Guanxi - Softcover

Huang & Buderi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1905211228 ISBN 13: 9781905211227

Publisher: Random House Business Books, 2006

Synopsis

Half a world away from the calm beauty of Puget Sound, there's a lab where Bill Gates's software dreams come true...So begins "Guanxi", the compelling behind-the-scenes tale of the allure of China today - and a unique partnership between the world's most famous capitalist and the world's largest communist nation that showcases what it takes to compete in the age of global innovation. "Guanxi" (gwan-shee), the Chinese term for mutually beneficial relationships essential to success in the Middle Kingdom, tells the story of the juggernaut research lab that underpins Microsoft's relationship building in China. Unfurled through a gripping narrative that moves between Beijing and Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, WA, it follows the lab's emergence as a Mecca for Chinese computer-science talent - a place where 10,000 resumes arrive in a month, written exams are farmed out to 11 cities to screen applicants, and interns sleep on cots next to their cubicles. So far, the company has invested well over $100 million and hired more than 400 of China's best and brightest to turn the outpost into an important window on the future of computing and a training ground to uplift the state of Chinese computer science - creating dramatic payoffs for both Microsoft and its host country that are helping the company overcome many of the challenges of China. "Guanxi" traces the arc of the lab's stunning success from a memo by erstwhile Microsoft visionary Nathan Myhrvold to its early days under maverick speech recognition guru Kai-Fu Lee (since plucked away by Google for some $10 million) to its more recent tutelage under former child prodigies Ya-Qin Zhang and Harry Shum. The two China-born stars, who both attended college in their native country at the age of 12, have orchestrated the Beijing lab's recent emergence as an epicenter of Microsoft's intensifying battles against Google in the search wars, Nokia in the wireless arena, and Sony in graphics and entertainment. As pundits rail about the 'China threat' to US competitiveness and offer often-hackneyed arguments against outsourcing, "Guanxi" explores the true ramifications of China's high-tech buildup - and how it can be turned to competitive advantage, in part by 'insourcing' the untapped talent in the country's top universities. Sprinkled with telling observations, compelling characters, and lively anecdotes about the brilliant successes and sometimes painful stumbles of the world's most powerful software company, "Guanxi" is essential reading for business leaders, entrepreneurs, and technologists around the globe.

About this title

Review:

"If you're thinking about doing business with China, better read Buderi and Huang's inside account of how Microsoft is using guanxi to 'insource' Chinese talent in its wars against Sony, Nokia, and Google." (Bob Metcalfe, Inventor of Ethernet and 2005 Recipient of the U.S. National Medal of Technology)

"You may find it to be either an inspiring glimpse into the future, or a terrifying one, but it is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand where the world is headed." (Jeffrey E. Garten, Juan Trippe Professor of International Trade and Finance, Yale School of Management)

"The world may be flattening but it remains culturally diverse: business in China is not like business in Seattle. Buderi and Huang display for us the strategies that Microsoft used to harness the brain power of China in China. They describe the bumps and the triumphs. They show that in a flattening world, it is crucial to remain conscious of the power of history. A highly readable and very
informative book." (David Baltimore, Nobel Laureate, President of the California Institute of Technology, president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science)

"A fascinating inside look at Microsoft Research Asia, at its history, its personalities, its culture and its ambitions. A must read for anyone who is interested in the explosive developments when modern technology meets with a civilization that is at once the oldest and the youngest in human history." (Chen Ning Yang, Nobel Laureate, Professor Emeritus, Stony Brook University and Tsinghua University)

From the Publisher:

Microsoft, China and Bill Gates' plan to win the road ahead

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House Business Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1905211228
• ISBN 13: 9781905211227
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320