Management at a Turning Point: What Will the Future Look like?

Abstract

This brief chapter introduces Management in the Digital Age: Will China Surpass Silicon Valley? With the global business environment changing dramatically, the traditional model for large-firm management is now outmoded. The author has studied the emergence of new models at Google and other innovative firms in Silicon Valley, where similar practices and principles were found and thus labeled ``the Silicon Valley Model.{''} Now the focus has turned to China, with initial research on five Chinese companies which may in some respects be even more advanced than the Silicon Valley based firms. Following chapters will deal in depth with the need for a new management approach, the Silicon Valley Model, China's evolution to becoming an ``innovation country,{''} profiles of the Chinese companies and comparison of their management with the Silicon Valley approach.