\”I\’ve just finished Managing the Dragon, which I thought was fantastic. I was riveted by it. I cannot believe what Jack Perkowski has accomplished and what an adventure he\’s had, how he lived through it, how he has
succeeded and how well written his book is. It reads somewhere between a novel, a how-to book, and primer on a second business life in a developing country. \”
\”I love Jack Perkowski\’s book. It tells, with some bravado and lots of humility, the first-hand story of a man who dared himself to move to to seize upon the greatest economic boom of our age. Perkowski invites us into his world,
into the blur of business meetings and friendships, hirings, firings and onto \’s shop floors. He reveals what it took to build a world-class manufacturing company in a country that, like Perkowski himself, needed to set firm goals but reach them in
an environment where the rules and circles of influence shift daily. Managing the Dragon is more than a manual, more than a memoir; it is a gift from a seasoned friend offering the keys to his wisdom and experience. \”
\”Business books on are published so frequently these days, it seems there is a secret factory churning them out. Too many read like the mass produced goods for which the country is famous, and too few are written from real experience of living in. Managing
the Dragon, Jack Perkowski\’s story of his almost 13 years running Asimco, an automotive components maker, in is therefore a rare treat, a first-hand account of the struggle to build a business there. Tim Clissold, Mr Perkowski\’s former colleague, has already
described how Asimco\’s Chinese partners cheated it out of millions, in his riveting 2004 book, \”Mr\”. But Mr Perkowski hung on, and his wise and ultimately optimistic account should be required reading for anyone starting a business in. Mr Perkowski is sensible on
every issue, from the need to nurture (and listen to) local managers to the relative importance of local over central government relations. Most of all, foreigners must not shun the impossibly cut-throat local market because the price paid for a product in today
will be its price globally tomorrow. \”
- The American Library Association\’s Booklist
Basketball has come a long way in since then. When Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian met on the court on November 9, 2007, 250 million Chinese were watching. Statistics show that there are more than 300 million basketball fans in, surpassing the entire US population
. An estimated one-third of the traffic at NBA.com, the \’s official website, is dominated by visitors from. More than 50,000 special commission commodity shops have been established, and over 10 million Spalding basketballs have been sold in the country.
has undoubtedly become the largest market for the apart from the United States.
Basketball has such big potential in that the put its operations into a separate subsidiary last year, and then proceeded to sell an 11 percent equity interest for $ 250 million to a group of five high-profile investors, valuing the subsidiary at $ 2.3 billion. The five
investors are Disney\’s ESPN, an investment arm of the Bank of, Legend Holdings, the Li Ka Shing Foundation, and Merchants.
- Ted C. Fishman, author of, Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and the World
\”Has become the hot topic among investors as\” the place to be \”for the twenty-first century, yet few understand how to crack this market, where the cultural barriers to entry are high. While others have been touting as the future, during
the past 15 years Perkowski has actually built a solid business there, ASIMCO Technologies, a leading player in the burgeoning Chinese automotive industry. Perkowski describes the enormous challenges he has faced, including dealing with peculiar government oversight, ruthless competition, and cost perceptions that are
very different from our own. Although is the largest country on earth population-wise, Communist rule kept it in the dark for many years, so it is still an emerging economy with many decentralized local markets. Perkowski is among the first to convey what it\’s
like on the ground in, and although it\’s not always ptty, this serves as an excellent guide to others intending to tap into the potential of this waking giant. \”
The high equity valuation for proves once again that the dream of \”1 billion Chinese buying anything\” is still very much alive. Despite its promise, the income earned from the market is estimated to be less than $ 50 million, far less than the $ 3.5 billion
earned domestically in the United States.
\”Managing the Dragon is more than a great story about Jack Perkowski and his courage to move to the New Frontier; it is a graduate degree in the trials, tribulations and successes of starting from scratch in. Jack captures the essence of doing business in and
turns it into a very compelling how-to guide. My experiences in over the last 14 years validate the accuracy of Jack perceptions. Managing the Dragon is superb, and will be a must-read for any BorgWarner executive involved with. \”<br /
\"
When I was visiting 100 components factories in 40 cities throughout during the first nine months of 1993, I was always amused to see a basketball court at nearly every one. Although I rarely saw anyone actually playing the game, their psence demonstrated that has always had
an affinity for hoops.
Unfortunately, the Pacers lost the game, splitting the two-game Asia series with the Nuggets. Carmelo Anthony scored 45 points to lead the Nuggets to their 128-112 win. Playing at the same arena where he helped the United States win gold at last
year\’s Olympics, Anthony made 14 of 19 field goals and 16 of 17 free throws and put away the Pacers with a 17-point third quarter.
Nonetheless, hats off to the for catching the market and creating such a valuable franchise. Now if only baseball and American football can follow suit, we\’ll all have more professional sports teams to cheer on in Beijing.
That\’s why I was especially happy when a friend of mine from Indianapolis e-mailed last week and invited Carleen and me to watch the Indiana Pacers play the Denver Nuggets in Beijing. My friend and his wife, along with one hundred or so avid supporters of
the Pacers (and psumably an equal number from the Nuggets), had been invited by the Pacers and the National Basketball Association () to accompany the team on their Asia tour, which included exhibition games in Taipei and Beijing. We went as their guests and
became Hoosiers for the day.
- Michael Eisner
I have always found it very difficult to go to the office on July 4 in Beijing, knowing that everyone back home is enjoying a four-day weekend and will be spending their day firing up the grill and having a few cold ones. Not that I
\’ma sports junkie, but with the time difference and focus here on soccer, it\’s tough to keep up with what\’s going on in American sports. (By the way, are the Yankees still in the playoffs?)
\”If you want to do business in, Jack Perkowski is your man. In Managing the Dragon he takes you into the heart of the Middle Kingdom and shows you the way with insight, humor and the kind of practical advice an entrepneur or a down home
tourist needs to navigate this fascinating and often bewildering colossus of a country. \”
- Tom Brokaw
When someone learns that I have lived in since 1994, one of the first things they ask is what I miss most. It\’s an easy question to answer: holidays and sports.
It was well worth it, though. We had third row seats and the entertainment was great. No matter who\’s playing, it\’s always fun to watch professional sports team live, and the event sponsors did a great job filling up the timeout and halftime breaks with
a variety of entertainment. We saw break dancers, a dance competition which an elderly Chinese fan won, acrobatic basketball stunts, and of course, good old wholesome (and ptty) American cheerleaders.
- Timothy Manganello, CEO, BorgWarner, Inc.
- The Economist
So, on Sunday morning, when we would normally just be finishing our coffee, we fought the Beijing traffic to travel across town to Wukesong Arena, where the Olympic basketball games were played, to meet our friends and root for the Pacers. It took us
nearly an hour and a half. Traffic in Beijing was especially heavy over the weekend as thousands of tourists lined up to see the October 1 parade floats on display in Tiananmen Square.
this.
