Globalization of Chinese companies: the next level of play

Date: Thursday 20th November, 2008

Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm

Venue: E171, New Theatre, East Building

Speaker: Cheung Kong GSB Dean Xiang Bing (长江商学院院长项兵博士)

The lecture will first provide an overview of China’s economic reform in the past 30 years and examine the role of Chinese companies in global commerce. The second part will focus on forthcoming innovations from Chinese indigenous companies and the global ramifications of these innovations. It will then explore opportunities for China and Chinese companies in light of the ongoing global financial crisis.

Dean Xiang Bing is the Professor of Accounting and founding Dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, he has pioneered the EMBA in China. He has served on the faculties of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and was the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Selected as one of the nineteen student delegates to visit Japan in 1982, Dr. Xiang received his bachelor’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1983. He then studied for his MBA at the University of Alberta, Canada before going on to graduate with a PhD in Accounting.

In recent years, Dr. Xiang has advocated a ‘Seeing the Earth from the Moon’ perspective and strategy to analyze the challenges and opportunities that the China economy and the indigenous enterprises currently face. Dr. Xiang emphasizes effective chain-to-chain competition, a new globalized strategy that leverages resources globally, and a humanistic spirit among contemporary entrepreneurs. He has created material to address the challenges of globalization: CEO corruption, family enterprise management and the structural limits of the modern enterprises in China.

Dr. Xiang serves on the boards of several enterprises listed in Hong Kong, America and mainland China. He has been interviewed by CCTV, Phoenix TV, CNN, Far Eastern Economic Forum, Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times, Agence France Press and Voice of America among others and is a regular speaker at conferences including Conference Board and the World Economic Forum in China.

This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.
This event is held by China Development Society. To join, please send an email to su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk

Credit Crunch, the dollar short squeeze and its impact on China

Date: Wednesday 19th November, 2008

Time: 6:30 – 8:00pm

Followed by networking reception at D202

Venue: E171, New Theatre, East Building

Speaker: Louis Gave, CEO of GaveKal and MW Gavekal

Nikki Gorton, head of HR at Marshall Wace
Louis Gave is the Co-Founder of GaveKal, and, together with his partners, Charles Gave and Anatole Kaletsky, has built the firm up to become one of the pre-eminent providers of independent investment research on the Asian region and on global markets. He is now the CEO of Gavekal and MW GaveKal. A French national, he is a graduate of Duke University and studied Mandarin at Nanjing University. He is the author of A Roadmap for Troubling Times, Our Brave New World and The End is not Nigh. Louis is probably one of the most original thinkers on global macroeconomics issues, and Gavekal research is regarded highly in the industry as 'a fountain of original thinking.'

Louis will look at China in the context of the global financial crisis. The popping of the USD asset bubble caused a massive global deleveraging and dollar shortage, which forced a giant revaluation of the USD. China runs a giant current account surplus. This surplus was the result not just of deliberate currency undervaluation and export-oriented policies, but more importantly of China's governance deficit which systematically suppresses domestic consumption. He will explore the Chinese government's options to act under the crisis, with specific focus on China's gigantic individual surpluses and the sustainability of long-term growth.

For further information please contact Yiwen at y.w.li1@lse.ac.uk

This is organized by China Development Society. To join, please email su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk

The use and abuse of Tibet

Date: Wednesday 12th November, 2008

Time: 2:00 – 3:00pm

Venue: E171, New Theatre, East Building

Speaker: Brendan O’Neill

In this lecture, journalist and author Brendan O'Neill will provocatively argue that Tibet has been turned into an anti-Chinese battering ram by Western governments and activists. Far from leading a genuine campaign for full political rights in Tibet, Western observers have turned Tibet into a reified fantasy land of eco-purity and mysticism in order to attack China's move towards progress and modernity. There is nothing progressive, he will argue, in contemporary "Tibetophilia".

Mr. Brendan O'Neill is a journalist based in London. He is currently the editor of Spiked. He has contributed articles to publications in the United Kingdom and the United States including the Spectator, the New Statesman, the The Guardian, BBC News Online, the Christian Science Monitor, The American Conservative and Salon.com. He also writes a blog for the Guardian.
This event is free and open to all with no ticket required. Entry is on a first come, first served basis.

This event is held by China Development Society. To join, please send an email to su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk.

Globalisation of Chinese Companies: the next level of play

Globalisation of Chinese Companies: the next level of play

Date: Thursday 20 November 2008

Time: 6:30-8pm

Venue: E171, New Theatre, East Building

Speaker: Dean Xiang Bing

(A copy of the Power Point slides can be downloaded at http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/ce8ce0bad4_0.52MB )

Dean Xiang Bing provided an overview of China's economic reforms since 1978 and examined the role of Chinese companies in global commerce. He later focused on forthcoming innovations from Chinese indigenous companies and the global ramifications of these innovations. He concluded by advocating for new global perspectives and strategies for Chinese corporations.

Dean Xiang Bing is the professor of Accounting and founding Dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Dr. Xiang Bing has pioneered the EMBA in China. He has served on the faculties of Guanghua School of Management, Peking University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and was the China-Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Selected as one of the nineteen student delegates to visit Japan in 1982, Dr. Xiang received his bachelor’s degree from Xi’an Jiaotong University in 1983. He then studied for his MBA at the University of Alberta, Canada before going on to graduate with a PhD in Accounting. In recent years, Dr. Xiang has advocated a ‘Seeing the Earth from the Moon’ perspective and strategy to analyze the challenges and opportunities that the China economy and the indigenous enterprises currently face. Dr. Xiang emphasizes effective chain-to-chain competition, a new globalized strategy that leverages resources globally, and a humanistic sp irit among contemporary entrepreneurs. He has created material to address the challenges of globalization: CEO corruption, family enterprise management and the structural limits of the modern enterprises in China. Dr. Xiang serves on the boards of several enterprises listed in Hong Kong, America and mainland China. He has been interviewed by CCTV, Phoenix TV, CNN, Far Eastern Economic Forum, Entrepreneur Magazine, The New York Times, Agence France Press and Voice of America among others and is a regular speaker at conferences including Conference Board and the World Economic Forum in China.

This report is kindly produced and edited by Sean Chen

This event was held by China Development Society. To join, please send an email to su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk.

Capitalism and Freedom: the contradictions of globalisation by Professor Peter Nolan

Capitalism and Freedom: the contradictions of globalisation by Professor Peter Nolan

Globalisation is China's challenge!

Since ancient times the exercise of individual freedom has been inseparable from the expansion of the market, driven by the search for profit. This force, namely capitalism, has stimulated human aggression and creativity and in ways that have produced immense benefits. As capitalism has broadened its scope in the epoch of globalisation, so these benefits have become even greater. Human beings have been liberated to an even greater degree than hitherto from the tyranny of nature, from control by others over their lives, from poverty, and from war. The advances achieved by the globalisation of capitalism have appeared all the more striking, when set against the failure of non-capitalist systems of economic organisation.

However, capitalist freedom is a two-edged sword. In the epoch of capitalist globalisation, its contradictions have intensified. Capitalist freedom comprehensively threatens the natural environment. It threatens to produce intense conflict over access to scarce resources. It has contributed to intensified global inequality within both rich and poor countries, and between the internationalised global power elite and the mass of citizens rooted within their respective nations. It threatens to produce a global financial crisis that dwarfs that of the 1930s. Capital has become truly global, but social and political life remains rooted in the nation. Mankind’s obliteration in a nuclear holocaust in a matter of minutes remains a constant possibility.

The epoch of ‘wild globalisation’, which was launched in the 1980s, is coming to a close. If mankind is to survive the Twenty-First Century, there is no choice but to move towards cooperative institutions that regulate global capitalism, which is the most dynamic force in human history, in the collective interest of all human beings. The possibility for success in this endeavour hinges upon the relationship between, on the one hand, the United States, and, on the other, China and the Islamic world, each of which contains 1.3 billion people. It may only be the approaching ‘final hour’ that ultimately forces human beings to grope their way towards globally cooperative solutions to contain the contradictions inherent within the capitalist system.

Professor Peter Nolan is Chair of Development Studies, Sinyi Professor in the Judge Business School and Fellow of Jesus College, University of Cambridge.

Hsin-Yun Lee said:

In today’s Tea and Knowledge session, Prof. Nolan mainly introduced how globalization has brought significant influence to China, from a historical perspective to a foreseeable future. Looking back at 1970s, it was a high time China liberalized its economy to the world. For example, they started opening up their state-owned enterprises as well as allowing the foreign direct investment (FDI). However, in 2003, a report of Citi Group still suggested that China should remove more of their constraints on their banking system. With this idea, China may well become a “normal” economic entity which based on free market. With this idea, China is still in the process of change in the era of globalization.

Another important argument that Prof. Nolan pointed out was in terms of the relation between Chinese political structure and the market. Although Martin Wolf defined that a market economy has a close and supportive relationship with democracy, it is no doubt that the outcome of free market indeed attract more and more companies come to China to invest. In addition, the failure of USSR also pushes Chinese policy makers to rethink their industrial policy. In brief, China is always preparing to join global financial system in an appropriate time.

By way of conclusion, due to a number of advantages like huge market and intelligent people, Prof, Nolan believes that China could build up a better financial system in the future and wealth will be redistributed equally to its people. In the meantime, the idea of globalization and free market will help Chinese enrich their traditional value and make China a difference in the future.

Sean Chen said:

Professor Nolan focused the talk on how globalization presents a challenge to China. He first mentioned that throughout Chinese history, the country was always integrated into the global economy and was a source of ideas and technology for the rest of the world. After modern China finally opened up to the world in the 1970s, there has been a constant push by the West to encourage China to further liberalize its economy in the framework of what’s known as the Washington Consensus. They wanted China to privatize its state-owned corporations, de-regulate its banking system, allow foreign direct investments, and open up their economy in general to be integrated into the global financial system. The West argued that only then would China have a “normal” and “non-distorted” economy. However, the Chinese examined the prospects of globalization within and identified some weaknesses with this process. For example, they noted the negative effects of rampant capitalistic globalization on global warming and the ecology of the world. In addition, the great injustice of an unequal distribution of wealth in the world is exacerbated by globalization. Finally, the industrial concentration of corporations means that China needs to protect its own state corporations from the competition of more established foreign companies. These analyses by the Chinese prevent them from fully embracing the Washington Consensus and fully liberalize its economy. With the current world financial crisis in full light, Professor Nolan concludes by suggesting that perhaps China could once again be a source of idea for the rest of the world like it has been in the past. China could show the rest of the world how to have a well-regulated financial system that would redistribute wealth more evenly among its citizens.

This report is kindly produced and edited by Hsin-Yun Lee and Sean Chen

This event was held by China Development Society. To join, please send an email to su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk.

China and the Credit Crunch

China and the Credit Crunch by Mr Stuart Simpson

(A copy of the Power Point slides can be found at http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/0244688642_1.2MB)

As the credit crunch continues to go from bad to worse the reality of recession in much of the developed world has been accepted. The task now is to avoid a lasting and severe depression. What does this mean for China and the other emerging economies? Talk of decoupling has all but vanished. Will the effects of the credit crunch spread to the world's most dynamic economy? Or will China forge a new role for itself in a changed global economy.

Stuart Simpson is the financial analyst and journalist as well as the convenor of the Institute of Ideas Emerging Economies Forum - researching the economic, political and cultural impact of the dynamic growth of much of the developing world. He has published various articles on these themes in print and online publications, including The Independent, Die Welt, Spiked and Novo Magazine.

Part 1: Global imbalance and the causes of Credit Crunch

• In the West consumption is greater than production and this is made possible through the purchase of treasury bonds and other forms of credits by the Chinese government.
• The role cheap credit plays in the leading to the current financial crisis is not highlighted enough.
• A contrast of recent trends of the trade balance in China and the US.

Part 2: The poor giant economy of China

• A sustained growth in most areas of the world such as Africa and Latin America.
• How the Asian financial crisis in 1997 impacted the most dynamic economies in Asia.
• China only started to develop in an unprecedented pace from late 1990s and early 21st century.
• The composition of China’s economy: a growing service sector and a shift from low valued manufacturing industry to high valued manufacturing.
• However judging from wealth and GDP per capita China is still well behind Europe, Japan and the US and remains largely a poor country.
• The IMF stated that after adjusting for PPP, China is much poorer than people perceive it to be.

Part 3: The Credit Crunch and its relationship with China

• China is in fact not affecting the global economy as much as the US is, but is deeply affected by the state of the economies in the rest of the world e.g. some factories in China closed down due to the global recession.
• There is uneven development in China, so the credit crunch is not affecting the whole of China uniformly.
• A case study: Shanghai vs. Sichuan
• Solutions to China: exchange rate and interest rate adjustment, tax rebate, fiscal stimulus and corruption.

Kindly produced and edited by Olivia Huang and Sida Yin

This event was held by China Development Society. To join, please send an email to su.soc.chinadevelopment@lse.ac.uk.