Compare and Contrast 2 Business Leaders
Compare and Contrast Two Business Leaders——Li Ka-shing and Bill Gates
Due to tremendous disparities in historical background and civilization between Chinese and Western countries, there exist remarkable differences between Chinese and Western business leaders. However, both of them still have similarities. This essay will take Li Ka-shing and Bill Gates as representatives to illustrate the differences and similarities between Chinese and Western business leaders. One obvious difference is background. As the most wealthy and successful businessman in Asia, Li had a miserable childhood. In order to escape the war, Li’s family had to flee to Hong Kong when he was 12-year-old. Growing up in arduous circumstances, Li had to make a livelihood at the age of 14. In contrast, as the World’s richest person, Gates was born in a better family with a lawyer father and a teacher mother. He received a decent education and started programming computer at the age of 13. Other difference comes from business scope. Li’s business develops into a large amount of areas, including plastics manufacturing, real estate, ports facilities, telecommunications, et cetera. While on the other hand, Gates is taking the leading role in the IT sector. Despite the differences in background and business scope, Li and Gates share several similarities. Firstly, both of them commit to philanthropy. It was reported that Li had contributed more than $450 million to support the development of educational undertakings and medical care such as building hospitals and colleges (Investing Value, n.d.). Correspondingly, Gates set up a foundation—The Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation—to facilitate philanthropy, covering health care, educational investment and the development of information industry. Secondly, both of them make a great achievement. According to statistics, Li’s conglomerates have been a worldwide with representation in 40 countries (Investing Value, n.d.). Likewise, Gates’s
Due to tremendous disparities in historical background and civilization between Chinese and Western countries, there exist remarkable differences between Chinese and Western business leaders. However, both of them still have similarities. This essay will take Li Ka-shing and Bill Gates as representatives to illustrate the differences and similarities between Chinese and Western business leaders. One obvious difference is background. As the most wealthy and successful businessman in Asia, Li had a miserable childhood. In order to escape the war, Li’s family had to flee to Hong Kong when he was 12-year-old. Growing up in arduous circumstances, Li had to make a livelihood at the age of 14. In contrast, as the World’s richest person, Gates was born in a better family with a lawyer father and a teacher mother. He received a decent education and started programming computer at the age of 13. Other difference comes from business scope. Li’s business develops into a large amount of areas, including plastics manufacturing, real estate, ports facilities, telecommunications, et cetera. While on the other hand, Gates is taking the leading role in the IT sector. Despite the differences in background and business scope, Li and Gates share several similarities. Firstly, both of them commit to philanthropy. It was reported that Li had contributed more than $450 million to support the development of educational undertakings and medical care such as building hospitals and colleges (Investing Value, n.d.). Correspondingly, Gates set up a foundation—The Bill and Melinda Gate Foundation—to facilitate philanthropy, covering health care, educational investment and the development of information industry. Secondly, both of them make a great achievement. According to statistics, Li’s conglomerates have been a worldwide with representation in 40 countries (Investing Value, n.d.). Likewise, Gates’s
References: CrunchBase,(n.d.) [online] Bill Gates Available at: http://www.crunchbase.com/person/bill-gates [Accessed 24 October 24, 2009]. Investing Value,(n.d.) [online] Li Ka-shing Biography Available at: http://www.investingvalue.com/investment-leaders/li-ka-shing/index.htm [Accessed 24 October 2009].