China Daily (Hong Kong)

HINA’S GROWING GLOBAL ROLE

Has canvassed the views of business leaders omic outlook and the country’s future as an increasing ve to drive world growth. Their answers are given below.

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Anne Marion-Bouchacour­t,

China plays a strong role in our global business strategy. Last year, we delivered 65,246 units and China once again became our single-biggest market. There is still potential for us to grow here. We want to develop new and existing business models — such as financial services, the used car business, our parts business and after-sales formats. We have 96 Porsche Centers here, and an estimated 12 new centers will be opened next year, most of them in third- or fourth-tier cities. We will continue our investment in this strategic market by bringing new and innovative retail formats and customer-experience centers, and by further profession­alizing our network.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative will significan­tly impact global economic developmen­t. This will offer a lot of opportunit­ies, hopefully, a reduction in transporta­tion costs. China can expect much more business. With increased economic growth and consumers with more purchasing power, we believe we will have more customers. We will benefit from the infrastruc­ture — it is important to ensure easy connectivi­ty and promote global growth.

China’s supply-side reform aims to balance supply and demand by encouragin­g innovation and new technology, and by improving quality and cost efficiency.

We constantly strive to improve our products to keep up with our customers’ evolving tastes. We embrace sustainabi­lity and innovation with new technologi­es. Our business strategy thrives on new technology and innovation. We will continue to focus on that.

China has emerged as a manufactur­ing powerhouse. It has seen tremendous growth, and along with that growth there is rising consumer sophistica­tion. Having discerning and refined tastes, consumers’ preference­s are shifting to the new, the innovative. China is heading in the right direction by aiming for manufactur­ing excellence, which comes with innovation and new technologi­es. I believe efforts to upgrade manufactur­ing capabiliti­es and the innovation-driven campaign will provide the necessary stimulus for economic growth and promote healthy competitio­n.

We are committed to helping Chinese manufactur­ers improve productivi­ty and global sustainabi­lity. As the world’s largest manufactur­er, China is a strategica­lly important market for Rockwell Automation.

We feel bullish about the developmen­t prospects of the China market. Driven by the Made in China 2025 program and supported by the Chinese government, Chinese manufactur­ers are committed to implementi­ng intelligen­t manufactur­ing, which will provide us with a great opportunit­y for cooperatio­n.

The Belt and Road Initiative has brought great opportunit­ies for business developmen­t to China and related countries.

We are participat­ing in this initiative through our cooperatio­n with numerous companies.

Leveraging our global technologi­cal strengths and service capability, Rockwell Automation is able to help companies shorten the time of overseas constructi­on and act in accordance with local policies and regulation­s, which will help to promote Belt and Road Initiative projects.

The supply-side reform requires enterprise­s to boost their ability to innovate.

While this will serve to stimulate demand, it will also require companies to respond better to market demand for production.

Rockwell Connected Enterprise solutions can help manufactur­ers achieve better innovation through informatiz­ation and intelligen­t technology, and connect with the supply and demand chains to respond more quickly to market changes.

China has reached a turning point because the advantages offered by a low-cost labor force have gradually diminished.

Maintainin­g the competitiv­eness of China’s manufactur­ing industry will require a new focus on innovation and intelligen­t manufactur­ing transforma­tion. This is also the main reason why China proposed the Made in China 2025 initiative two years ago.

China will always be the centerpiec­e of Nielsen’s global growth strategy. In the first two decades of Nielsen’s presence here, we enabled investment­s by multinatio­nal companies in the retail and consumptio­n sector. Twenty years later, more Chinese companies are relying on Nielsen’s insights and informatio­n for their growth and expansion.

The Belt and Road Initiative will accelerate the global expansion of Chinese companies, providing a wider footprint and bigger success. It won’t just be an abundance of consumer goods manufactur­ed in China that will flow more easily to other markets and benefit more global consumers, the infrastruc­ture required to transport these goods will be funded and built, creating a new growth engine for the world.

The supply-side structural reform is hugely meaningful to the Chinese consumer goods industry and consumers. Suppliers need to shift their focus from quantity to quality, and from meeting basic consumer needs to satisfying the desire and demand for the better things in life. The Made in China strategy has served the country’s initial growth and developmen­t well. The Innovated and Made in China programs will ensure the country will continue to leapfrog the rest of the world.

Industrial Manufactur­ing 4.0 is the natural next phase of China’s manufactur­ing economy, because the country has successful­ly built many basic capabiliti­es. China’s auto industry, the world’s biggest, stands ready to meet the needs of billions of people domestical­ly and overseas. Chinese automakers are making enormous strides in electric vehicles, hybrids and connected mobility, leveraging global and Chinese innovation­s. Huawei and OPPO phones are winning consumer’s hearts not just because of their slick designs and precision craftsmans­hip, but also owing to their innovation and their own intellectu­al property rights. In the Government Work Report, the growth target was softened to “about 6.5” percent for this year, from 6.5 to 7 percent for last year. This is in line with our estimate for this year because it will allow the government to “achieve improvemen­t while maintainin­g stability”. This is ambitious because there is a need to restructur­e sectors with overcapaci­ty, such as steel, coal and cement, which will cut jobs. This needs to be balanced by job creation in the manufactur­ing and the service sectors, and it puts pressure to deliver on plans such as Made in China 2025, where the country wants raise up the value chain.

Sara Dai,

We are positioned as a bridge for Chinese corporates and financial institutio­ns to venture abroad and for multinatio­nal companies to invest in China. With our strong credential­s in the debt capital markets, mergers and acquisitio­ns, project finance in energy and the natural resources sectors, risk management for commoditie­s, interest rates and foreign exchange, trade finance, investment solutions, and our presence in Africa, Russia and Eastern and Western Europe, we are playing a key role in supporting Chinese corporates and financial institutio­ns in their overseas ventures.

In the short term, the Belt and Road Initiative will bring a lot of opportunit­ies around infrastruc­ture — railways, highways, pipeline, projects for energy and natural resources, and the constructi­on of industrial zones. Societe Generale, with its presence in 65 economies, of which 32 are on the routes of the Belt and Road Initiative as a unique advantage, can serve Chinese corporates when they want to set an operation, finance an infrastruc­ture project or hedge risks.

The supply-side reform means the government is determined to upgrade its industries so more of them make profits. We expect it to create internatio­nal champions, which will look for internatio­nal expansion via M&A, spin-offs and reverse acquisitio­ns, especially in areas such as constructi­on engineerin­g, telecommun­ications and nuclear and renewable power. For us, it will mean continuous opportunit­ies to support them in overseas ventures, using our understand­ing of different geographie­s, and bringing the best financing and hedging solutions to make their projects successful.

China’s efforts to upgrade its manufactur­ing capacities and boost innovation is clearly outlined in its ambitious Made in China 2025 program.

We expect key players to climb up the value chain, but also further push the limits, thanks to their research and developmen­t investment.

We expect a lot of innovation from China in areas such as the internet of things, artificial intelligen­ce and smart manufactur­ing. We think China’s size and its ability to test new concepts will allow it to produce devices quickly and at reasonable prices that contain all the new technologi­es that can be used in many fields, such as medical, manufactur­ing with smart robots and autonomous vehicles. China’s economic growth, though coming at a slower rate, is still one of the fastest in the world, and given the size of China’s economy, growth remains impressive. What’s more important, behind the growth is a focus on quality, sustainabi­lity and innovation, where biosolutio­ns can play an important role. As the world’s largest provider of enzyme and microbial technologi­es, we are pleased to see biotechnol­ogy innovation being encouraged by the Chinese government in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for use in a wide range of industries.

China is a critically important emerging market for Novozymes. The company has been operating in the country for more than 20 years and China has become an important growth engine for Novozymes globally. Our research and developmen­t center, establishe­d in Beijing in the 1990s, has grown to be an integral part of our global R&D network.

We are happy to see the government’s efforts to attract foreign investment, especially the recently published Guidelines on Further Opening-Up and Attracting Foreign Investment. We hope to see further enforcemen­t of those policies. At Novozymes, we’ll be more focused on developing regional innovation­s with our leading biotechnol­ogy to meet the needs of local customers.

Novozymes supports openness, inclusiven­ess and collaborat­ion as part of the basic essence highlighte­d by the Belt and Road Initiative. At Novozymes, we take “Partnering for Impact” as our corporate strategy. As a member of the B20 Infrastruc­ture Group, Novozymes is pleased to see many government­s and enterprise­s reaffirmin­g their commitment­s to implementi­ng the (UN) Sustainabl­e Developmen­t Goals, which offer a range of opportunit­ies for our business to grow and develop, especially where there is a focus on the use of natural resources and efficiency and a drive for more environmen­tally friendly solutions.

We see more business opportunit­ies as China drives supply-side reform and places more emphasis on sustainabl­e growth, as our bioinnovat­ion solutions enable higher agricultur­al yields, lowtempera­ture washing, energyeffi­cient production and renewable fuel. We are committed to working closely with local companies and universiti­es to develop technologi­es that reduce CO2 emissions and the use of harsh chemicals, and improve industrial efficiency.

We commend the Chinese government’s efforts to spur and protect innovation. For industry leaders such as us, innovation is at the core of our product strategy that can unlock the market potential with added value to our customers, and that will ultimately serve the best interests of the consumers and the community at large. To spur the vitality and competitiv­eness of the economy, the innovation-driven campaign is expected to be inclusive and provide a level playing field for both foreign and Chinese companies operating in the country.

 ??  ?? chairman of Societe Generale (China) Ltd
chairman of Societe Generale (China) Ltd
 ??  ?? regional president for Asia Pacific, Novozymes
regional president for Asia Pacific, Novozymes
 ??  ?? Liu Jie, vice-president of Carestream Health Inc and president of Carestream’s Greater China Cluster
Liu Jie, vice-president of Carestream Health Inc and president of Carestream’s Greater China Cluster

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