Li Dongsheng: TCL

TCL

When the pressure of running the world's biggest television maker weighs heavily on Li Dongsheng's shoulders, he reflects on his years in the muck. During China's Cultural Revolution, when Chairman Mao Zedong ordered high school graduates to learn from the peasantry, Li spent three years raising fish and rice. Today his company, TCL, based not far from the old commune in Guangdong province, is looking far beyond the paddies. The goal: to transform TCL into a worldwide household name. "When I hit problems along the way," says Li, 47, "I think, This is nothing like what I faced down on the...

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