Stephanie Mehta of Fortune interviews Tom Gorman, the publisher of Fortune China, about the publication’s 15th anniversary. Gorman has been the publisher from the beginning.
Here is an excerpt:
What made you think, 15 years ago, that China needed a business magazine?
In 1993, we did a market entry feasibility study for Time Inc. magazines in China. My company had been publishing Chinese language b2b magazines and doing market research in China since 1975 , so we had a ground floor seat from which to witness the dramatic changes before, during, and after the Open Door policy was announced in 1979.
One of our recommendations to Time Inc. in 1993 was a Chinese edition of Fortune. There were two big trends just emerging on the horizon: A huge demand for management information as China transitioned from Soviet style central planning to a hybrid form of market economics; and the emergence of a relatively affluent middle class in major Chinese cities. Both were positive underlying drivers for a magazine like Fortune.
Ironically, in making that recommendation I never imagined we would be the publishers of Fortune’s Chinese edition because Time Inc. had not traditionally been a believer in growth through licensing. In the end, some years later, we were offered the first license and enthusiastically accepted.
Read more here.
