think the new generation will perhaps be less media-attractive than more charismatic leaders of the past. It may not be a liability that the new Chinese president, Hu Jintao, seems more of a "man in a gray flannel suit" than his predecessors. He will be measured by his ability to cope with serious economic challenges in banking, SOEs, currency controls and rural development. He will be graded not only on his own abilities but also on his appointment of competent figures to guide the Chinese economy. Above all, he will be evaluated on his ability to implement a continuing Chinese commitment to modernization. His job is the "politics of modernization," and that will require both tough choices and a tough style. One of our key jobs at the Robinson College is to help educate talented businesspeople about the inner realities of business abroad. That requires cultivating several skills - immersion in other societies, careful analysis of business opportunities, awareness of cultural sensitivities and then difficult "go versus no go" decisions that are at the heart of business. Whether or not students ever become involved in Asian business, China is a huge economic story and a marvelous laboratory for considering overseas business issues. That's the point. China is not only fascinating in its own right; it also prompts new ways of thinking about doing business abroad. Ultimately, we hope to make it clear that successful foreign business requires extensive on-the-ground experience. In a nutshell, that's why the Robinson College has its sights on understanding a rapidly changing China. Top | Previous Page

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