Thursday, April 20, 2006

The Sound of Kenny G and the Silence at the Cash Register


Book Review China CEO
D. Murali of the Hindu Business Line reviewed 'CHINA CEO: Voices of Experience From 20 International Business Leaders' by Juan Antonio Fernandez and Laurie Underwood. The book is based on interviews with 20 executives heading up the China operations of Bayer, British Petroleum, Coca-Cola, General Electric, General Motors, Philips, Microsoft, Siemens, Sony and Unilever and eight consultants based in China at Boston Consulting Group, Korn/Ferry International, McKinsey & Company and others.

The chapter on `battling intellectual property rights infringers' is, according to Murali, an important read:

"Ekkehard Rathgeber, President, Bertelsmann Direct Group Asia, laments about DVDs and VCDs anywhere, everywhere. "You can buy them by the hundreds and thousands." The book informs how the company had relatively little success selling its licensed CDs of US jazz saxophonist Kenny G in China despite the musician's widespread popularity. "While Bertelsmann has sold roughly 50,000 copies of his works, as of 2003 the company believes millions of illegal copies have been sold.""

Read Murali's book review here.

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