China Aviation Oil (B): Stormy waters

The three-part China Aviation Oil (CAO) case series documents the overseas adventure – the rise, fall and subsequent restructuring and rebuilding – of a leading Chinese state-owned enterprise over the last ten or so years. The case is designed to address in an integrative manner issues commonly faced by (1) the increasing number of Chinese executives now playing in the international arena and (2) Western executives who have experience of working with Chinese companies and Chinese executives, or who would like to do so – either in China or their own marketplace. There have been many cases of multinationals going to China, where cultural differences have been blamed for things that did not work, for things that were not understood, or even for frustrations when working with Chinese companies and Chinese executives. However, the real questions are: Are we aware of other differences, e.g. financial and legal? Do we understand them and, perhaps more importantly, how we can work with them? The case series describes the first overseas restructuring of a state-owned Chinese company. As such, it provides participants with a totally different angle for looking at the dilemma of working with China: How to make things work outside China from a Chinese perspective.