HEC Paris willing to help Chinese firms go global
Chinese firms should attach more importance to research and development (R&D) to fulfill their goals of globalization, head of a pioneering international business school told China Daily in a recent interview.
"The Chinese have acute business acumen and the ability to mobilize themselves," said Bernard Ramanantsoa, Dean of the Paris-based HEC School of Management, which has been ranked No 1 in Europe for the third year running by the Financial Times.
"However, firms need to stop copying, and start innovating," said Ramanantsoa, who heads the business school with a 125-year history, adding that Chinese enterprises should develop some "soft skills" such as creativity and initiative across management levels.
According to the Ministry of Commerce, nearly 8,000 Chinese-invested enterprises had been set up in about 160 countries and regions by the end of 2006, with direct Chinese investment surpassing $73 billion.
Encouraged by the government's "going global" policy, overseas Chinese investment has expanded from import and export, shipping and catering, to cover manufacturing, agricultural cooperation, resource development, project contracting, R&D and others.
Chinese firms such as Lenovo and Haier Group even went so far as to buy foreign assets. However, Chinese companies will be short of 75,000 top-rung managers over the next 10-15 years, commercial intelligence firm Asia Pulse estimates.
"Clearly, China is the future and more of its organizations will become global players. We have witnessed a rush of foreign firms into China in order to benefit from their competitive advantage in production. But China is moving up the value chain and must continue to invest in R&D, to strengthen its service industries and to build its own global brands," Ramanantsoa advised.
In his opinion, "the nature of teamwork, decision making and innovation needs to change for Chinese firms to be more successful internationally."
"What works in China may not work in the West, and managing cross-culturally is not as easy as it looks. Acquisition is 'easy', but managing post-acquisition and managing international partnerships is a real challenge," he said.
The Dean singled out international networking as one of top priorities for Chinese companies pursuing the "going global" strategy, and also as one of the benefits earned by Chinese entrepreneurs and managers studying at HEC Paris - a school with over 25,000 alumni in more than 50 countries, and strong academic alliances including exchanges and bilateral agreements with more than 70 academic partners, including Tsinghua University in China.
As HEC's strategic academic partner in China, the School of Economics and Management of Tsinghua University is offering a dual MBA degree and has engaged in joint executive education programs. Following the success of the Advanced Manangement Program in Fashion and Luxury, the two schools are developing two new initiatives for joint programs in other sectors.
"All of our graduates benefit from our solid academic approach and our strong corporate network," said Ramanantsoa.
"For the Chinese, I think there is also the benefit of entering an international network. This means that they have career opportunities in multinational corporations, or that they can create business links if they work for a Chinese firm."
Ramanantsoa is extremely confident about HEC's advantages in the fiercely competitive business education market, attributing HEC's success to its academic quality and strong links to the corporate world.
He said HEC Paris was pleased and honored to offer EMBA projects for the Chinese State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), which is strategic to their corporate mission.
(China Daily 11/26/2007 page16)
