China’s recently published white paper (link) on the internet is emblematic of the situation facing China’s overseas management community — the good news is that we know the bad news.

In August and September of 2009 ChinaSolved published a mulit-part series entitled ‘China’s Fractured Web’, which envisioned the development of the Chinese Internet as a distinct, separate and largely self-contained entity. At the time the future of the internet in China was unclear, but that didn’t stop a wide range of pundits and apologists assured the world that the blockage of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook was only temporary and would be restored after the Party Congress - or some other unknown future event or resolution. Not only were international managers faced with the loss of important marketing and research tools — they were also mired in uncertainty and opaque bureaucracy. In our world, lack of information is bad — but disinformation is far worse. Western commentators were constantly being told that ‘we didn’t really understand China’ and thus our judgements, analysis and predictions were without value.

We are reprinting the ‘Fractured Web’ series that began in August 2009 with an eye to the future, as a service to international managers of ALL nationalities who are struggling to build global businesses:

ChinaSolved’s ‘China’s Fractured Web’ links:

Part I : China’s Fractured Web - Opportunities and Challenges (Originally posted August 10, 2009)
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/08/10/china%E2%80%99s-fractured-web-%E2%80%93-opportunities-and-challenges/

Part II:Web 3.0 has Border Checks
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/08/12/chinas-fractured-web-part-ii-hey-futurists-screw-you/

Part III:Myths and Realities
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/08/19/china%E2%80%99s-fractured-web-part-iii-%E2%80%93-myths-and-realities/

Part IV: Advantage China - The Digital Friendship Store
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/08/24/china%E2%80%99s-fractured-web-part-iv-advantage-china-the-digital-friendship-store//

Part V: Advantage America - The Rebel Empire
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/09/02/chinas-fractured-web-part-v-advantage-america-%E2%80%93-the-rebel-empire/

Epilog: The New Normal
http://www.chinasolved.com/blog/2009/09/14/chinas-fractured-web-epilog-the-new-normal/

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