Edward Tse is Booz & Company’s chairman for Greater China and his aim in this book is to help companies prepare for the new China. I thought I would be unimpressed when I started reading the book while watching an inflight film, but later I decided I needed to re-read each chapter. By the end of the flight I had covered the pages with markings, some agreeing, some disagreeing, but all involved with Tse’s analysis of where China is and where future opportunities lie, and the practical advice within. The analysis boils down to Tse identifying four key drivers of change in China. The first he calls “Open China” , the emergence of China’s middle class and the process of urbanisation which will transform China’s huge mass market into a highly differentiated and sophisticated multi-tiered one. The second is “Competitive China”, which speaks for itself, then “Official China”, in which Tse explains that state-owned companies and a state controlled economy are here to stay. Finally, there is the less controversial “One World” driver which says that China and the rest of the world are becoming more interdependent than ever.
I was impressed with Tse’s advice on how to tell which Chinese companies can provide the best alliances for particular purposes, what part of China companies should enter first and how to manage financing. Tse’s point is to not think of China as one big market of 1.3 billion but instead to “provide a holistic view of the Chinese business environment, looking at consumers, competitive enterprises, the government, integration with the rest of the world, and the ways these elements interact”. I didn’t agree with everything in this book, but it has made me think deeply about the challenges and opportunities that China represents in a new way. I would highly recommend it. Edward Tse is Booz & Company’s chairman for Greater China and his aim in this book is to help companies prepare for the new China. I thought I would be unimpressed when I started reading the book while watching an inflight film, but later I decided I needed to re-read each chapter. By the end of the flight I had covered the pages with markings, some agreeing, some disagreeing, but all involved with Tse’s analysis of where China is and where future opportunities lie, and the practical advice within. The analysis boils down to Tse identifying four key drivers of change in China. The first he calls “Open China” , the emergence of China’s middle class and the process of urbanisation which will transform China’s huge mass market into a highly differentiated and sophisticated multi-tiered one. The second is “Competitive China”, which speaks for itself, then “Official China”, in which Tse explains that state-owned companies and a state controlled economy are here to stay. Finally, there is the less controversial “One World” driver which says that China and the rest of the world are becoming more interdependent than ever.
I was impressed with Tse’s advice on how to tell which Chinese companies can provide the best alliances for particular purposes, what part of China companies should enter first and how to manage financing. Tse’s point is to not think of China as one big market of 1.3 billion but instead to “provide a holistic view of the Chinese business environment, looking at consumers, competitive enterprises, the government, integration with the rest of the world, and the ways these elements interact”. I didn’t agree with everything in this book, but it has made me think deeply about the challenges and opportunities that China represents in a new way. I would highly recommend it. 
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