The China Twist- Book Review

This is perhaps the first business related book that came to me for review and obviously I was excited about it. And needless to say, The China Twist did not dissapoint.

The China Twist is the story of how two very young and enterprising Wharton MBA graduates took the bold decision of opening Auntie Anne’s Pretzels chain of snack stores in China. This book is not so much about opening stores in China as their story of keeping it operating in hostile conditions which included local labor laws, health certifications, company registrations and the culture itself.

Asia is now one of the fastest growing markets for American fast food chains and all the brands who are trying to find a place there are racking their brains to come up with new dishes to please local tastes. Wen-Szu Lin and his partner faced the same dilemma as McDonald’s faced when they came to India. With a population over 1 billion no international brand can ignore the fact that India is a lucrative market for them.  In the era of global villages, even hardcore international firms strive to bring their own cultural flavor to a country.

The fact that McDonald’s failed in its first stint as they forgot to take out the ham in the hamburger when they came to India is a case study in itself. They ignored India's cultural aversion to beef and pork and later had to tweak their offering and now has some of the most local menu listings like McAloo Ticki (a burger with patty made out of potatoes, peas, and spices) and Maharaja Mac. Global fast-food businesses now come up with hybrid foods that folks back home don't hear about. This is just an example of how big brands can fail if they do not adapt to local settings and that’s what The China Twist is all about. Cultural issues were just one of the problems Wen-Szu Lin faced when he won his bid for exclusive China Master Franchise rights of Auntie Anne’s Pretzels.

The China Twist outlines the challenges that Wen-Szu Lin and his partner faced in China and the lessons learnt throughout their journey which ended with folding up of the chain. The story is interesting but exposes the hard reality of the hardships an alien product faces in a local setting. The book is entertaining in the true sense of the word as the authors take us through a labyrinth of cultural and bureaucratic obstacles. Marketing strategies, cultural sensitivity, bureaucratic stonewalling, labor laws; everything gets a new definition in the process of setting up the chains. I would term this book not as "how not to do business in China" but "how to do business in China".

There are so many case studies in this area where evidence suggests that utilizing both localization and globalization marketing strategies can make these fast food chains treat the world as one market but at the same time marketers should take up a sensitive approach towards local culture, labor laws, social and religious slant. The China Twist so correctly preaches that being sensitive and informed inevitably impacts the business performance positively. The China Twist is a case study with a personal touch and a heart. Go read it!


 Disclosure: I was provided the e-book version of the book by the Author.

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Catch Me If You Know How: Book Review

Show me a person who has not heard of the Internet and I will stop writing this book review right now. I normally don't accept e-books for reviews as I just love the feel of a physical book (I know it sounds corny). When Travis Morgan approached me to review his book, Catch Me If You Know How, I obviously requested him to ship me a bound copy of the book. It turned out that the shipping cost would have been more than the cost of the book itself. Since the book was interesting going by various reviews, I agreed to review the book in its e-book avatar. I was not disappointed at all.

Travis Morgan's inspiration to write Catch Me If You Know How comes from his intent to help parents keep track of what their children are doing while online. The book doesn't profess snooping but is only meant for parents to keep their children out of harm's way while they use the Internet.

The Internet is full of illicit material, stalkers, pornography etc and it is everyone's nightmare to keep an eye on someone who is not supposed to fall prey to them. The book is very helpful for someone with workable knowledge of computers, browsers and the Internet. For an out and out IT guy, this book is of little or no help. What is in the book is something that a hardcore techie would already know about. If someone has to bypass the system, Catch Me If You Know How or any other book for that matter would be of no help. I'd rather place this book under the "IT Forensics for Dummies" category. Given the fact that Travis Morgan started working on this book a few years back, some of the information seems pretty outdated. Children have become a lot smarter since then.

But all said and done, I would not discount the intent of Travis Morgan as someone who is out there to spread the knowledge and make the online world a little safer. So if you are a parent or someone who has little knowledge of computers and would like to know what you can or can't do over the Internet, then this book is just for you.


Disclosure: The author provided me with a review copy in e-book format.

Copyright (c) Pigtale 2005-2012. Images copyright respective holders.

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