Designated Drivers How China Plans To Dominate The Global Auto Industry
China is an intricate economic ecosystem in which incredible growth and development has resulted from a combination of state-led planning and the measured management of market-oriented forces. Explaining how a formerly communist country—although still communist in name—can maintain an authoritarian political system while building globally competitive industries is difficult at best. But in looking at China's automobile industry, the picture becomes a little clearer.
In Designated Drivers, author G. E. Anderson—a well-known commentator and consultant on Chinese economics and the auto industry—delves deep into this country's automobile industry to shed some much-needed light on the nature of ownership, business-government relations, central-local relations, innovative capacity, and the perceived role of foreign players in China. Along the way, he offers an insightful analysis of the Chinese automotive industry and, in the process, reveals the overall political principles that drive economic decision-making at the top of the Chinese system.
Based on in-depth research, including over 100 interviews of professionals, academics, and government researchers with connections to China's auto industry, and filled with comprehensive case studies, Designated Drivers:
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Explains how China was able to build a competitive industry from scratch while transitioning from a planned economy to one that is more market-oriented
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Offers insights on various aspects of China's auto industry, including prominent mergers of the past decade, Chinese-foreign joint ventures, and the "independent" Chinese automakers
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Illustrates the major determinants of success and failure in China's industrial planning model
- Compares the start-up periods of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean auto industries, with a focus on ownership, key institutions, technology acquisition, foreign involvement, and industry support and structure.
Engaging and informative, Designated Drivers puts the seemingly conflicting forces of China's unique political and economic systems in perspective. Whether you're interested specifically in the auto industry or economic development in general, you will gain valuable insights from the extensive analysis found here.
Praise for Designated Drivers
"China routinely launches new satellites into space. But the country has yet to develop a world-class car to call its own. This frustrates leaders in Beijing to no end. They want China to be the car factory for the world, yet cannot work around their own deeply contradictory policies. Greg Anderson expertly presents these complications in this highly compelling and finely researched book. If your business is China and autos, Designated Drivers is an indispensable guide to how the car business is shaped in the People's Republic of China."—Michael Dunne, President, Dunne & Company Ltd., and author of American Wheels, Chinese Roads
"In Designated Drivers, Greg Anderson manages to make sense of the complexity and contradictions of the Chinese automobile industry. Anderson is the first to capture the torturous three-way relationship among foreign multinationals, China's increasingly nationalistic industrial planners, and the ambitious and (sort of) independent Chinese carmakers. Anderson is an excellent storyteller, yet has his feet firmly planted on solid analytic ground. Highly recommended as an absorbing tale that provides real insight into the latest Chinese industrial heavyweights."—Barry Naughton, Professor of Chinese Economy and Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs, University of California, San Diego
"China has become the center stage in the battle for dominance of the twenty-first-century global auto industry, and Greg Anderson distinguishes himself by providing a practical guide for navigating its complex structure. This book is essential reading for multinational companies seeking to compete in the largest automotive market in the world."—Bill Russo, President and CEO, Synergistics Ltd.
"More than a thorough accounting of China's automotive ambitions, Designated Drivers is a primer on the quintessential challenge China presents to the West across every sector: understanding the logic and forces at play in China's drive for national wealth and security. In tracking the motives and behavior of regulators and planners, locally and centrally controlled enterprises, banks, privately owned companies, and, of course, the foreign companies doing business in China, Anderson's book establishes the archetype for understanding Chinese industrial policy and how it affects all of us."—Janet Carmosky, CEO, The China Business Network
"CEOs, CFOs, and company boards will particularly like Designated Drivers because it gives real insights into how the Chinese government formulates industrial policy. This is what makes it special; it gives an inside-out view from the Chinese government perspective. If Western companies had this kind of information before going to China, they would literally save millions!"—Paul Denlinger, China start-up guy and publisher, chinavortex.com
About the Author
G.E. Anderson is a specialist in finance and Chinese political economy who has been either living in or frequently traveling to China for nearly two decades. He recently completed a PhD in political science at UCLA, where his research focused on industrialplanning, business-government relations, and corporate governance. Anderson has worked as a teacher, commercial lending analyst, and CFO of a nonprofit organization. Prior to attending UCLA, he was finance director for Charles Schwab's Tokyo-based joint venture. Anderson also holds a BS in Finance from Louisiana Tech, an MBA from Golden Gate University, and an MA in Asia-Pacific studies from the University of San Francisco. He is a contributing writer for Forbes and a political risk and strategy consultant at his firm, Pacific Rim Advisors and blogs at ChinaBizGov. Visit his website at http://www.DesignatedDrivers.co.
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