Multinational Companies in China: Navigating the Eight Common Management Pitfalls

This book explores some of the most common mistakes made by multinational companies doing business in China, in both cultural and managerial contexts. These shared mistakes could be as far-reaching as managing talent, local vs. global decision making, or could be as mundane as managing title, pay and performance. Many mistakes are rooted in a lack of understanding of the Chinese market in two areas: the unique talent and culture environment, and the immense opportunity potential. Very often, MNCs’ global or local leaders lack the ability to make discretional decisions with one-size-fits-all approaches under the cloak of global consistency, or treating a China operation as one-of-the outfits (and a small one in the world revenue pool), even though they understand the market potential in theory. MNCs have enjoyed great success in China while many others have yet to realize their opportunities. China business continues to grow, and opportunities continue to develop. This book will guide business leaders on how to avoid the most common management pitfalls in China business, and will help the capitalize on the huge opportunity that remains in this region.

Xin Guo is President and CEO of Career International, a leading HR service company in China. Prior to joining Career International, Mr. Guo was the Managing Director for Mercer Greater China and a global senior partner. During his ten-year tenure at Mercer, Mr. Guo held various leadership positions including Asia Pacific Human Capital business leader and Deputy Head for Asia Pacific, with the responsibility of leading Asia. In the past 20 years, he has held various management positions in the consulting industry both in the US and China. Mr. Guo graduated from Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautic with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master‘s degree in Systems Engineering. He also received an MBA degree from University of San Francisco.