China’s 90% Model: China Has America by the Throat, Here’s How to Fight Back and WIN
Ram Charan
Ideapress Publishing (March 2026)

A cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective response to a global crisis 

I have read all of Ram Charan’s 37 previously published books and then reviewed most of them. The value of his contributions to thought leadership is incalculable.

In his latest business bestseller, China’s 90% Model, Charan introduces what he calls “the 90 Percent Production Capacity Model” of a strategy with which China will be able to “build enough industrial capacity to meet 90  percent of global demand in a targeted sector. Undervalue the currency by about 20 percent to make exports unbeatable on price. Flood the market with subsidized exports priced at or below marginal cost. Force competitors out of business. Dominate the sector. Then move to the next one.”

Charan needed several years to create this book. The material it provides is best viewed as a rigorous examination of the multidimensional threat that China poses to the United States as well as to the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Israel, and the United Kingdom.  He wrote China’s 90% Model to serve two purposes:  “First, to expose the underpinnings of China’s strategy using facts most people are not aware of. Once you understand how the 90 Percent Model works. how currency manipulation sustains it, and how encirclement strategy is executed, it is impossible to dismiss the threat. It is also impossible to ignore the brilliance of Xi’s execution…Second, to skip the handwringing and jumpstart actions governments and corporations can take to change the course…This is not a book of lamentations. It is a playbook.”

A brief review of the chapter titles will give you at least some sense of the  nature and extent of Charan’s thorough coverage, following a brilliant introduction, “The Wake-Up Call”:

Part I: China’s Strategy of Encirclement

1. “The 90 Percent Production Capacity Model”: The Heart of China’s Playbook
2. Xi’s Modus Operandi: Decoding His Operating Code [Xi Jinping is President of China]
3. Creating Globally Dominant Chinese Companies
4. Controlling Global Flow: Trade, Logistics, and Data
5. Conscripting Technology: The Rise of China’s Military Machine
6. Xi’s War Without Firing a Shot
7. Assessment of Xi’s Strategy: Strengths and Fault Lines

Part II: America’s Response

8. America’s Unmatched Strengths
9. The Tide Is Turning
10. No Convergence, No Future
11. The China Breakup

Part III: Counterattack: Urgent, Determined, Coordinated

12. The Convergence Playbook
13. The Business Extrication Playbook

Please keep in mind that China’s 90% Model really is a “playbook.” Ram Charan rigorously examines all the key issues that involve the WHO and WHAT as well as (more importantly) the HOW.

He observes, “The window for hesitation is closing. But the window for opportunity is opening. The companies that move first — with clarity, capital, and courage — will not just survive this era. They will lead it.

“You have the playbook. You have the support. You have the markets.

“Now execute.”

* * *

Here are two suggestions while you are reading China’s 90% Model: First, highlight key passages. Also,  perhaps in a lined notebook kept near-at-hand,  record your comments, questions, and action steps (preferably with deadlines). Pay special attention to various “Figures” that are strategically located throughout the lively and eloquent narrative. Also to Ram Charan’s comments about convergence and his “My Take” mini-commentaries, These two simple tactics — highlighting and documenting — will expedite frequent reviews of key material later.