China and the Global Business Revolution - by P Nolan (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

China has used industrial policies to try to build large corporations that can challenge those based in more advanced countries. By the late 1990s the operational mechanism of China's large firms had seen large advances. Simultaneously, a revolution has taken place in global business systems, and China's large firms are even further behind the global leaders than when they began their reforms. The WTO will require China to operate rapidly on the 'global playing field' in competition with the world's leading corporations, and this increased gap presents a deep challenge for China's business and political leaders. Peter Nolan presents here the first in-depth case studies of China's large corporations under economic reform, combined with systematic benchmarking of these firms against the world's leading corporations. The book is an unrivalled resource of information on Chinese businesses, and also leads the reader to consider the impact of China's response to its current challenges not only on China itself, but on the wider global economy.

Review Quotes

'An extraordinary research accomplishment, a work of truly exceptional breadth and insight. Combining the best of management theory, economics, and firm-level empirical analysis, the study provides an unparalleled perspective upon Chinese industry and industrial policy in a period of external challenge and internal change.' - Edward S. Steinfeld, Professor of International Management, Sloan School of Management Studies, MIT

A major piece of research on the Chinese business world that provides detailed insights into the problems of Chinese industrial policy and WTO accession. Essential reading for anyone concerned with contemporary Chinese affairs.' - Christopher Howe, Professor of Chinese Management and Business Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, London University

China and the Global Business Revolution constitutes an extraordinary research accomplishment, a work of truly exceptional breadth and insight. Combining the best of management theory, economics, and firm-level empirical analysis, the study provides an unparalleled perspective upon Chinese industry and industrial policy in a period of external challenge and internal change. Though particularly pertinent today as China prepares for entry into the World Trade Organization, China and the Global Business Revolution will be read for years to come by academics, policy makers, and business practitioners. - Edward S. Steinfeld, Mitsubishi Career Development Assistant and Professor of International Management, Sloan School of Management Studies, MIT

'...all those who read this book will have a much better understanding of China's reforms than when they started. The book is a tour de force.' - Dwight Perkins, Harvard University, Former Director of the Harvard Institute of International Development

'This lively and detailed assessment of China's key industrial sectors brilliantly illuminates Chinese economic prospects in a globalising world.' - John Toye, University of Oxford, Former Director of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

'Nolan knows more about Chinese companies and their international competition than anyone else on earth, including in China. The work by Nolan and Wang has ingrained one lesson above all others: the global marketplace, into which China will enter when it accedes to the WTO, is pitiless and wholly indifferent to pride, or patriotism, or care for the social effects of change. It is indeed the coming of a typhoon.' - John Lloyd, Financial Times

'...richly detailed case studies of several Chinese industries...an essential holding for all academic and professional libraries.' - Choice

About the Author

PETER NOLAN is Sinyi Professor at the Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge. He is the Director of the China Big Business Programme. This programme is built around in-depth case studies benchmarking large Chinese corporations against their global counterparts. Senior managers of leading global corporations and their Chinese counterparts, as well as senior government officials meet regularly using these case studies as the basis for the exchange of ideas on the development strategies of their respective businesses.