---
id: "quote-build-for-business-outcomes"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["¶9"]
tags: ["roi", "strategic-intent"]
related: ["concept-cost-leadership-ai", "contrarian-cost-efficiency-definition"]
speaker: "Authors (Joshi, Greeven, Liu, Li)"
speakers: ["Amit Joshi", "Mark J. Greeven", "Sophie Liu", "Kunjian Li"]
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-savvy-companies-are-using-chinese-ai"
source_title: "How Savvy Companies Are Using Chinese AI"
sources: ["tail2"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail2"
originDay: 2
articleStem: "hbr-tail-123-using-chinese-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/how-savvy-companies-are-using-chinese-ai"
sourceTitle: "How Savvy Companies Are Using Chinese AI"
---
# Chinese firms build for business outcomes

> "Western firms thus focus on building the most cutting-edge infrastructure and models with the understanding that they will eventually deliver business results. Chinese firms build for business outcomes; the models and infrastructure are a means to that end."

— The Authors ([[entity-amit-joshi|Amit Joshi]], [[entity-mark-j-greeven|Mark J. Greeven]], [[entity-sophie-liu|Sophie Liu]], [[entity-kunjian-li|Kunjian Li]])

This captures the *means-vs-end* inversion at the heart of [[concept-cost-leadership-ai|Cost leadership]] and the nuance of [[contrarian-cost-efficiency-definition]].