The Suite Spot
Book Nook: The Lowdown on China
One Billion Customers: The title of James McGregor 's book captures the lure of selling your wares in China. What globally minded corporation could turn its back on the riches of such a market (actually 1.3 billion)? McGregor, a Wall Street Journal correspondent turned businessman, offers Lessons From the Front Lines of Doing Business in China.
This manual for western businesspeople comes with case studies--Morgan Stanley's troubles, Rupert Murdoch's astute move into Chinese media--a "Little Red Book of Business" ("Government officials can lie to you, but you must never lie to them"), and even proverbs, like, "Two people sleeping in the same bed but having different dreams" (often true of Chinese joint ventures).
China, McGregor writes, is "simultaneously the world's largest start-up and the world's largest turnaround." A quarter century of economic reforms has created a low-cost manufacturing powerhouse and unleashed the capitalistic yearnings of a Communist society. Yet he questions whether Chinese companies can innovate and compete in creating products.
McGregor's China is a business minefield where politics, corruption, and suspicion of foreigners can blow up any deal. It clearly will take persistence and no small amount of cultural savvy to reap the rewards of the China boom.
Grabbing A Bite: Talking About
When Scott Meyer tells people he's the CEO of About.com, they usually nod in vague recognition. It sounds familiar, though they're not sure why. But at Viceroy, a nouveau Manhattan diner, the manager turns out to be a frequent user who regularly looks up new drink recipes on the cocktails page. "He knows all about us," beams Meyer, 36, delighted to have his brand recognized.
Getting About talked about is one of Meyer's main missions. The site, purchased by the New York Times Co. from Primedia for $410 million last spring, has plenty of reach. It features detailed consumer information on 500 different topics, from antiques to Islam to cancer. But most users get to the site through side doors--Yahoo! or Google searches--instead of pointing their browser directly to About.com.
That's fine with Meyer. Search traffic helps his site attract 26 million unique visitors each month, making it one of the 10 largest portals on the Web. And ad dollars are finally following that traffic. About's ad revenues rose 67 percent in the third quarter to $14.2 million, with operating profit of $3.8 million. That helped offset setbacks elsewhere at the Times. Still, About must raise the bar if it is to survive as a trusted consumer site, Meyer explains over a steak salad. "If you get in now and do it right, there's a good chance of success," he says. "The people who are going to win are those who put out the highest quality of content and have the best branding."
The site has a folksy tone, but the company is buttoned-down. Meyer is a Harvard Business School grad who was general manager of the Times 's website before taking over About five months ago. He wears a suit to the office about half the time. And while there's a foosball table in the office, "it's stuck in the back somewhere, with piles of boxes on it," he says. There's plenty about games on the website, though.
This story appears in the November 7, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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