Today I learned there are 4 cities in Germany with over 1 million people. They are Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne. China, as of 2007, had 161 cities with over one million people. Let that sink in. I’m sure for most readers of this blog, the fact that future is in China hasn’t really sunk in. While America is trying to stem the tide of Eastern economic domination, it’s unsustainable. In my life, and certainly my children’s lives, the vast majority of economic power will reside in the East.
There’s still a profound psychological belief that the West is better. In fact, at my MBA there Indians and Chinese students make up the majority. But that will slowly change as these countries invest more in their education systems. Culturally, we’re taught a western centric view of the world, and that is deeply engrained in us. We strongly feel that Germany is a powerful country and has great companies. But we never ask where Germany is selling its products? If you are Siemens, selling washing machines or fire alarms, and you had to pick between understanding the European customer or the Chinese customer, 9 out of 10 executives would pick the Chinese customers. Westerners need to know more about the East, and we need to get over that psychological block ASAP.