Author

Ming Zeng, Peter Williamson

Rate this book

4
Average: 4 (1 vote)

This review was submitted by jhbchina.

Dragons at Your Door, is a glimpse into how Chinese companies are changing the global economy. It is a must read for any C level executive trying to maintain, grow, or protect market share that the Chinese have targeted to enter. Ming Zeng and Peter Williamson not only will share with you the practices used by Chinese companies to become leaders in a market, most importantly they will give you clear and easy to understand action plan to identify their weaknesses and how to respond to beat the “Dragons” at their own games. The authors use real case studies of some of today’s most recognized Chinese brands such as Haier, Huawei, Lenovo, Galanz, and others to set the tone that you must protect your business and shareholders from the coming attack, or peril like Illinois based Schiller, which was eaten by Wanxiang automotive part supplier. The leaders of China say that for China to go from the “world’s manufacturer” to the “worlds innovator” the country must become more innovative. Walk into any expatriate hangout in China and ask if the Chinese are innovative, and you will get responses that run the gauntlet of “Without a doubt” to “Only at copying and stealing ideas”. This book takes the reader past the politics of Beijing and the metropolis of Shanghai and into world of “Cost Innovation” the Chinese way. In today’s global economic storm, most European and US companies are cutting their labor force. Yet in China, companies add production staff to give them a competitive edge and a cost advantage. What advantage is it to have more people when you can have automated equipment? Many companies ignore Africa as a market since it’s too small and poor. These markets are no different than tier 4 and tier 5 regions in China. Chinese companies have already squeezed the production costs for their internal markets. They turn to Africa and the Middle East to hone their exporting and logistic skills. When these two regions are added to their China market shares, these companies can have anywhere between 20 – 40 percent of the global market share before entering the more competitive markets of Europe and North America. In their book, Zeng and Williamson open the Dragons’ play book allowing you to know how they plan to attack your market. The Dragons look for your “loose bricks”, those are: 1. Low End Segments 2. Peripheral Markets 3. Troublesome Customers 4. Niche Segments 5. Demand Wedge Each one of these ‘bricks’ by themselves appear harmless to your organization. However, when executed in a precision manner over time, the Dragon’s end up becoming the New England Patriots, dominating their market, and very hard to overpower. Thanks to Zeng and Williamson, you now have the cure to change the tide. In their book they also address the Dragons’ weaknesses. As the saying goes “If you can’t beat them, join them”, and in the final chapters of the book, the authors layout your action plan of how to join them. For the companies that do, the 21st century will be exciting, for those that miss the boat, watch out for the Dragons.