Comparing China to the West
So what is different from China compared to the West? Certainly, there are plenty of American equivalents to pioneers and changemakers – what is giving China the edge today?
A lot of it comes down to process. Western companies have more formal, bureaucratic structures. Chinese companies are far looser and more informal. In the West, innovation is driven by process, which is often slow by nature. In China, teams will huddle around a boss, who will then make a decision very quickly.
Because of this streamlined approach to decision-making, China just does things faster. Trial and error can happen faster. Failure can happen faster. Learning from mistakes can happen faster. And because the Chinese market is already growing rapidly, the pace encourages companies to move just as fast. In the West, you still have to jump through hoops to achieve innovation. In China, they go for it.