BOOKREVIEW
B
usiness
Leadership
in China
Reviewed by David Dayton
I
would recommend Frank Gallo’s book, Business he won’t say that any practices in China are
Leadership in China, to any new to China manager dishonest.
in an MNC. The book is just what Gallo claims it is: What’s surprising is that this book came
“a starting point for further research into constructing out of a class that was teaching foreign busi-
a business model that blends both foreign and Chinese ness practices to Chinese MBA students.
leadership techniques.” Yet the final product is much more about
With 8 years of experience in China, both good and bad, how foreigners need to adapt to Chinese
Gallo gives many examples to support his advice. Most im- culture than it was about the blending of two
pressive is that Gallo has Chinese managers with foreign cultures. This is a common approach in much of the busi-
degrees talk about Chinese culture to a foreign audience. ness literature on China; usually justified by “China has a
Although the book does turn into a politically correct look 5,000 year history” or “China is a huge market.” These
at only one and a half cultures, not really two. Gallo is very points are relevant, but don’t justify a lack of analysis of
deferential to China and Chinese culture but not nearly as Chinese processes or an unwillingness to look at the need
forgiving to foreign cultures. Throughout the book he is for Chinese to adopt international business standards.
more than willing to use terms like “rash,” “haphazard,”
“over confident” and “aggressive” to describe foreign busi-
David Dayton is the owner and manager of SRI. He has nearly twenty years experi-
ence working in and with Asia and leads Silk Road International from their Shen-
ness leaders. However, even in the chapter on honesty,
zhen, China office. He can be reached at
david@silkroadintl.net.
www.chainaonline.com MAY/JUNE 2009 45
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