The Power of Convergence

CHAPTER 8Creating Business Agility

ONE AUGUST MORNING IN 2010, America awoke to shocking news from the Far East. No, North Korea hadn’t invaded its democratic southern brothers. No, an undersea earthquake hadn’t caused another deadly tsunami. No, Toyota’s cars hadn’t suffered another major defect resulting in a massive recall. No, the news was far more disturbing on an economic and psychological level: China had officially passed Japan in quarterly gross domestic product. Its growth numbers were so strong that by the end of the year, its economy on the global stage would be second only to the United States.

Since the Tiananmen Square uprising in 1989, the Chinese communist government had adopted a policy of limited capitalism. It allowed for ...