Stephen Thanks for your comments on the Qianlong Emperor. The insular strategy of the Qing emperors all through the 19th century failed to anticipate both internal and external threats to their power. From my work in China, I have the found the inability of Chinese organizations to truly innovate as one of their principal weaknesses. Top down, authoritarian bureaucracies, whether running businesses or the government can be highly efficient in reaction time, but cannot execute the kind of innovative strategies needed to succeed in highly competitive environments. To authoritarians, the risks and mistakes required to drive creative change are simply too threatening to themselves and to the key actors that work for them.