Split Personality New Order

I'm really trying to get past the 0lympics, but there were just so many good quotes and pieces that I'm still referring to some of them. But this post is about how attitude affects business, and only slightly related to the 0lympics.Great article by Orville Schell on what the 0lympics could mean for the future of China.  It fits nicely with what I’ve been saying here about knowing who you are working with. When you know with whom you are working you can extrapolate much about how they will negotiate and where their intentions may be coming from.One of the best sections of the Schell interview is this:

Q: In the run-up to the Olympics, many in the West have been surprised by displays of intense Chinese nationalism — or patriotism, depending on your point of view. In particular, the young and better educated Chinese reacted with strong indignation over the Tibetan protests. What does this say about the younger generation in China?Schell: This is an interesting question. How has it come to pass that the latest generation of Chinese, who are better informed and educated about the world and more well-traveled than ever, and consequently more deeply involved in the world than at any time since the late 1940s, has ended up being even more nationalistic — sometimes even xenophobic — than earlier generations who lived much more cloistered, isolated lives under Mao in the midst of an anti-imperialist revolution?Part of the answer may well be that in ways which are difficult to actually quantify, the Party’s own propaganda has helped distort their perceptions of history and made them feel a kind of acute “virtual” victimization that, while historically true in the past, is far less true today.But, I suspect equally as important is the innate yearning of most Chinese to once again see their country restored to the status of a well-respected and great nation. However, what often seems to be missing from the equation of this yearning is the recognition that global respect is something that is not earned by “wealth and power” alone, but comes just as much from a country’s constructive deportment as a global citizen in our new multinational world where everyone is now ineluctably connected to everyone else. Here China is far less mature than in the area of development and marketization of its economy. One must raise sensitive questions here such as its opportunistic relationships with the governments like those of Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe and Iran.

I’m constantly reminded that many managers, 40 years old and up, came from very austere backgrounds and can, quite literally, out wait, out work and out strategize you—because you most likely don’t know where they are coming from and will more than likely underestimate them since they are certainly not as sophisticated as you or their younger employees. But the people whom you may be working with most directly, the mid level managers (30 somethings) and (your) professional staff (20 somethings), also have completely different histories and attitudes.I have always felt that younger Chinese professionals are typically much better educated, more international, patriotic, and very sensitive to any (perceived) criticism of China.Pierre Xiao Lu lists out the generations and their general attitudes in “Elite China: Luxury Consumer Behavior in China” (excellent info in this book, by the way—review coming next week). Briefly, according to Pierre, the urban Chinese generations are:

The New Generation; born before ‘45. Witnessed a half-century of incredible change; well educated, in important sociopolitical positions, parents of Transitional generation, about to retire.The Lost Generation; born before ’60. Victims of CCP social upheaval, lost educational opportunities in the 70’s and jobs in SOE’s in the 80’s and 90’s, first/most affect by one child policy too. Parents to the One Child Generation.The Suffering Generation; born before ’70. First generation to really “see” the world and work with it, also saw the events in T!ananmen Square, conservative, well educated, current source of most of China’s “elite” class and much industry upper management.The Transitional Generation; born before ’80. Grew up in stability, reform, opening up, money. They are optimistic, well educated, confident and pushing the “New China” forward.The One Child Generation; born before ’90. In or just out of university, internationally oriented but very nationalistic, affluent, trendy, morally relativistic, aspiring professionals.

Each of these generations sees China very differently—indeed the lives of the New Generation and the One Child Generation are as different as Mars and Venus. If you count urban and rural populations, each of these generation encompasses 200-300 million people (or just about 1 entire USofA each).Anther good article that addresses the attitude of the Chinese about the Olympics—they were “owed” this.  And it was much more than a game—it was about showing the world that they have “arrived” and are a “strong and powerful” nation.  Again, if you clearly identify who your hosts are and what they are thinking, in general, it helps with negotiations, relationship management and problem resolution.Finally, a very practical piece about priorities in your China operations.  How much due diligence are you doing on your factories before you buy in China?  I would dare say that it’s not as much as Coca-Cola.Two very interesting items I take from this article.  First, the number of factories in the food industry that are substandard (more even scarier food news here) that are substandard is enough to make you want to stop eating. (What does this say about other factories in other less regulated industries?!)And second, the level of importance given to employee training by Coke—again what does this say about where money and priorities should be here?  This is a heads up!  You should be investing in your suppliers.  I have a friend in the furniture business that has been here for 20 years.  This is his contention too—invest in people and you’ll get what you expect in quality product.  More so than a complex contract, more so than even dedicated QC.  Investing in the people who are touching the product will get you better results than investment in any other single area of production.