Enterprise Managers in China—Their Personal Attributes *

The economic reforms of China since 1978 have brought considerable change to the enterprise management scene in a country that had long believed that political ideology should be the driving force in virtually everything from ping‐pong to enterprise management. Today, enterprises operate under a very different environment, requiring their managers to have a different set of skills and attitudes. A survey has found that the next generation of Chinese managers will be more pragmatic and professional, less political, younger, know their business well and be more aware of the managerial thinking and practices of the West. They will, however, still be very much production oriented.