Greetings!,

It is my pleasure to bring you the latest Asia Business Center newsletter. U.C. Berkeley continues to be a leader in its focus on Asia, where it seems like the business landscape changes and grows every day.

In this issue, Haas alumnus Edward Tse tells us about four business trends necessary for doing business in China in his book, The China Strategy.

Our Wu Fellows Program continues to be strong, and we've just invited and added Ms. Lu Rong to our Advisory Board.

The MBA students at the Haas School of Business are gearing up to run their annual Berkeley Asia Business Conference at Haas, where they will host a number of prestigious speakers  on March 17 - this will be a wonderful event - please see below for more information.

Lastly, we are joining the 21st century with a new social media campaign, so we definitely need your participation by adding us to your various Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter groups.

Please direct any questions about the Asia Business Center to Laura Gardner, lgardner@haas.berkeley.edu. Thank you for your continued support of our Center.

Sincerely,

We are happy to announce that Ms. Lu Rong has recently joined the Asia Business Center's Advisory Board. Ms. Lu is a Haas alumna, having received her MBA at Berkeley, and her undergraduate degree from Xiamen University. She is currently the Head of Financial Products Division and the Managing Director of BOCI Group.

 

Ms. Lu has more than 14 years of trading and management experience in investment banking, particularly origination and trading of bonds, convertible bonds and derivatives products.

 

Before joining BOCI, Ms. Lu held positions as Vice-President of Merrill Lynch Asia Pacific; Director and Head of EMG (China) at Credit Suisse First Boston; and Director of CQS Management (Asia) Ltd.

 

Ms. Lu joins a prestigious group of individuals on the ABC Advisory Board who are integral to the Center's operations. 

Haas School of Business alumnus Edward Tse (MBA '88), Booz & Company's senior partner and Chairman for Greater China, has written one of the definitive books on the Chinese economy entitled The China Strategy [2010], and explains the ever-changing nature of China's business environment, its increasingly complex relationship with the rest of the world, and the global business implications - not just for our current environment but for the next decade. Tse gives us an overview of his book below. 

 

As many people know, China is one of the world's most exciting growth opportunities. To this end, this book was written specifically for business leaders considering how to develop their global strategy with China at its core.

 

Most large global companies are, of course, already producing in China, selling to China's markets, and competing against companies, both local and foreign. I propose that companies should adopt a "one-world strategy," i.e., a long-range development plan for doing business as a global enterprise in which China is a key and integrated component. In this book I discuss four trends:

• Open China: As China continues to open up and as China 's large-scale urbanization continues, the new urban middle class is learning how to become global consumers, with a diversity and complexity that most outsiders still don't appreciate;

• Entrepreneurial China: The fast-moving, experimental, research-adept businesses are shedding their low-cost identities and building capabilities to step out onto the world stage;

• Official China: The government of China is balancing its needs for control and stability with its continued interest in promoting a more market-driven economy;

• One World: Companies that have learned to integrate their China operations with their global business systems are creating new sources of sustainable competitive advantage. 

Corporate leaders who see China as a large but still-emerging market must now regard it as a diverse and immense group of global consumers. Those who see Chinese companies as partners in joint ventures must come to see those companies as active, highly capable global competitors. And those who see the Chinese government as simultaneously welcoming and opaque must recognize it is an active, increasingly open player on the global stage. The China strategy is no longer just about how companies should enter the China market or even how to grow in it. It isn't about China only as a sourcing base either. The China strategy is about how companies ought to put China at the core of their global strategies.

The China Strategy: Interview with Edward Tse

 

The Asia Business Center has a new social media initiative through Facebook, and Twitter (Will we have a LinkedIn Group shortly). Please join our online communities where we will update you about Asia Business Center news, as well as post interesting articles, and contests. We'd love to meet you in the cloud!

 

February 1-24, 2012 every day - East Asian Imaginarium: Case Studies in Architecture Exhibit, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Institute of East Asian Studies (2223 Fulton, 6th Floor) February 24 - Accidental Cosmopolitanization: Citizenship Contradictions of Rural Marriage Immigration in South Korea4 p.m., Institute of East Asian Studies (2223 Fulton, 6th Floor)February 28, 2012 - The Last Mughal: a GUFTUGU featuring William Dalrymple and Vidya Shah on the glory of the last Mughals, 7-9 p.m., Pauley Ballroom, 2nd floor, MLK Jr. Student Union Building (above the Cal Book Store)
February 29, 2012 - A Photographic Pilgrimage: Lisa Ross in Conversation, 4 p.m., Institute of East Asian Studies (2223 Fulton, 6th Floor)