Case Studies on MNCs in China (Volume 2)

All the major MNCs face one big question; where’s our next growth pond. After having explored and exploited various growth avenues, the multinational companies are full of plans for BRIC economies. Of these, ‘The China Factor’ is a major decision. Bill Gates said, "China and India are the big change engines for the years ahead, and as we embrace that and understand our new role in that, that s the path forward." No wonder, global companies are spending half their strategic planning time on exploring growth opportunities in emerging markets. And in that, not a single strategic planning session goes by without referring China. China is a key market for all the multinational companies. And for China too, MNCs make a tempered temptation. The temptation is to imbibe MNCs best practices and gear up Chinese companies to go global. The Chinese government, in recent years, has gone out of its usual way to soften their attitude. When China’s President Hu Jintao visited USA in 2006, one headline read, “China president at Gates house, not White House”. “You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft. Every morning I go to my office and use your software”, Hu told his host. No other Fortune 500 CEO gets quite the same treatment in China. As one government leader put it while introducing Gates at a business conference, the Microsoft chairman is "bigger in China than any movie star." This is Business Diplomacy at its best. The New Economic Consensus? Seems definitely so. But, success in China is not to come by easily. China decision is wrought with potential as well as peril. While Microsoft succeeded in a ‘diplomatic’ way, GM succeeded by partnering. Dell has had to reconfigure its ‘China’ business architecture. Explore different success formulas through case studies featured in this book. If China decision is imminent, the reading of these case studies is important.