News
Corporate leadership throughout the global financial crisis
By Ren Jianxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-11 16:39
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We have noted the focus on alternative energy as a highlight in the economic policies of the new US administration. Although somewhat overshadowed by the economic crisis, global climate change, and the environmental challenge it presents, will undoubtedly remain a major concern for humanity in the 21st century.
For China, as a late developer in the process of industrialization and urbanization, the major sources of economic growth are likely to be the safety, environmental protection, energy consumption and emission reduction businesses.
In tandem with this, related life sciences, environmental sciences and material science sectors will be the focus for further industrial expansion. In line with the new growth point of the world economy, these three areas are where the future of the global chemical industry lies.
As such, in the forthcoming 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15), we shall position the basic chemical business as our foundation whilst fully tapping the potential of life sciences, material science and environmental science to form the "3 plus 1" industrial pattern.
With a strong focus on these sectors, we will speed up the restructuring of our business composition and seek to exploit our differentiation as a late-comer by seizing the opportunities of the global shift in production and IT-based management transformation.
We have also noted that it was during the economic recession in the 1870s that Rockefeller and Carnegie beat competitors with new technologies and eventually ascended to the very top of the oil refining and iron and steel smelting respectively. A century later, Warren Buffett successfully transformed a textile company, named Berkshire Hathaway, into one of the most reputable investment funds in the world through ingenuity and creativity.
Today, for ChemChina, the demarcation of 2009 as a year of innovation is by no means cosmetic, but rather a sign of our commitment to seeking change and combative measures amidst difficulties, whilst defining our orientation for the post-crisis era.
This demarcation entails innovation in organization, institutions and technologies involving changes in their way of thinking, philosophies and production technologies and processes. It essentially requires effective leadership in a crisis to provide impetus and create an underpinning for a successful corporate transformation.
The US-based Boston Consulting Group recognizes ChemChina as one of the 2008 BCG 100 New Global Challengers for our ambition and vision to go global through learning and adapting rapidly to new business models in a market of free competition. However, to be worthy of that citation, ChemChina managers need to meet three major challenges on top of sound operational management, enhanced cost control and market growth.
