The Mash Up

Management guru Jim Collins once called Zhang Yin the "Jobs of paper recycle business." He was marveling at the Nine Dragon’s founder's ability, time and again, to take heaps of waste paper from the United States and Europe, ship it to China and recycle it into corrugated cardboardand , then promote them with her own alluring brand of performance art. But Zhang might also be called its Machiavelli, a woman who can bend suppliers, partners, and even industries to her will. That's five industries that Zhang has upended - grass, bamboo, rice stalks, retailing, and recycling. She also had a notable effect on how the creative aspects of all industries operate because no other U.S. company sends so much material to China

She started out from a modest background, the daughter of a military officer. Now she dominates the world's paper trade through her giant companies. "My desire has always been to be the leader in an industry," says Zhang. "We think about creating new innovative products that will surprise and delight our customers. Happy and loyal customers are what give Nine Dragon its 'power.' In a society known for close ties and hidden deals between government officials and business leaders, we simply try to make great products that we want for ourselves, and hope that customers will love them as much as we do. And I think after all these years we've gotten pretty decent at it."

Reference:

David Barboza, China's 'Queen of Trash' finds riches in waste paper, International Herald Tribune.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/15/business/trash.php?page=1

Brent Schlender, The power of Steve Jobs, Fortune http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/21/news/newsmakers/power_jobs.fortune/index.htm