I have been reading on and off a book “The Tao of Chinese Business”, iIt is a fascinating read. It shows many of the pitfalls that are there in doing business in Asia and more in China. The influence of Taoism shapes many of the ideas that then set the agenda for business. It is interesting how the chinese reconcile things so differently and come to very different conclusions. I see eventually a change that will leave Taoism damaged as the number of young chinese that have been educated overseas, predominately in the west, will bring with them a model learned in those places that will conflict and compete with the more traditional thinking.

Eventually there will be a dilution of the present strong Tao thinking in business. This will evolve the Chinese business landscape to something new. It wont be entirely western either, you can pretty much bet on that.

The family company architectures are slowly evolving to create new entities that are showing greater governance and yet still presently carry much of the old structure. Traditionally the Asian family business model has done very well within the local neighbourhood of China, Singapore or Thailand, however the same things that make them strong make them vulnerable outside of there home countries.

For anyone contemplating business in Asia and especially China this book is highly recommended reading. It will open your eyes, something the early raiders did not have( eyes wide open ) as many were bitten badly by failures in China. It has taken many a long time to develop the local knowledge to be able to successfully compete.