Innovation, trust and Chinese culture

The role of culture in innovation can never be underestimated. Unfortunately, there's not that much in the literature on this fascinating subject -- innovation continues to be treated mainly as a technical issue. I've been reading Trust,by Francis Fukuyama, and I have found it fascinating reading. It's one of those books that contain many a hidden gem.



Fukuyama, always a controversial figure, asserts that Chinese society is a low-trust society, relative to Japanese, German and American societies. Fukuyama argues that this low trust places what is effectively a "tax" on the economy, and is part of the reason why Taiwan and Hong Kong are made up of thousands of small, family-owned firms. Fukyuma continues to offer some interesting insights into Japanese, German, Italian, French, South Korean, American, and Chinese societes:

"The United States, like Japan and Germany, has historically been a high-trust, group-oriented society despite the fact that Americans believe themselves to be rugged individualists." (p. 10)

"In contrast to Japan, Chinese society is not group oriented." (p. 75)

He points out, however, that America is in danger of losing its high trust and group orientation, a situation that has important implications for the economy.

If you are interested in doing business in Asia, particularly China, this book is very informative and cuts through a lot of the commonly held myths that get taught in Western business schools (e.g. the group is more important than the individual in Chinese society). I've also added a few other books that can help you better understand Chinese culture in business. If you know of any more, please feel free to add them!

The Soong Dynasty

The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism

World on Fire

Commerce and Capitalism in Chinese Societies

Amy Chua, author of World on Fire, discusses the dangers of having a "market-dominant" ethnic minority embedded in a democratically elected, impoverished majority. There is a video of her discussing her book HERE.

Elements of Innovation

It doesn't matter if you're looking at an individual, a firm, a region or a nation, most of the following elements need to be present for repeatable, successful innovation. In labelling these terms, I had to decide whether to use the term "value" or "profit" -- I have chosen profit because it is consistent with the definition of innovation in this blog (i.e. the profitable implementation of ideas); the blog is about innovation in business; and value is implied in the term profit.



I've highlighted the element "curiosity," because it doesn't get as much attention as it should IMHO. Encouraging curiosity, and treating it as important, is definitely something parents and educators need to think about. The talk below by Sir Ken Robinson is worth watching if you haven't already seen it.