Shaun Rein is the chief executive at CMR China Market Research Group, based out of Shanghai.
Shaun believes that the end is near for the strategic consulting companies that depend on the Henry Kissinger model of using personal relationship networks to ease clients through the ins and outs of the system. He believes rather, that only the firms that provide the best data and analysis will succeed.
In part one of this episode, Shaun introduces us to the concept of “China’s baby boomers”, the label he applies to the generation born after the Cultural Revolution. Like America’s baby boomers, they lived the first thirty years of their lives in a period of economic optimism. They care primarily about making money, which they want to spend rather than save. Their parents, having been through hard times, encourage them in their pursuit of the materialistic good life.
If this is true, both my father and girlfriend are baby boomers.
In the second part of this episode, Shaun talks a bit more about baby boomers, then goes into what is good and bad about the venture capital industry in China, speaking from his experience in that industry. This is a segue into a conversation about China’s VC industry in a coming episode.
Mainland listeners use these links:
Listen to part 1
Listen to part 2