An intriguing but niche look at the business practices of state-affiliated Chinese businesses.
In this debut business memoir, Jenevein warns against the potential pitfalls of doing business with Chinese companies.
The author did business in China for over 20 years, working with the Communist Party of China to provide energy to “the cities, hinterlands, offices, and homes of the only nation that comes close to competing with the United States diplomatically, economically, militarily, [and] technologically.” Jenevein’s Texas-based company, Tang Energy Group, was founded to build and operate energy delivery systems in China, from gas-powered plants to wind farms. His dealings with the CPC and their state-owned conglomerates—which can throw their immense weight around in a manner no independent company can—have given him a unique insight into the way America’s rival superpower conducts business, from aggressive lawsuits to bugged conversations to the threat of hired assassins. Jenevein expounds on the Chinese business culture—which, in the absence of dependably enforced laws, relies heavily on established social networks—mining his own, not-always-successful track record for examples. The book is structured as a conversation between Jenevein and writer Steve Fiffer, who interviews Jenevein and occasionally adds insights of his own. Jenevein offers a fascinating look into the labyrinthian process of dealing with fundamentally secretive business partners: “You learn that the [People’s Liberation Army] skews topographic maps so foreigners—whether army personnel or wind farm developers—cannot make sense of them. Because frustration has boiled over and expressed itself effectively to your PRC counterparties, they have provided the key to de-skew the maps.” Much of the text focuses on a dispute between Jenevein and the Chinese aviation company AVIC, which Jenevein claims reneged on a deal to develop wind technology with Tang; it seems, at points, as though the purpose of the book is to let Jenevein settle scores as much as to offer advice. Those who find themselves in the rare position of making multimillion-dollar deals with Chinese corporations may find his account instructive, but it is difficult to imagine it attracting a wider audience.
An intriguing but niche look at the business practices of state-affiliated Chinese businesses.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781960865229
Page Count: 348
Publisher: Christmas Lake Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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