Baseball in Shanghai? Another American Sport Exported to China

As an athlete (or at least having been an athlete in the past) and a sports fan, one of the difficult things about finding myself on an extended stay in Shanghai, China (setting up sporting goods manufacturing and other business contacts) is the near isolation from most American sports. Although basketball, over the past ten or so years, has become popular among the Chinese people, baseball has yet to find its way into the sports culture here. While at every school or playground it's likely you'll find some kid aspiring to become the next Yao Ming, mention the term "baseball" to most Chinese, even ones who speak pretty good English, and you'll likely find yourself having to search through a phrasebook to find the Chinese phrase for baseball: "bangqiu" (pronounced bong chi-o).

I had heard from some of the expatriates living in Shanghai that there was some sort of baseball team playing in the city, so I did some Google searches to see whether I could find information about the team. I found a few articles on the Internet about the Shanghai Eagles' spring trip to the U.S. to compete against junior college teams. The game summaries, published by the news people at a few of the U.S. schools against which the Eagles played, described a team that had decent pitching, but not much hitting. As can happen with that kind of team chemistry, the Shanghai club lost all seven of its exhibition games in the U.S.

I didn't expect much when I went to watch the team play, but I was excited to actually see a baseball field again, having been in China for awhile, and I wanted to experience the baseball environment here. A Chinese friend of mine hunted down information about where the Shanghai Eagles played and at what time, so I took my wife out for a Friday afternoon at the baseball field.

The old ball game didn't have any peanuts or Cracker-Jacks, or hot dogs, or drinks, or very many spectators. There was a mascot dressed in a chicken suit, and, although we had to search behind some buildings to find it, surprisingly the field looked pretty standard. There was a total of probably fifty people in attendance when the game began. People came and went as the game progressed. Something that struck me was the feeling that many there were obviously hard-core baseball fans, the kind you would expect to find catching foul balls at a MLB park. After quickly being spotted as one of the only white guys in attendance, I was approached by Dan Washburn, a news consultant doing a story for Baseball America. During my conversation with him, he told me that he met some older Chinese men at one of the games he'd attended. He mentioned that when he asked them what brought them out to the event, they told him they played ball when they were much younger, being forced to leave the game behind when Mao Zedong did away with the American influence during the Cultural Revolution. As for the group of boisterous, college-aged enthusiasts, I was told that a group of them attended the local baseball college, and they were being trained to later become professionals. (In China, many children who express a particular athletic skill are guided down a specialized path devoted largely to the ultimate fulfillment of their athletic capabilities.) There were some younger T-ball aged kids at the game who were introduced to me by the uncle of one of the boys. He wanted them to practice English with me and my wife, and later the two boys asked me to play catch with them using the homemade-looking, well-used baseball one of the boys brought to the game.

The area we used to play catch was the same grass area outside the stadium used by the professional teams to warm up their bullpen pitchers. I used the opportunity to get a feel for how well a professional pitcher in China throws. The one I saw was probably throwing in the high-70's to low 80's. I watched him throw curve balls with some good movement and change ups as well. His control was comparable to an average to good college pitcher.

The particular game we watched went into extra innings as the Eagles dropped a large lead late in the game. Being distracted by people attempting to practice English during the tenth and eleventh innings, it wasn't until the twelfth that I noticed a strange twist to baseball as the Chinese play it. Probably for the sake of ending the game as soon as possible, they allow both teams to start extra innings with a runner on second base. One problem I saw with this approach is that it made the game boring, as the apparent lack of confidence in hitting on the part of both teams turned the extra innings into a bunt-fest. Finally Tianjin broke open and went on to win 9-5 in 12 innings.

During the game, I met some college baseball players who had become interested in baseball when they came to college. They don't attend the designated baseball college, so their educational involvement baseball is only extra-curricular. They invited me to play with them, and I have participated in some of their practices and scrimmages.

On a Wednesday afternoon in May I followed the directions given to me to meet the team at the Shanghai Teacher's University on Guilin Road. The field where the team practiced wasn't actually a baseball field. It was a general-purpose field used mainly for soccer and track exercises. I have quickly come to understand that the space limitations in Shanghai, similar to most parts of China, make it so that facilities have to double up on their usage. It was amusing to me to watch as we set up for a scrimmage. The areas where right and center field should be was filled with a mix of people, including a few of our people playing those positions, and soccer players who were not in the least interested in what we were doing, especially since they were fully engaged in their own game. As fly balls dropped among them, some of the soccer players would pick the balls up and toss them back, while others would, with a demonstration of irritation, kick them out of the way. Fortunately for the soccer players, none of them were hit.

Many of the baseball players were not so lucky. A healthy fear of hard baseballs traveling at high speeds seems to be second nature for most Americans, as if we are born with an understanding that if a ball is fouled off into someone's face, it's going to hurt like heck at best. Although most of them didn't understand what I was saying, I attempted many times to tell those watching the action to back away from the batter and catcher. During one ten-minute interval, I saw three people get hit hard in the face or head by baseballs. Throughout the whole practice there were constant near-misses as well.

On-deck hitters kept with the Chinese custom for preserving one's place in line by crowding behind the person in front. That approach is okay for the local McDonald's. In fact, if you don't push your way up in line, you will find yourself standing in the same place for a long time, with person after person jumping in front of you. However, when the person at the front of the line is swinging a bat, a different set of rules should apply.

During the first practice with the college players, I was invited to pitch to the team as they scrimmaged. It soon became apparent that there were various skill levels represented at the plate. I was reminded of something I saw in Little League (where kids are usually just beginning to learn how to react to balls thrown towards them) when a particularly nervous batter accidentally stepped in front of the plate, opening up towards the ball so that it hit him directly in the stomach. Fortunately I was only throwing about 70 mph, so no major damage was done, except that the player was likely quickly cured of any interest he had in the new American sport. After that incident the other players warned me when I was pitching to someone who was new, so I could slow it down enough for them to take some solid cuts.

In a country where the sport hasn't really caught on yet, it amazes me that these players respond so well to the difficulties of learning baseball. It is obvious that many of these people, girls and guys alike, have developed a love and even a passion for the game. Before their season started in June, they practiced on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Most practice sessions last five hours or longer. During the time I have participated with them, I have seen their skills improve, with arm strength increasing and fielding and batting capabilities doing the same.

So when the Olympics come to Beijing in 2008, what can we expect from the Chinese team? Will it be somewhat of an embarrassment, like the Greek team's performance in 2004? Or will the home team have a chance to compete? My personal opinion is that the competition level doesn't exist in China now for the national team to compete with the likes of Japan, Taiwan, the U.S., or Cuba. However, if they can get enough exposure by playing outside of China, they might just pull off a medal. As for the long-term outlook on baseball in China, comments made by someone who has more experience with the system, as an investor and active baseball supporter in China, give a pretty good take on the subject. When I mentioned to him that I was considering opening a baseball retail store or batting cage in Shanghai, one of the founders of the CBL told me that it wouldn't be a bad idea if I didn't mind starving for a couple of years. A few years from now however, he said, a much different scenario is likely to exist, with baseball possibly becoming what it is in Taiwan.

This article, written by Richard Robbins, was originally published online at [http://www.robbinssports.com/articles].

Richard Robbins is one of the owners of RobbinsSports.com, an online retailer of Gym Bags, Sports Stopwatches, and other athletic products.

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10 Reasons for American Internet Companies' Failure in China

While we regard eBay, Amazon, Yahoo!, Google and other American websites as successful case studies internationally, what we have seen in China is just the opposite. American websites in China are basically the model of failure. It can be said that their Chinese rivals' success are built on abandoning the American experiences and practices. In my opinion, American websites' failure in China is due to their operating concepts. They have good strategies, the most intelligent people, the most money, the best technologies, but that does not change the way of doing things.

1. Preferring white-collar bourgeoisie VS Welcoming the mass population

This is the fatal weakness of American website companies in China, but so far few of them have realised this point. Among those people who operate American websites, senior executives are from HK and Taiwan, while employees are white-collar workers in Shanghai high-rises. All they know about China is the CBD of Shanghai, therefore all practices include product design, website style and target audience are for white-collar workers in Shanghai and Fortune 500 companies. They will never consider demand from general public and small to medium companies.

Their upbringing, interest and vision make them exclude the public at heart. American website employees are deeply disdainful of those guys in Internet cafes, those thousands of Internet users in small cities and towns all over China (note that these 2 groups account for more than half of the Chinese internet population). Superior American website white collars not only dislike them, but also really hate them.

They only know Gmail, not 163(Netease) mailbox; only MSN, never use QQ(Tencent), in order to show their superiority. At heart, they feel that they would rather let the websites close, than building a website that meets the public demand with no "taste".

If you want to be a mainstream Chinese website, not meeting the public demand is doomed to fail.

2. To be forgotten VS To be hated

The former is the philosophy of American websites, the latter is the philosophy of Chinese internet entrepreneurs.

While American websites fear a single piece of negative news, Chinese websites fear there is no negative news. Being hated by thousands of people is the highest realm of Internet promotion.

American website staff has 10 times more salary than their Chinese website counterparts, hence being afraid of losing their jobs. They would rather deliver no performance, than taking risks and making mistakes. They are low-key, conservative and cautious, everyone is polite and educated, but with no competitive mentality. As a result, they are beaten to the ground by their sharp and fresh Chinese rivals.

Look at the offensive stance of Ma Yun (founder of China's biggest B2B website, Alibaba.com) over eBay. While Ma's Taobao.com was still far behind eBay in China, he had declared Taobao the biggest in China. The PR executive from eBay China could only responded like "we only focus on user experience". Ma even said that "I couldn't see a competitor even using a binocular". eBay staff were afraid of making mistakes and saying the wrong thing, thus using excuses like "US listed companies cannot make discretionary comments".

3. Long lasting war VS Quickfire actions

American websites always have long-term planning and spend loads of money on useless marketing research. They plan strategies and budgets for the next few years, and they are too rigid to adjust easily. They can have a lot of money and talent at the beginning, and slowly plan and develop things. Unfortunately, websites are not like other industries, where many multinationals adopt a strategy of making losses for 10 years and then turning a profit. This is not working in the Internet industry, in less than 10 years Yahoo! and eBay had already failed in China. So instead of doing it slowly, it would be better to fire up at the first beginning.

The Chinese websites are always seeking quick success, so their idea is to do things simply and quickly. Ma Yun could organize "death squads" to build up Taobao in closed offices. Everything was for the purpose of being fast, focusing on small step sprints, making improvements along with mistakes. American websites could do perfect planning and budgeting, but could not approve anything easily if it is not in the budget. Such way of needing American headquarters' approval for everything is domed to fail.

4. Means important VS Objectives important

Jack Ma's management style is said to be rather rogue. He set a goal, such as website traffic or registration volume, and let his team work towards it using whatever means. As long as the goal is reached, people can be rewarded greatly. Therefore their teams dared to use all the available tactics, including plug-in, bundling, promoting unethical websites, etc. The gospel of many Chinese websites is "means never matter, objectives are everything", as long as it is legal.

American websites have so many performance criteria and rules. They first need to maintain their high end brand images, protect their multinational faces, and possess noble professionalism. Only under these prerequisites can they pursue various short and long term business objectives.

5. Being users' saviour VS Meeting users' demand

Perhaps the only thing worth learning from American websites in China is that they have better focus on user experience. But this is usually overshot, too considerate for users, hence restricting self-development. Chinese users sometimes don't need to be treated too friendly and too considerately. They will make their own choice, not the other way around.

Do you know why ICQ failed in the Chinese market and exited? American people really care about protecting users' privacy. For ICQ's Instant Messaging product in China, logged-in users cannot retrieve their prior conversation history from another computer. This could certainly protect users' privacy, but it is more suitable for a handful of Internet users at home, instead of the vast majority of Internet café customers. ICQ probably still had no idea about this when they were withdrawing from Chinese market.

Ma Huateng, founder of Chinese Instant Messaging product Tencent QQ, was merely the technical contact person working for ICQ's Chinese partner company at that time. But he learned Instant Messaging technology as well as the preference of Internet café customers in China (American website employees would never look at Internet cafes). After Ma corrected the pitfall, which is the privacy issue only cared about by middle-class white collars, he subsequently kicked ICQ out of China.

6, Being magnificent VS Being popular

American websites' promotion in China is always magnificent but unpopular, and they amazingly share a similar mentality when it comes to marketing. They employ advertising agencies to design beautiful posters displayed in subway stations and bus stops. They also design online ads that target the minority white collars, spend lots of money advertising on 3 major internet portals, and pay for expensive Google keywords (not Baidu keywords, American website employees only like Google and MSN). As a result, people applauded their ads, but never visited their websites. User acquisition costs almost amounted to 1000 yuan (about US$130) per visitor. Despite minimal traffic growth, they would still claim "brand building, brand awareness or brand image" as excuses.

But Chinese rival websites always put traffic as a priority, believing "a penny brings a visitor" when it comes to website promotion. They don't care who the visitor is, as long as this person visits their websites. Real traffic numbers are pragmatic brand promotions, those empty and useless brand images cannot turn into profits. The sole purpose of promotion is to bring in visitors, and it's up to people to decide the merit of the products. So that is the leverage.

7. Passive promoting VS Active pulling

American style marketing emphasises brand awareness, such as outdoor posters, which is hard to activate the market in China. Pragmatic Chinese competitors would rarely use advertisements simply to establish brand images. They like engaging in high-profile "pull" propagandas, not only producing direct benefit, but also improve the public awareness, even forcing people to pay attention to.

Mr. Gong Wenxiang, a Chinese brands expert, has compared the online advertisements of Taobao and eBay. He commented that they both used banners to display their featured products with similar ad costs, but Taobao's result is 10 times eBay's.

eBay displayed things like iPods and Zippos, which are targeting high end customers. General public with no English ability could not understand it, nor could they afford to buy those things.

On the other hand, Taobao advertised eye-catching products like sexy underwear, and exciting weblinks constantly popping up. People simply cannot get away from them.

American website employees may well know about this, but their "turtle (overseas educated)" mindsets cannot accept it: I would rather spend a billion yuan on an elegant campaign to bring in a million visitors, than spending a million yuan on a vulgar campaign to bring in a billion visitors.

So when American websites' marketing result is only one tenth of their Chinese counterparts', failure is inevitable.

8. Email, msn communication VS Telephone, face-to-face communication

90% of the communication means in American website companies are emails and MSN, and these people are all happy to communicate in English. One problem which could have been solved by one phone call would instead take 10 email exchanges. Therefore emails and MSN are usually least ineffective communication means.

When Zhou Hongyi (founder of Chinese network software 3721.com) took over Yahoo! China business, those two communication cultural conflicts were very obvious. All the original Yahoo! China employees used emails to communicate with clients and business partners. They would never visit clients and entertain them, regarding this practice vulgar. After Zhou sacked those employees who only know email communications, the business began to turn around.

It is said that in American website company meetings in China, as long as there is one foreign staff attending, all other present 20 or 30 Chinese employees have to speak English. This is extremely unpragmatic, as they don't realise they are doing Chinese business and language must be in Chinese.

9. Elegance and simplicity VS Excitement and rich contents

Glancing at a website with American background, you will immediately realise it is designed by Americans: elegant, simple, quiet and beautiful. All the good things are hidden inside, so that it fits the status of a multinational Internet company. White collar minorities may like that, but the general public will shun such websites.

Their Chinese rivals, on the other hand, always like putting floating banners everywhere. They show all the good things on home pages, beautiful artworks don't really matter.

Until recently, former Yahoo! China employees still looked down on Hao123.com (URL directory website in China). They thought it was uglily designed, jamming all the web links together. But a few years ago, Yahoo! China, which was in the same weblink directory business, had invested 1 billion yuan in China. It employed lots of MBAs, overseas returned Chinese, HK and Taiwan talents, but ultimately lost the game to Hao123.com, a low cost website merely built and maintained by a secondary school level student from Guangdong Province. After a few years Yahoo! China had fallen well behind Hao123.com in terms of traffic, user numbers and advertising effectiveness.

10. Recruiting people from similar management backgrounds VS Recruiting people from different entrepreneurial backgrounds

When it comes to recruitment, American websites all overemphasize the unspoken rule of "common language": employees who are diligent, careful, polite, proficient in writing emails in English, proficient in using Powerpoint, forever favouring HK people, Taiwanese and overseas returned Chinese. These people are all from the same mould, outsiders are not easy to get into their circle. Therefore website styles, product opinions and promotion strategies are all indisputably similar and high-class, which means failure. Their recruitment places too much emphasis on management and smoothness.

Their Chinese competitors will not only recruit diligent people, but also people who are decisive and adventurous. Although this may lead to varied personnel qualities within an organisation, the company can nevertheless become entrepreneurial, extreme and offensive, building better websites than American counterparts'.

Apart from the above example of major American websites, many smaller American websites have encountered the same fate in China. They invested millions per year, but only several thousand users everyday, while their Chinese rivals can achieve the same result with only a few hundred thousand yuan per year. It is imperative that people working in American websites have to rectify the above 10 problem areas, so that they could have a better future in China.

For more information about the China industries, please visit www.chinabizintel.com

http://www.ChinaBizIntel.com

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