Bingfeng Teahouse

via: danwei - The Fall and Rise and Fall of Danwei's Mentor, Rupert Murdoch

Now that Rupert Murdoch has proven that Western media companies can't get ahead in China through flattery, nepotism and the back door, we at Danwei will have to find a new model for our business.

in my view, the "fall" of Murdoch's business in china market has little to do with what expansion strategy he chose, but more related with the field of business - media, which is in tight control of the government and closed to outside (foreign and chinese private) money.

what if Murdoch is in other business, say, consumer goods or professional service? i bet his "strategies" of "flattery, nepotism and back door" will work quite well. unfortunately, Murdoch chose a "battlefield" that he CAN NOT win in the short term.

so my advice to danwei is - find a new business with the old model.

a friend of my wife recently quit his job and went to a temple in hangzhou to work as a volunteer. he was troubled by the ultimate meaning of life and often asked himself - "why should i work so hard and make a lot of money?" coming back from the temple for a break in shanghai, he claimed that he became an vegetarian and was studying buddhism.

a few days ago, we had a vegetarian buffet in a nice hotel and surprisingly found that we were eating with some monks. i chatted with one of them and learned that they were studying business administration programs in a shanghai university and, he was quite interested in talking with me how to run a business.