ABSTRACT

"No matter what you may be selling, your business in China should be enormous, if the Chinese who should buy your goods would only do so." But will they?. "400 Million Customers" is essential reading for all foreigners seeking to do business in the booming economies of Asia, and all analysts of globalization and cultural difference. Carl Crow opened the first western advertising agency in Shanghai and ran it for twenty-five years, promoting everything from American lipsticks and moisturizers to French brandy and pharmaceuticals, and nothing was straightforward. In this highly readable account of his work in Shanghai, illustrated with delightful line drawings, Crow uses anecdotes and examples to illustrate the particular challenges of doing business in China. In Crow's time, no foreigners managed to dominate the Chinese market, and today -- when the population of China has trebled - the question remains whether the country is a potential mass market for the west, or a golden illusion. Crow's book remains as apt now as when it was written in 1937, and leading business schools recommend it as one of the best accounts of Chinese business culture.

chapter I|17 pages

The Very Particular Customer

chapter II|14 pages

Miss China Discovers Her Legs

chapter III|21 pages

Fortunes Through Profitless Sales

chapter IV|13 pages

Starvation for the Sea-Gulls

chapter V|13 pages

Sales Without Salesmen

chapter VI|17 pages

Getting a job and Keeping it

chapter VII|16 pages

Office Morale and the Casting Out of Devils

chapter VIII|16 pages

Tremble and Obey!

chapter IX|12 pages

'Hark! Hark! The Dogs do Bark!'

chapter X|12 pages

Fish and String and Melon Seeds

chapter XI|20 pages

The Few Who Read the Papers

chapter XII|16 pages

Straights and Flushes

chapter XIII|14 pages

Pills for the Ills of China

chapter XIV|20 pages

Shark's Fins and Ancient Eggs

chapter XV|13 pages

Face Saved and Face Lost

chapter XVI|15 pages

The Sacred Rice Bowl

chapter XVII|19 pages

Several Ways that are Dark

chapter XVIII|18 pages

John Bull and Uncle Sam as Exporters

chapter XIX|15 pages

An Apple a DAY

chapter XX|2 pages

This Neighbourly World