businessmen of the year

Businessmen of the Year

Rebecca Buckman, 12.08.08, 12:00 AM EST

China's Yang Yuanqing and American William Amelio pursue a different PC strategy for Lenovo, challenging mindsets and market dips along the way.

William Amelio and Yang Yuanqing

Forbes Asia's first such honorees from a Chinese company are actually not to be found in China in the normal course of business. Silicon Valley correspondent Rebecca Buckman did get lucky on her visit to the Beijing offices--Lenovo Group Chairman Yang Yuanqing was in China for a Wal-Mart conference and other company business. Usually he's in Raleigh, North Carolina, as Buckman's story that follows explains. ceo William Amelio can be anywhere: working out of his office in Singapore, jetting to a foreign locale or hunkering down in a hotel (as long as it has a gym). Such is the stuff of a modern technology concern, although Lenovo is clearly a special case.

In this year of crashing markets few companies are immune from the effects. Yang and Amelio now have something else to work through. But the record to date, including managing the absorption of a signature Western brand, bodes well for the future of a global company with Chinese characteristics. As tech analyst Ezra Gottheil says, "They're trying to pull something off in two years that takes most companies five or ten." And they're doing pretty well.