Applying Silicon Valley Management Practices in China

Chris Yeh and Global Scaling Academy were invited to present to a group of visiting Chinese CEOs and executives who were touring the Silicon Valley technology ecosystem. Chris' presentations were simultaneously translated into Mandarin for the group of 60 executives and included sections on Blitzscaling and The Alliance. The group was riveted by both concepts and engaged in lively questions and answer about the applicability of these Silicon Valley management practices in China, and particularly within the kind of large, conservative, hierarchical organizations that they represent.

Chris explained how Silicon Valley and China are the two most successful scaling ecosystems and explored some of the differences in the way companies have scaled in both markets. Today, more than ever, as the pace of technological change accelerates companies need to move faster to stay ahead of the competition and avoid being disrupted by innovative startups. The Blitzscaling framework provides a roadmap to companies to help them select, evaluate and rank the scalability of new business venture opportunities as well as a toolkit of management techniques to manage hyper-growth internal ventures, or external spin offs, and the group agreed that the approach was applicable in China but foresaw challenges in getting middle management and corporate finance to adopt it given that these groups are generally conservative. This was valuable feedback for us and we have taken it into account in the development of our blitzscaling tools and how we apply them in large organizations. 

Chris also presented the Alliance framework, which describes how employers and employees can develop win-win relationships based on the concept of "tours of duty." These concepts were welcomed by the Chinese executives and managers who acknowledged that they are facing pressure from younger employees to develop a more open and collaborative work culture in their traditionally hierarchical organizations.

Google Scaling Academy is looking forward to engaging in the Chinese market in the future, and expects a great reception to these twin set of concepts, based on the success of this event.

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