"But global chinese companies and brands will emerge sooner than you think. They are, in fact, beginning to appear now. They will be pragmatic hybrids, multinational in origin and pieced together from several companies--and quite powerful because of that lineage. Their appearance will be a crucial litmus test: China then will compete with us on all fronts, not just in production. The biggest remaining piece of the global competitive game will be in place."

"But these barriers too will fall--and China's time will come. Countries produce global competitors when they have both intense competition at home and enough scale to matter. So it is in China. There is too much commercial energy here, too much growing scale, and too much foreign help to keep its best companies hidden. Haven't heard of Legend or Haier yet? Keep listening."

"Another problem is that most Chinese businesses are broad rather than deep, preferring to diversify rather than concentrating on a core business. This reflects a huge range of money-making opportunities and a lack of individual patience. Kenichi Ohmae, a consultant who used to run McKinsey's operation in Japan, says it took the Japanese 40 years to develop the sophisticated products and the quality control that allowed them to prosper. "I see very few Chinese managers excelling in one area," he says. "Chinese managers will never spend five or ten years developing a smaller, faster component---it is not in their mentality." Such short-termism helps to explain why China is struggling to build home-grown brands. The consistency and quality that builds trust with consumers is not part of the Chinese management style."