thoughtyoushouldseethis:

This photo shows progress underway to complete the second phase of General Motors’ Advanced Technical Center in Shanghai, on track to open in the second half of the year. It was prompted by this interview with GM China president and managing director, Kevin Wale, which is long but incredibly interesting, and filled with insights about how executives are thinking about innovation in that all important market. For instance:

What China does better than any place else in the world is to innovate by commercialization, as opposed to constant research and perfecting the theory, like the West. When the Chinese get an idea, they test it in the marketplace. They are happy to do three to four rounds of commercialization to get an idea right, whereas in the West, companies spend the same amount of time on research, testing, and validation before trying to take products to market. The Chinese have an innovative way of doing innovation, something that the rest of the world is struggling to understand.

Long, but well worth the read.

[Image c/o GM.]