China Needs Old Boys With MBA's

A lack of management talent is one of the key constraints on China's otherwise astonishing economic growth. This article looks at this problem from the point of view of managers in China today, and also raises the old question of whether "Western" or "Chinese" management practices are needed in China. It seems like both are needed - Chinese practices most importantly (like guanxi), to navigate the uncertainty, corruption and lack of trust.

But for companies that seek to be come dynamic global competitors (remember, China has virtually zero homegrown multinationals so far), and especially for founders that want their companies to continue growing once their unique relationships and resources are gone, professional "Western" management seems to be an absolute necessity. Can China pull it off?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/19/business/19nocera.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

A few excerpts:

One evening in Beijing, I wandered into a local bookstore. I couldn’t read a thing, of course, but I had been told that Chinese urbanites are voracious readers, and that I could get a feel for that in any decent bookstore. The place was enormous; its five floors of wall-to-wall books made your typical suburban Barnes & Noble look puny by comparison. Shoppers sat on the floor, reading.

On shelf after shelf, I could see copies of Jim Collins’s “Good to Great,” Jack Welch’s “Straight From the Gut,” Tom Peters’s “Re-Imagine!” and just about everything the late Peter Drucker ever wrote. There was no management topic, no matter how arcane — the science of H.R. anyone? — that didn’t have its own section.