Author: Bingxin Hu Translated from the Chinese by Chengchi Wang Foreword by Prof. Louis B. Barnes of Harvard Business School ISBN-13: 978-1-931907-15-6 ISBN-10: 1931907153 Order No. 1019 6 x 9, Hardcover 256 pages, 2004 Business / Management $24.95 Similar Titles

BOOK DESCRIPTION

When China embarked on market economy in the early 1980s, it found itself totally unprepared. There were no theories, no experience, no infrastructure, and no trained professionals for this new economic system. However, Chinese business people "plunged into the sea" of market economy with courage. Many went down in the tides; others made it through with their tenacity and intelligence, subsequently becoming leaders of the new Chinese economy. Breaking Grounds records the experience of a Chinese business woman Bingxin Hu, who pioneered and succeeded in modernizing the aging Chinese retail business. Based on her ten years of business experience, the author recounts the turmoil, clashes of concepts and behind-the-scene decisions in the Chinese retail business, as well as psychological shocks, emotional perplexes, and intellectual apprehension she had gone through. Breaking Grounds reveals how, in a series of ground-breaking moves, Bingxin Hu redefined Chinese retail, integrated Western management with the Chinese tradition and culture, and developed a unique and effective model which was copied later on by many other retailers. As one of her climaxing successes, the Wuhan Plaza, a large scale shopping center under her management, ranked number one in revenue and profitability in China's retail for two years in a run. The Chinese version of this book was an instant hit. Hu's first-hand description of her endeavor has benefited many Chinese retailers. A valuable case study on Chinese retail business and its management, Breaking Grounds also serves as a guide on Chinese market operation and investment strategies for Western business people who have invested or are thinking of investing in China.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in 1950, Bingxin Hu is a native of Wuhan in Hubei Province, China. Like her peer, she worked in the countryside and then in factories. In 1988, she left her government position for the private sector. She was General Manager (Chinese equivalent of a CEO) of the Wuhan Department Group Co., Ltd. and Executive General Manager of the Wuhan Plaza Management Co., Ltd.

She is now Executive President for Greater China of the Hong Kong Goldlion Group, and General Manager of Goldlion (China) Co., Ltd. She received numerous official awards in the twenty years of her business career: one of the Top Ten Business Women in Wuhan, one of the Top Ten Chinese Managers in Businesses with Foreign Investment in Wuhan, Outstanding Woman in the Twentieth Century recommended by the Chinese Development Center for Women and Children, and one of the ten Outstanding Women in Business in China, voted for by the Conference of Outstanding Chinese Women in May, 2002.

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