Mastering
Business in Asia
Friends,
clients and readers of www.business-in-asia.com
often ask
me how they can better their understanding and mastery of business in Asia. Although I have lived in Asia for years,
constantly read on Asian subjects, travel in the region frequently and
often
meet and talk with Asian business leaders, government officials and
managers
throughout the region, the older I get the more I realize the less I
know and
the more I realize I still need to learn. From
this, I have come increasingly to see that learning is
a life long
process and something that we all must continue to work at if we are to
better
understand the forces that swirl in front of us and that ultimately may
profit
or beggar us.
Because of this, I often have
looked for books on Asian business that tried in a more comprehensive
and
thoughtful manner to examine the crosscurrents and forces that drive
and hinder
business in Asia. In
this search, I also came to feel that how business was
done in Asia
was certainly different and that many very talented western businessmen
and
women with a few very notable exceptions were only seeing part of the
puzzle
that is business in Asia. I
also came to believe that many of the books
written on business failed to focus on Asian business issues and were
therefore
not useful to those of us interested in this dynamic and growing region. (Note: This
is not universally true and over the
last six years some of the authors we have reviewed here such as Bill
Heinecke,
Richard C. Koo, Cesar Bacani, Michael Blackman, Lawrence J. Brahm, Dr.
Frank
Jurgen-Richter and Dinna Dayao among others certainly have written
books that
both illuminated Asian business subjects and were of considerable
interest and
use to business professionals.)
It is in the context of this
search that I am extremely excited to note John Wiley & Sons (Asia)
Pte Ltd ’s recent issuance
of their Executive MBA – Strategies, Skills, Solutions business
book
series. John Wiley & Sons (www.wiley.com
) which was founded in 1807 is the largest publisher of technical and
non
fiction books worldwide. John Wiley
& Sons ’s core
businesses include scientific, technical and medical journals,
encyclopedias,
books and other online products and services. It
also provides professional and consumer books,
subscription services
and education materials for undergraduate and graduate students. John Wiley & Sons has publishing,
marketing and
distribution centers in the United
States, Canada,
Europe, Asia and Australia. The company is listed on the New York Stock
Exchange.
MBA here stands for Mastering
Business in Asia. This is a new
series of books written largely by Asians, many of them CEOs, heads of
many top
consulting companies, leading academics in Asian
Universities, etc. The Mastering Business in Asia
series focuses on the key issues facing Asian business today and in the
future. It is written from an Asian
business perspective and with real life Asian examples.
The series is also structured to appeal to
executives as well as academics which should help to increase its
utility and
its popularity.
Each chapter opens with an Executive Summary
presenting the reader
the key issues to be addressed.
Throughout the book are Feature
boxes that present memorable quotes from the text, from experts,
from
related books, famous people, studies and reports, newspapers, useful
websites,
etc. There is a section with business
tips – short, punchy tips on
Asian business that relate directly to the topic being discussed. Case
studies are also used extensively of successful and less successful
Asian
companies to help illustrate points and add interests.
Charts,
graphics and statistics are used frequently to again reinforce the
Asian
context. Each chapter ends with a
summary or conclusion that includes Action
Point/Point of Excellence that the authors want to emphasize. Finally there is a section at the end of each
chapter on References that notes
other sources for follow-up and research.
Currently there are four books
published in the series which is published in paperback.
The current titles include Strategy for Success in
Asia by Andrew
Delios and Kulwant Singh, Human Resource
Management by Hugh Bucknall and Reiji Ohtaki, Succeeding
with the Balanced Scorecard by James Creelman and Naresh
Makhijani and Corporate Governance by
Peter Wallace and John Zinkin . In the
months ahead we will be looking at each of these in turn but even from
only a
cursory view, it is obvious that the new series is a tremendous
potential
addition to executive libraries, MBA study programs and a great
addition to
libraries throughout the region.
About
the Author: Christopher W. Runckel,
a former senior US diplomat who served in many counties in Asia, is a
graduate of the University of Oregon and Lewis and Clark Law School. He
served as Deputy General Counsel of President Gerald Ford’s
Presidential Clemency
Board. Mr. Runckel is the principal and founder of Runckel &
Associates, a Portland, Oregon based consulting company that
assists businesses expand business opportunities in Asia.
Until April of 1999, Mr. Runckel was
Minister-Counselor of the US Embassy in Beijing, China. Mr. Runckel
lived and worked in Thailand for over six years. He was the first
permanently assigned U.S. diplomat to return to Vietnam after the
Vietnam War. In 1997, he was awarded the U.S. Department of States
highest award for service, the Distinguished Honor Award, for his
contribution to improving U.S.-Vietnam relations. Mr. Runckel is one of
only two non-Ambassadors to receive this award in the 200-year history
of the U.S. diplomatic service.
Copyright, 2007 © Runckel
& Associates
www.Business-in-Asia.com
