"China Guru Clash" Thomas Crampton has already baptized the discussion between Paul French and Tom Doctoroff on China's middle class - at least that is where it started. Yesterday Crampton posted a vitriol attack by Paul French on Tom Doctoroff, CEO of J. Walter Thompson for Greater China, today Doctoroff hits back.
Doctoroff denies claims French makes about him claiming to be a pioneer in anything and Doctoroff points out that his so-called "claim to fame", the market introduction of the Buick in China in 1999 was done by Bates, not his firm. The market has changed since the days of Carl Crow, French's hero, says Doctoroff:Thomas,
I don’t know what to say. I believe the posting is unbalanced and the tone is bully-boy cocky.
How does one respond to a sweeping statement — at least my book, on the first page, warns of “generalizations” — that yours truly is “wrong about China.”
And then he rails against me, sarcasm dripping, for having the audacity to call myself a “pioneer” when Carl Crow had already seen “everything.” He’s playing a gotcha game gone bad.
He did not see a middle class boasting 150 million people and an auto market with 6 million passenger cars sold per year. He did not see a mass market — now penetrating the rural fringe — snapping up mobile phones and using them to transform their lives. He did not see multinational corporations setting up R&D centers and manufacturing scale on the mainland. He did not see that extraordinary release of energy that resulted from the embrace of capital markets.More at Thomas Crampton's site.
Both Paul French and Tom Doctoroff are speakers at the China Speakers Bureau. If you are interested in hearing them speak, perhaps even together, do get in touch.
2 comments:
if that's all that French can contribute he should be re-considered as a chinabizspeaker.
We love Paul French as a speaker. You might not always agree with his arguments, he most certainly knows how to engage an audience and that is a key talent.
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