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  • Published: 1 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409091226
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

Managing the Dragon

Building a Billion-Dollar Business in China




A wise and entertaining business memoir focusing on China at the dawn of a new age.

After a highly successful career on Wall Street, in the early 1990s Jack Perkowski needed a new challenge. Having decided that China would be the future, he set about investigating this little-known market and the business opportunities it offered. Before long, Jack set up ASIMCO, a manufacturing business specializing in car components, which now has an annual turnover of over $500 million.

In Managing the Dragon Jack provides an insider's view of China, its many peculiarities and working practices. For example, we see how China's economy and government are highly decentralized and how the country tends to operate like a series of villages spread across a vast landscape; we discover how much influence 'the Party' has on the banks, and how economic incentives at local government level causes China to create overcapacity in virtually every industry. This may explain why the country has, almost single-handedly, placed the entire world in a cost / price squeeze.

Managing the Dragon is a revealing and thought-provoking memoir offering a fresh perspective on a country at the dawn of a new age. Through its colourful narrative it also tells the story of one of the most influential and pioneering entrepreneurs of today.

  • Published: 1 July 2010
  • ISBN: 9781409091226
  • Imprint: Transworld Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 464

About the author

Jack Perkowski

Jack Perkowski was born in western Pennsylvania and studied business at Yale and Harvard. Following a very successful career as a banker on Wall Street, he left the US to run his own manufacturing business in China. Jack is a regular speaker at conferences and has written several journal articles. He has lived in Beijing since 1993, but he also has a farm in New Jersey.

Praise for Managing the Dragon

Fantastic. I was riveted by it. I cannot believe what Jack Perkowski has accomplished, what an adventure he's had, how he's succeeded, and how well written his book is.

Michael Eisner, former CEO of the Disney Corporation

It tells, with some bravado and lots of humility, the firsthand story of a man who dared himself to move to China to seize upon the greatest economic boom of our age.

Ted C. Fishman, author of China Inc.

More than a great story...It is a graduate degree in the trials, tribulations and successes of starting from scratch in China... A compelling 'how-to' guide.

Timothy Manganello, CEO BorgWarner Inc

Jack Perkowski's story of his almost 13 years [in] China is a rare treat - a first-hand account of the struggle to build a business there...his wise and ultimately optimistic account should be required reading for anyone starting a business in China.

Economist