Cowboys and Dragons

Publishers Weekly

A self-proclaimed "bicultural man," Lee spent his childhood in China and Taiwan and his adult life in the U.S. He's been advising and guiding the formation of Chinese-American joint ventures since 1977, when Americans were still "Capitalist Pigs" in Communist Chinese eyes. In his first book, Lee attempts to bridge the differences between the two cultures for the business reader. The key, says the venture capitalist, is to forget about the mechanics of doing business in China until you understand the cultural backgrounds, behavior and desires of the players involved. American businessmen are cowboys (no cowgirls in this book): individualistic, profit driven and ruled by law. The Chinese are dragons: group oriented, harmony driven and ruled by hierarchical authority. Roughly three-quarters of this repetitious book is devoted to elaborating on and redescribing these distinctions. Virtually every page features text boxes-up to four per page-reiterating the information in the preceding paragraph. Facts and advice, such as avoiding humor and sexual innuendo, often pop up more than once. The message, nevertheless, is sound. Lee advocates an emotionally intelligent approach to Chinese-American relationships. He refrains from value judgments, presenting differences as facts to be accepted and managed, and he recommends those differences be openly discussed and explained, suggesting mutual understanding can lead to successful endeavors. He shines in the descriptions of Chinese-American ventures in which he's participated, which are sprinkled throughout the book, and in the practical advice in Part Five's chapters on negotiating, decision making, executing and "most likely points of conflict." (Mar.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.