11/9's Summary

Dear Reading Club Friends：

Today we had an article from The Economist (Oct 01, 2011), “Asia’s new model company”, which is about Samsung’s extraordinary success and whether its strategy will be suitable for Chinese companies. The discussion progressed by an overview of the passage along with in-depth analysis of each paragraph, which embedded essential reading skills and mindsets.

To begin with, we tried working out the flow of thinking of the author. Posts on The Economists are often regarded to be hard to read and understand. But such conventional belief is not necessarily the truth. It has nothing to do with where the author wants to go, but how YOU feel. Try not labelling reading materials as “abstract” or “obscure” at first glance. If you were cowed by the bluster, you would fail carrying on reading. And, in fact, the context of today’s reading turned out to be quite interesting considering the transitions and humour in the essay.

It also helps when you have the big picture before reading, for example, related cognition in history, economics, or politics. With a context in mind, it is easier to read critically and think independently, stimulating the desire and interest for reading those seemingly hard work.

Afterwards we analysed the first two paragraphs in detail due to a limitation of time. The first paragraph mainly describes the success of Samsung as well as other ambitious chaebols (財閥) in South Korea. And then it gives a list of characteristics of the new Asian model of capitalism, which ignores the Western conventional wisdom. The rest of the passage will be discussed next Wednesday. This is today’s summary. Good night.

To read the article, click the link: http://www.economist.com/node/21530984

Book mentioned: 《醜陋的韓國人》金文學