Launching a business in China? Give yourself a “second mover advantage.” China-bound entrepreneurs and small business owners: learn from experienced China hands before you bring your business to the world’s largest and most dynamic consumer market. Preparing to manage a small business in China, the world’s largest, most dynamic consumer market? Hundreds of thousands of other international businesspeople are too, but only a small percentage of them will succeed in bringing their start-up dreams to life in the Middle Kingdom. Give yourself a huge head-start by learning directly from experienced China pioneers. CHINA ENTREPRENEURS delivers street-tested advice on launching, growing, and operating your own business in China. Authors Juan Antonio Fernandez, professor of Management at the China Europe International Business School, and Laurie Underwood, accomplished journalist and Director of External Communications at CEIBS, use their combined 26 years of China experience to interview 40 successful international entrepreneurs who have launched and built businesses in China. These entrepreneurs share their first-hand advice, anecdotes and best practices in tackling the key challenges of winning in the China market, from negotiating with government and winning necessary start-up approvals, to hiring and keeping the right staff, to collecting payments and to safeguarding intellectual property. In addition, the experiences of the entrepreneurs will be juxtaposed against insights from experienced China consultants who assist start-ups in operating in China. Thus the book will balance extensive, on-the-ground business advice against the insights of consultants who have risen to prominence in the China business environment by advising SME business operators on succeeding in China.
Book Details:
- Author: Juan Antonio Fernandez
- ISBN: 9781118580660
- Year Published: 2009
- Pages: 324
- BISAC: BUS071000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS/Leadership
About the Book and Topic:
Launching a business in China? Give yourself a “second mover advantage.” China-bound entrepreneurs and small business owners: learn from experienced China hands before you bring your business to the world’s largest and most dynamic consumer market. Preparing to manage a small business in China, the world’s largest, most dynamic consumer market? Hundreds of thousands of other international businesspeople are too, but only a small percentage of them will succeed in bringing their start-up dreams to life in the Middle Kingdom. Give yourself a huge head-start by learning directly from experienced China pioneers. CHINA ENTREPRENEURS delivers street-tested advice on launching, growing, and operating your own business in China. Authors Juan Antonio Fernandez, professor of Management at the China Europe International Business School, and Laurie Underwood, accomplished journalist and Director of External Communications at CEIBS, use their combined 26 years of China experience to interview 40 successful international entrepreneurs who have launched and built businesses in China. These entrepreneurs share their first-hand advice, anecdotes and best practices in tackling the key challenges of winning in the China market, from negotiating with government and winning necessary start-up approvals, to hiring and keeping the right staff, to collecting payments and to safeguarding intellectual property. In addition, the experiences of the entrepreneurs will be juxtaposed against insights from experienced China consultants who assist start-ups in operating in China. Thus the book will balance extensive, on-the-ground business advice against the insights of consultants who have risen to prominence in the China business environment by advising SME business operators on succeeding in China.
CHINA ENTREPRENEURS will give a front-line, first-hand account of what it takes for an international businessperson to start and profitably operate a small business in China. Foreign-invested small businesses are proving to be the next wave of international investment into China. During the first wave of foreign investment into China after the nation opened its doors to the world in the late 1980s, large-scale Fortune 500 companies trickled, then poured into the nation. Since China entered the WTO in 2001 two changes have taken place simultaneously: first, WTO accession triggered China to open vast new markets to foreign investment, and second, consumer wealth in China continued to climb steadily in the urban and suburban areas. The result: China has attracted a new and widely diverse generation of investors, including a growing number of smaller companies and entrepreneurs serving niche markets.
– China Entrepreneurs is the logical sequel to CHINA CEO, Voices of Experience published in March 2006. In the course of speaking to media and business groups on CHINA CEO, authors Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood found that the single most-asked suggestion from their audiences was that their second book cover the China experience for start-ups and small businesses. The reason: the China environment is vastly different for Fortune 500 companies and their leaders than it is for entrepreneurs. – Authors are avid promoters of their book and will continue to market this title alongside the China CEO book. – China books continue to be a growing area of interest and in Juan and Laurie we have two successful authors on whom we can build a strong reputation and brand.
About the Author
Professor Juan Antonio Fernandez earned his Ph.D. from IESE (Spain) in 1997. He is currently teaching at the China Europe International Business School (www.CEIBS.edu), located in Shanghai, China. He is frequently invited to give presentations on how to manage business enterprises in China to leading multinationals and has recently presented seminars in China, South Korea, Japan, Spain, South America, and the United States. His work has been published in Harvard Business Review (Spain), Business Week-China, Organizational Dynamics, Business Strategy Review, and the Asian Case Research Journal. He has written two books. The first one, CHINA CEO published by John Wiley & Sons, is based on interviews with 20 CEOs of multinationals in China. His second book, China’s State Owned Enterprise Reforms: an Industrial and CEO Approach, is published by Routledge, UK. Laurie Ann Underwood, Director of External Communications, China Europe International Business School. She was previously Communication and Publications Director, American Chamber of Commerce, Shanghai. American born, Laurie has worked as a journalist, editor, and communications specialist in Greater China since 1987. Her business articles have been published in the Economist Intelligence Unit, AmCham Shanghai, and AsiaWeek magazine. She received an MBA from CEIBS in 2003.