Chinese Internet CEOs Now Believe Own Press, Too
Our intrepid hedge-fund mole is visiting red-hot China Internet companies this week (BIDU, SINA, SOHU, etc.). An old China hand, she's noticed a funny change in the country of late: Chinese CEOs are now as overtly pleased with themselves as American ones.
No More False Modesty
When I studied in China in the late ‘90s, we were taught that when someone paid you a compliment, it was impolite to reply “Thank you.” Cultural protocol dictated that you did not confirm that the compliment had any merit whatsoever. Instead, you were supposed to reply, “Nali, nali?” or “Where, where?” as if the compliment were being paid to someone not in the room...
Chinese management teams, however, no longer project such false modesty. They have taken their cues from global counterparts and now not only accept compliments, but enhance them.
In my meeting today with the finance director of a large Chinese portal company, for example, I began by complimenting the strength of the company’s most recent quarter (the common and blatant analyst obsequiousness you hear all the time of quarterly conference calls). Instead of saying “Where, where?”, the corrected me and said the company had “strong quarters, plural.” No doubt he was joking a little, but, wow, compared to the old Chine, that’s swagger worthy of Yao Ming.
Do the CEO and his team deserve the credit for good performance? Absolutely. They've thrown up some nice quarters. But let’s give some credit to broader trends:
See Also:
Note From China: No iPhones Here for Years
My Night At the Art Market Crash
No More False Modesty
When I studied in China in the late ‘90s, we were taught that when someone paid you a compliment, it was impolite to reply “Thank you.” Cultural protocol dictated that you did not confirm that the compliment had any merit whatsoever. Instead, you were supposed to reply, “Nali, nali?” or “Where, where?” as if the compliment were being paid to someone not in the room...
Chinese management teams, however, no longer project such false modesty. They have taken their cues from global counterparts and now not only accept compliments, but enhance them.
In my meeting today with the finance director of a large Chinese portal company, for example, I began by complimenting the strength of the company’s most recent quarter (the common and blatant analyst obsequiousness you hear all the time of quarterly conference calls). Instead of saying “Where, where?”, the corrected me and said the company had “strong quarters, plural.” No doubt he was joking a little, but, wow, compared to the old Chine, that’s swagger worthy of Yao Ming.
Do the CEO and his team deserve the credit for good performance? Absolutely. They've thrown up some nice quarters. But let’s give some credit to broader trends:
- the average Chinese user spends an estimated 16 to 18 hours per
week online. Compare that to the average US user who clocks maybe 12
hours.
- Internet penetration in China is far less mature than in the US.
- Online advertising in China is a nascent industry.
See Also:
Note From China: No iPhones Here for Years
My Night At the Art Market Crash
Headline was an attempt (apparently weak) to amuse reader and introduce the post. But that said, the writer is not a rookie laowai, and in her opinion, anyway, things have changed.
This is why America will always have trouble doing business in China, because everyone enters the country with broad sweeping expectations of what China is or isn't before even setting foot on their soil (see? I can make generalizations based on a single data point as well!!).