For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
“ Irene Yuan Sun provides a memorable and challenging na
ative of
the industrialization of Africa and the China-Africa relationship,
two of the most important trends in development today. Combining
fi rst-person research, a deep understanding of development theory,
and an encyclopedic grasp of the African landscape, this is the one
ook to read if you want to understand both the opportunities and
the hard choices Africa faces.”
—JONATHAN WOETZEL, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company
“ Irene Yuan Sun uses vivid stories of private Chinese entrepreneurs
in Africa to make complex topics of development, investment,
governance, and public health accessible and compelling to the
eader. This is a refreshing and beautifully written book.”
— WILLIAM C. KIRBY, T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies,
Harvard University
“ By shifting the focus from Chinese trade to productive investment
in Africa, Irene Yuan Sun opens a critical frontier with potentially
profound impact. This is a pathfi nding book that should inspire
more work.”
— MUKHISA KITUYI, Secretary-General, United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development
“ Irene Yuan Sun is a remarkable and astute observer, and her re-
freshing and exciting perspective on the new Africa is well worth
eading—and remembering.”
— RICHARD LEAKEY, world-renowned paleoanthropologist and
conservationist
“ There are very few scholars who understand the nuances of Africa’s
complicated relationship with China as Irene Yuan Sun does. In
a writing style full of fl air and dynamism, she provides thorough
analysis and relevant insights to help readers understand Africa’s
industrialization journey and the role China plays in it.”
— ISAAC K. FOKUO JR., cofounder, Sino Africa Center of Excellence
Foundation; founder and principal, Botho Limited; and former CEO,
African Leadership Network
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
THE
NEXT FACTORY
OF THE WORLD
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
THE
NEXT FACTORY
OF THE WORLD
How Chinese Investment
Is Reshaping Africa
by
Irene Yuan Sun
Harvard Business Review Press • Boston, Massachusetts
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
HBR Press Quantity Sales Discounts
Harvard Business Review Press titles are available at signifi cant quantity dis-
counts when purchased in bulk for client gifts, sales promotions, and premiums.
Special editions, including books with corporate logos, customized covers, letters
from the company or CEO printed in the front matter, and excerpts of existing
ooks can be created in large quantities for special needs.
For details and discount information for both print and
ebook formats, contact XXXXXXXXXX,
tel XXXXXXXXXX, or www.h
.org
ulksales.
Copyright 2017 Irene Yuan Sun
All rights reserved
Find more digital content or join the discussion on h
.org.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into
a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior
permission of the publisher. Requests for permission should be directed to
XXXXXXXXXX or mailed to Permissions, Harvard Business
School Publishing, 60 Harvard Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02163.
The web addresses referenced in this book were live and co
ect at the time of
the book’s publication but may be subject to change.
Li
ary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sun, Irene Yuan, author.
Title: The next factory of the world : how Chinese investment is reshaping
Africa / by Irene Yuan Sun.
Description: Boston, Massachusetts : Harvard Business Review Press, [2017]
Identifi ers: LCCN XXXXXXXXXX | ISBN XXXXXXXXXXhardcover : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Investments, Chinese—Africa. | Manufacturing industries—
Africa. | Factories—Africa. | Africa—Economic conditions—1960- |
China—Foreign relations—Africa.
Classifi cation: LCC HD9737.A352 S86 2017 | DDC XXXXXXXXXX—dc23 LC
ecord available at https:
lccn.loc.gov/ XXXXXXXXXX
ISBN: XXXXXXXXXX
eISBN: XXXXXXXXXX
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For Me
y, who believed as if it were obvious
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: From the Cu
ent Factory of the World 1
to the Next Factory of the World
PART ONE: REALITIES
1. A Human Chain Reaction 17
2. The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Factories 31
3. Cloth and Clothing, Steel Rods and Steel Sheets 49
4. Taking a Gamble 67
PART TWO: POSSIBILITIES
5. On the Line 89
6. Two Steps Forward, One Step Back 109
7. Good (Enough) Governance 129
8. “If We Could Do It, Then So Can This Place” 151
EPILOGUE: Feeling the Stones 171
Notes 179
Index 197
Acknowledgments 207
About the Author 211
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
A NOTE ON NAMES
Names in this book are generally introduced in the full form if
known. Thereafter, each person is refe
ed to as I would address
him or her in real life. Hence some people are refe
ed to by English
fi rst names; others by Mr. or Mrs. followed by the family name; still
others by their full names, as is Chinese custom between people of
similar ages. I have occasionally changed names or redacted them
altogether to protect people’s privacy; such cases are noted.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
1
INTRODUCTION
From the Cu
ent Factory
of the World to the Next
Factory of the World
I remember the fi rst time I rode in a car. Not many people in
America can say that, cars being as prosaic as they are here. But
this was in China, where I was born and where I lived until age
six. Up to that moment, my conception of the Chinese word qiche
consisted entirely of crowded buses onto which I was squeezed by
my parents and heavy- duty trucks that children were defi nitely
not allowed in. This car was something very diff erent: there was
no one in it I didn’t know, and everything was eff ortlessly clean.
The leather of the seats was smooth and cool to the touch and gave
off the calming, sterile smell of newness. I was used to having to
clutch my parents’ hands on standing- room- only buses or to wrap
my arms around their midsections as they pedaled a bicycle. None
of that was necessary here, so I wasn’t quite sure what to do with
the unexpected freedom of my limbs. I wanted to rub the dark-
tinted windows to see if they would get lighter so that I could look
For the exclusive use of A. GUPTA, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by ATUL GUPTA in 2021.
THE NEXT FACTORY OF THE WORLD
2
outside. But I had been told it was a special occasion to sit in such
a qiche , which probably meant I should keep my hands to myself.
Our family did not own the car, of course. It was the early 1990s,
and almost no one in China owned a car. We took a spin in it as
a treat from a family friend who was a government offi cial. Four
linked rings declared the car to be an Audi— one of the few mod-
els that existed in China at that time, and for years afterward the
only car
and I could name. China had four carmakers in total,
all founded in the 1950s in a fi t of central- government- directed
investment in heavy industry. The Soviet Union had advised that
one of the fi rms be based in my hometown of Changchun because
of its proximity to eastern Russia, the theory being that this na-
scent car plant could learn from its Soviet counterparts. The re-
sulting fi rm, FAW, mainly made giant industrial trucks, and over
the years, its blue and white logo became ubiquitous around town.
But by the time I got to sit in one of its cars, the Chinese gov-
ernment had long ago severed any cooperation, in automobiles or
otherwise, with the Soviet Union. In 1990, FAW turned instead
to Volkswagen for investment and technical help in a joint venture
agreement. FAW continued to make industrial trucks, but it also
started making sedans under Volkswagen’s Audi
and. That’s how
it came to be that a year or so later