Tale of Three Cities: Oak Forests, Aspen Colonies, Bamboo Groves (Part 3: Shenzhen)

CorporateNature No 143

Cities come in different shapes and sizes. If global cities were groups of plants, they could be divided into three categories: old oak forests, colonies of quaking aspens, and fast-growing bamboo groves. 

Shenzhen as a bamboo grove

Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in the world. Some species of bamboo can grow up to 9 centimetres an hour. 

Shenzhen, in southern China, has emerged as a city as rapidly as a bamboo grove. It was only founded in 1979 when Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping started the policy of opening up China to the world. However, only after 40 years, its population is now 13 million and its GDP of around USD 400 billion is bigger than that of neighbouring Hong Kong. Remarkably, it has also managed to reinvent itself economically: starting from low-cost manufacturing, it has moved up the value-added chain and is now a global hub for computer hardware, finance and fintech.

Bamboo Grove (image source: Wikipedia) 

Rankings are a bamboo forest; Consulting is a vineyard

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 94

When you create a ranking for an industry, you are growing a bamboo forest: visible from afar but with shallow roots. Botanically the bamboo is a grass and its roots reach down only a metre under ground. Similarly, rankings do not change the ground underneath: they just increase the visibility of the status quo, like bamboos that create a leafy cover on top of a mountain slope.

On the other hand, when you offer a consultancy service to an industry, you are planting a vineyard, as vine roots reach up to 10 metres deep. What is key in consulting is that it produces recommendations for improvement - the essence of a long and structured process - just as the vines produce grapes based on the richness of the soil.

Bamboo (Source: Wikipedia)