BEIJING, Sept. 7 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- China CEO Conference 2009, organized by the Sino-manager Magazine, a well-known Chinese business publication, was held in Beijing on September 5th. With the theme of "Opportunities with Chinese Characteristics: Management Change in the Post-crisis Age", this year's conference has continued to focus on high-profile people as its main attraction. Professor Don Shultz, the world's founder of the integrated marketing theory, was invited to deliver his speech on "Marketing Opportunities with Chinese Characteristics" at the event and discuss the essential forces that would drive Chinese enterprises in the future together with China's top-notch business leaders such as Tang Jun, CEO of the Fujian-based New Huadu and Xu Shaochun, Chairman of Kingdee Group.
In the last 18 months, the marketing and communication world has been turned upside-down. The western business strategy which Chinese enterprises have been following closely for their growth has failed. So what are China's opportunities? Although China's economy has continued its uptrend, the gap between production and export volumes has remained largely unchanged. What accounts for this uncertain state of "approaching but not hitting the bottom."? How can China rebound quickly by taking advantage of this rally? According to Professor Shultz, replicating the experience of multinational companies in the West is already an outdated practice and seeking overseas bargains blindly is nothing more than seeking a quick death. He pointed out that in this era of continual change, as China has become the focus of the world, Chinese enterprises should play a major role in this new world economic landscape. The marketing environment today is very different from any that western predecessors have ever witnessed. As a result, a new, level playing ground is being created where Chinese characteristics constitute advantages instead of obstacles.
At this conference, Sino-manager put forth a "light-weight" management change model for the first time. A great number of Chinese enterprises used to focus simply on expanding their scale. They usually had a clumsy business structure, an overly diversified business model, a bureaucratic management model, inefficient innovation, lengthy product development cycles, redundant staff, excessive costs, a large organizational structure and a marketing system that was slow to act. Therefore, Sino-manager advised that in this post-crisis age, Chinese enterprises must give up this "heavy-weight" model that focuses on extensive growth and shift to management change based on "light-weight" approaches, and Chinese enterprises need to capitalize on opportunities with Chinese characteristics and implement management change by becoming "light-weight" in the following six dimensions. Below are six of the main ideas proposed at the conference:
-- Light-weight leadership thinking: Chinese business leaders who have had their heyday were struck hard in this crisis. They need to relax, prepare to start all over again and proceed with an easy mind.
-- Light-weight industrial structure: China should adopt a "light, unique and special" industrial model that seeks to develop a few emerging industries where it can play a leading role in the global production system instead of forcing Chinese companies to play hard against multi-nationals and developed countries in Europe and North America where the latter have overwhelming competitive advantages.
-- Light-weight business models: only light-weight business models with low fixed asset/resource inputs, high outputs and comprehensive knowledge of the market are capable of generating real value.
-- Light-weight management models: we should take advantage of new management ideas and tools to eliminate various problems within large organizations and achieve the highest efficiency at the lowest management cost.
-- Light-weight investment/financing models: China should create low-risk investment models with stable and predicable returns, and explore light-weight financing models appropriate for private SMEs.
-- Light-weight globalization models: Chinese enterprises should go international and get what they need most at the lowest cost and risk, including brands, technologies, distribution channels and talent.
The conference also included four sub-forums: M&A: Integrate Change; Innovation: Synergy Revolution; Green: Upgraded New Deal; and Responsibility: Sustainable Interaction with Communities. CEOs of a great many Chinese enterprises gathered together at those forums and interacted with one another in an exciting manner.
"China's opportunities come from its enterprises and the great resurgence of the Chinese nation can not be achieved without a breakthrough leap of Chinese enterprises as a whole," said Xiang Huaicheng, former Minister of Finance and Chairman of the China Development Institute at the opening ceremony, "Chinese CEOs will make great contributions that match this great era." His remarks capture the mission of this China CEO Conference.
