Dean of China's Top Business School Speaks out

Global companies must understand China and other East Asian markets to make better business decisions, a top Chinese business expert warned.

Dr. Xiang Bing, the founder Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB), told the ChosunBiz on Oct. 29, "If companies fail to understand the East Asian markets, including China, there is a greater risk of management making wrong decisions."

Xiang said the emergence of global technology behemoths such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei has prompted a growing interest in how to do business in China.

That has prompted demand for a "Chinese MBA" that combines Chinese and business studies and is offered by CKGSB, China's European International Business School (CEIBS), and Peking University's BiMBA Business School.

CKGSB is a private college founded in 2002 with the support of the Li Ka Shing Foundation and has campuses in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen and offices in Hong Kong, London and New York.

It boasts a roster of distinguished alumni including Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Shi Yuzhu, the chairman of Giant Interactive, Li Dongsheng, the head of TCL, and Fu Chengyu, the chairman of China's national oil and gas enterprise Sinopec.

From Korea, the eldest daughter of Amore Pacific chairman Suh Kyung-bae also studied there before joining her father's conglomerate recently.

With a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Alberta in Canada and an M.S. in Engineering from Xian Jiaotong University, Xiang became a professor at Beijing University's Guanghua School of Management, where he pioneered the school's Executive MBA program.

? Since the global financial crisis, there is a growing concern that MBA programs have turned into a high cost, low return degrees.

"After earning an MBA, there is still a high proportion of people who seek employment with big investment banks like Goldman Sachs and global consulting firms such as McKinsey. China is no exception. Those industries are not growing fast enough, but this should not be a cause for frustration because new opportunities are being created as corporate social activities expand into diverse fields. Case in point -- interest in corporate social responsibility and activities to support social organizations are on the rise."

? What makes the CKGSB MBA unique?

"Our goal is to be the Googles and Facebooks of global business education. Over a short history of 17 years, we positioned ourselves as a leading business school in China. We did not, however, rest on our laurels and we continued to innovate. For example, from the inception we incorporated humanities, history, religion and philosophy into our curriculum. We are the first business school in the world to do so. Our hope is to help graduates enjoy an enriching life, not just a wealthy life."

? Doesn't spending time on humanities eat into the time to study subjects that are more practical?

"For future business leaders to be competitive, they must have passion and empathy. There are clear limitations to the winner-takes-all mindset. Humanities are the foundation of passion and empathy. They also help when managing talents of diverse nationalities. Isn't that practical enough?"

? We cannot discuss innovation without cutting-edge technology.

"In a variety of ways, we are helping our students to keep up with the changing trends in high tech. As part of our efforts, we established partnerships with the engineering department at Columbia University in 2016 and University of California Berkeley in 2017. We are also collaborating with leading technology companies such as Tencent, Baidu and DJI to provide insight into China's innovation ecosystem to our international students."

? China's economic growth rate fell from 6.8 percent in the first quarter to six percent in the third quarter of 2018. On a quarterly basis, it is the lowest in 30 years.

"China's market is much bigger than the U.S., Germany and Japan combined. Even with a growth rate of 6 percent, there is no doubt that, in terms of size, the Chinese economy will serve as the leading growth engine of the world economy in the foreseeable future. Since 2008, the Chinese economy has been responsible for about one-third of global economic growth. If any country misses the opportunity in China, it will face difficulties in competing in the global market. Another attraction of the Chinese economy is that there is still room for deregulation. There are quite a few areas that are monopolies or oligopolies. Removing barriers to market entry will accelerate growth."

? Previously, Samsung commanded the No.1 position in the Chinese smartphone market. Today, its market share is at around 1 percent. Is it possible for Korean companies to create new opportunities in the Chinese market?

"Absolutely yes. But it takes a forward-looking approach. The pain of the past should not be an impediment for cooperation for future growth. For Korean companies, the Korean market alone is too small. There is a need to strengthen cooperation not only with China but also with Japan. It would be great if a Korean entrepreneur with a groundbreaking product or technology built an ecosystem that can be established simultaneously in Korea, China and Japan."

? What are some of the promising sectors in China in the future?

"The pace of deregulation in the consumer goods sector will spur enormous opportunities. Healthcare, which is relatively stagnant, is also expected to grow. This is especially true as China has a rapidly aging demographic."

? What are your thoughts on the Trump administration's sanctions against Huawei due to security concerns?

"Security issues in communication equipment are a familiar topic to me as I majored in engineering. Yes, one may have security concerns over Huawei equipment. Conversely, however, China will have the same security concerns on ICT equipment made by Cisco, Microsoft and IBM. Security issues in telecommunication equipment need to be resolved by establishing standards through a committee of multinational experts rather than through a single country, such as the U.S., leading the way."

? The Li Ka Shing Foundation of Hong Kong played a vital role in the establishment of CKGSB. How important is Hong Kong to the Chinese economy?

"Today's Shenzhen would not exist without Hong Kong. Shenzhen was able to develop remarkably because it was able to attract talent, capital and information from Hong Kong. The Chinese government wants to build Shenzhen as the poster child of China's innovation. It will be impossible for Shenzhen to grow to the next level without the support of Hong Kong. Separately, no other city in China can replace the role of Hong Kong as a global financial hub."