I read a post about TCBN Charter Member David Wolf's latest piece. Writing about increasing antipathy to foreign brands in China's domestic market, Wolf characteristically hit the nail on the head: "Suddenly, just as people in China were starting to wonder if they still needed foreign capital and know-how, we went and proved to the Chinese that we were greedy, dumb and actually needed China’s help to pull us out of our own mess."The emperor is looking pretty scantily clad in Chinese eyes. I am tempted to summarize the lessons learned - so far - from China's 30 years of rocketing from poverty and isolation to global superpower status in the following terms: humility is the ultimate competitive advantage。
By subordinating to the dominant power - adopting the maxim that "the customer is always right" while building a customer base comprised of anyone who buys manufactured goods anywhere in the developed world; by seeking knowledge of the deep secrets of America's meteoric success in a few hundred short years by studying the wisdom of iconic institutions like Wall Street, Harvard, Silicon Valley and the WTO - China learned everything it could from the West about unleashing the forces of economic development in the modern world. What happens next, now that Wall Street has proven an unreliable compass point?
The era of China's enthusiastic learning from the West is clearly waning. That's a Yin Yang theory term - one aspect wanes, the other waxes. Once the former subordinate becomes powerful, it's time to learn about them and from them in order to deal effectively with them. The social values of the west are still powerful. At the same time, China from 1979 to 2009 is a case study without parallel: creating wealth by mirroring some behaviors and values of the people who have the money。
We can't out-Chinese the Chinese, but we can regain ground by being our smartest selves. Civil, diverse and open societies can do that. Maybe we can learn from the Chinese about the power of the collective effort: a group of individuals and organizations acting in concert for a common goal; the joining of forces to focus on economic development。
Shenzhen, Tianjin Economic Development Area, and Suzhou Singapore Industrial Park are the world's most successful economic development zones, and they succeeded by making it relatively easy to set up shop in China. Land? Got it. Electricity and water? Yup. Regulatory approvals? Concierge right here. Talent? Resumes on the way over. Foreign-friendly housing and bilingual associates to help get settled in? Check and check。
America is complicated. I've asked numerous people from the NY and NJ Port Authority, airlines and tourism industry association over the years, "What would it take to get some Chinese language signage and some 'getting out of the airport and to your hotel' brochures at the information desk at Newark and JFK?" The fact that everyone tells me it would be a bureaucratic nightmare means one thing: we need to get better at the collective effort。
近日笔者读到中国商务网创始人戴维-沃尔夫撰写的一篇文章。沃尔夫提到中国市场对外国品牌日益反感，他一针见血地指出：“突然之间，就在中国人开始怀疑是否还需要外国资本和技术之际，我们向他们证明了我们的贪婪、愚蠢以及我们其实需要中国帮我们脱离困境。”
在中国人眼中，昔日的皇帝已经变成乞丐。纵观过去30年中国从贫困和孤立一跃而为全球超级大国的历程，笔者不禁要得出这样的经验教训：谦卑是最根本的竞争优势。
中国甘愿听从强者———接受“顾客永远是对的”的信条，接受任何发达国家具有购买力的消费者，从而打造了广泛的客户群；中国研究鼎鼎大名的华尔街、哈佛、硅谷和世贸组织的智慧，深入了解美国短短几百年就取得巨大成功的秘诀。中国通过这些手段，尽可能地从西方学习一切能释放当代经济发展力量的东西。接下来发生了什么呢？事实证明华尔街的一套是错误的？
显而易见，中国满腔热情学习西方的时代行将结束。这符合事物兴衰起伏的阴阳理论———此消彼长，阴阳转化。一旦昔日的弱者变得强大，就到了我们要了解他们和向他们学习的时候了，这样才能有效地跟他们打交道。西方的社会价值仍然富有影响力，与此同时，中国从1979年到2009年的发展历程提供了一个前所未有的经验：通过效仿财富拥有者的一些行为和价值来创造财富。
我们不能做到比中国人还中国人，但我们可以做个聪明人，借此收复失地。文明、多元及开放的社会能做到这一点。或许我们可从中国人那里学习集体努力的力量：不同的个人和组织携手为一个共同目标努力，齐心协力致力于经济发展。
深圳、天津经济开发区及苏州新加坡工业园区，都是世界上最为成功的经济发展区。它们之所以如此成功，是因为中国提供了便利。土地、水电、审批、人才统统不成问题。住房和双语同事也是为外国人着想的。诸如此类，不一而足。
在美国却难办了。多年来，我曾问过不少纽约和新泽西港管理局、航空和旅游业协会的人———“纽瓦克和肯尼迪机场如何才能弄一些中文标识和乘客住宿指南？”每个人的答案都是，这种涉及到多个部门的事不好办。这说明了一件事：我们需要在集体努力方面加把劲。 |