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Knowledge@Wharton to
Introduce Chinese
Language Edition
Few would deny that
China is hot. Companies
within China and around
the world are searching
for credible answers about
how to do business in this
must-play country, and
Knowledge@Wharton will
soon provide the knowledge they need. Wharton's
online business analysis
and research journal will
launch a Chinese version
in early 2005, adding to
its English, Spanish and
Portugese versions. As well,
Knowledge@Wharton and
The Boston Consulting
Group have partnered
to create four special reports on China, the first
of which, "China and the
New Rules for Business,"
is now available on the
Knowledge@Wharton web-site in both Chinese and
English (http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu).
The Chinese version of
Knowledge@Wharton will
target management leaders
in China as well as Chinese-reading populations world-wide with a mix of tailored
and existing content. The
project, a year in the making,
came together when both
Dean Patrick Harker and
Boston Consulting Group
officials, led by a Wharton
alum, expressed a simultaneous interest in creating
real-world, online communications vehicles to tackle the
opportunities and challenges
of operating in China.
"Our original strategy is
to have a two-fold engagement," explains Mukul
Pandya, editor and director
of Knowledge@Wharton.
"On one hand, there's a
huge hunger for information about how to do
business in China among
Western executives. All
they have been getting is a
lot of hype, or horror stories. Our opportunity is to
tell stories for the benefit
of a Western world that
wants to figure out what's
really real. Then there's
a great hunger in China
too about business in the
West, and for them, having access to a place like
Wharton is crucial."
Wharton alumnus Hal
Sirkin, W'80, a senior vice
president at BCG and leader
of the firm's Operations
Practice, says that for many
companies, China has risen
to the top of the management agenda. "In many
industries today, operating
in China is no longer just
an option to consider—it's
an imperative if they are to
remain competitive," Sirkin
says. "Yet many questions
and risks remain."
The Chinese version of
Knowledge@Wharton will
be funded by a combination
of corporate sponsorships
and donations from alumni,
parents of existing students
and friends of the School.
It comes on the heels of
the fifth anniversary of
Knowledge@Wharton, which now has more than
350,000 subscribers in
189 countries.
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