SHANGHAI — The five-volume "Executive Ability" book series is a classic in Chinese business and management circles. Collectively, it has sold more than 2 million copies in the last two years. Top universities and public libraries in China keep multiple copies on hand.
It's also a big fake.
The series purports to be a translation of English-language works, but no such titles exist. The principal author -- a Paul Thomas, said to be an eminent Harvard University business professor -- is not real. Also made up is the rave review on the back cover, attributed to the Wall Street Journal: "The most practical and advanced management thought of our time."
There are many more where these came from. China's booming economy has spawned a new class of private entrepreneurs, managers and students craving how-to books on management, particularly Western ones. But in a land where bootleg goods are widespread, fake books are no exception.
Although bogus books in China are not confined to business topics, they are particularly prevalent in that field, largely because most management volumes are translated and are in high demand. Management books are so popular that they take up huge sections in bookstores, often in the very front.
Previously, fake books simply were pirated copies of real versions, sold on the streets for a small fraction of bookstore prices. But these days, experts say, scores of business texts in Chinese bookstores make phony claims of origin or authorship. The contents of some are lifted right out of journals and magazines. Others overstate the number of volumes sold or gin up glowing reviews.
"There are [bogus] recommendations from Bill Gates, New York Times or even Einstein, which is really ridiculous," said Jiang Ruxiang, general manager of Beijing Zion Consulting Co., which has been trying to expose the problem ever since Jiang found out that his own articles were copied into someone else's book.
He and his staff of six recently inspected about 1,000 different management books. A third were deceiving readers, Jiang said.
"The most harmful influence of these books is that a large number of China's best entrepreneurs are learning wrong and misleading management principles," he said.
Yet many readers have no idea just how common fake books are, highlighting China's bumpy transition to a market economy as well as people's inexperience with advertising.
