The project held two workshops for private entrepreneurs in
Qingdao and Kunming on "Enterprise Development Strategies" from September 12 to
18. Twenty-five prominent industrialists from various prefectures of Shandong
province participated in the Qingdao workshop, which was organized jointly by
DIHT, ACFIC, the Shandong and Qingdao Chambers of Commerce. The Kunming workshop
was a cooperation between the project partners and the Yunnan Chamber of
Commerce who had invited 36 select member entrepreneurs from Kunming, Lijiang,
Simao, and Xishuangbanna.
Gatherings of so many well-known entrepreneurs are quite
exceptional. When asked about his reasons to participate in the workshop for
three days, the president of Guangming Machine Co., Ltd. in Jinan (Shandong),
Pei Mingming, said, "Since all enterprises work under the same market
conditions, I need to strengthen my competitive advantages in order to further
develop my business. The development strategy of my enterprise is a top-level
decision, so I need to personally participate in this workshop. Through the
workshop, I am finding a new orientation, which would hardly be possible in my
daily working environment. In the future, I will focus on improving the usage of
all potentials in my enterprise." His company is China's largest manufacturer of
equipment for door and window production, market leader in modern plastic window
frames equipment.
Participants both in Qingdao and Kunming represented a wide
variety of educational levels, enterprise sizes and business success. Lin
Lidong, president and CEO of Yunnan Ziyuan Goup Co., Ltd., was one of the
youngest, yet already holding a masters degree in economics. His company is in
the tourism, real estate and stock trading business. Wang Lihua, CEO of Simao
Foods and Beverages Co., was one of the few women entrepreneurs. Her small
factory in a remote and poor mountain area of southwestern China has found a
market niche despite all difficulties. Conscious of her moral responsibility not
only for her employees but also for the development of the whole area, she is
exploring ways to increase the popularity of her fruit drinks in Yunnan province
and beyond.
Key speaker of the workshops was Prof. Dr. Dieter
Schneidewind, Board Member and former Chief Executive for Asia and Europe of
Wella AG, Germany. Under his leadership and strategic guidance, Wella had been
the first German enterprise to establish a joint venture in the People’s
Republic of China nearly twenty years ago. Schneidewind shared his rich
experience in international enterprise management and the development of
enterprise strategies with the Chinese business leaders who appreciated his
entertaining presentation and his upfront stance in the discussions. The
participants were also keen to learn how Wella solved the relationship between
ownership and management. Wella, just like most Chinese private enterprises, is
a family-owned company.
The Chairman of the Board of Beijing Topteam Consulting Co.,
Ltd., Qiao Huicun, focused in his presentation on key elements in developing
business strategies, giving practical examples and using case studies. Qiao,
concurrently Senior Consultant with the CITIC Group, was among the first experts
to specialize on the newly developing private enterprises in China. In the
plenary discussions, group discussions, and even outside the workshop program,
he offered succinct advice to participants in tackling their individual
strategic challenges.
Dr. Wolfgang Pauly, Program Director of the German Management
Academy, explained the theoretical framework as well as procedures and
instruments of European and American enterprises’ strategic planning.
Although his presentation was highly compressed from a four-week seminar to a
few workshop hours, Pauly succeeded in communicating the western systematic
approach to enterprise strategies. Many participants, who already utilize
analytical methods in their enterprise, encountered the complete structure for
the first time. Pauly’s introduction to western business strategies aimed
not only at upgrading the development of Chinese private enterprises but also to
strengthen their ability to cooperate with foreign partners.
Completing the picture was an in-depth look at the corporate
strategy of one of China’s most successful enterprises, the Legend Group
of Beijing. Zou Bo, Manager of the Corporate Business Development Department of
Legend Holdings Limited, described the development history and the strategic
planning elements of this largest producer of computers and related equipment in
China. In his presentation, Zou emphasized the need of constantly adjusting an
enterprise’s strategy to the changing demands of the consumers while
carefully watching one’s competitors and maintaining one’s
structural balance. Although Legend Group is not formally a private enterprise,
her detailed and scientific strategies were taken as a model by the participants
to adjust their own strategy.
Ms. Li Yue, Vice-President and Secretary General of the China
International Public Relations Association and Ms. He Chunru, Project Assistant
of DIHT, supported the German experts and interpreted their presentations. Mr.
Zhou Shengkun, Associate Professor of the China Agricultural University,
skillfully moderated the workshops, extricated and elucidated the focal points
of discussion.
In addition to the presentations, plenary and group
discussions, the organizers carried out a survey among the participants on the
importance of various enterprise strategy elements and the related difficulties
each enterprise is facing, and presented the results at the end of each
workshop. In the evenings, participating entrepreneurs took the opportunity to
present their ideas on possible cooperation with German enterprises to DIHT
China Project Director Helmut Schoenleber.
Schoenleber and ACFIC Division Director Lü Shaoxin,
expressed contentment with the workshops: "We believe the participants in
Shandong and Yunnan will return home to their own enterprises with many new
ideas and we hope their modified business strategy will multiply their success
in the new millennium!”
Entrepreneurs during the Kunming
workshop
Prof. Dieter
Schneidewind
Qiao Huicun
Li Yue, Dr. Wolfgang Pauly, Zhou
Shengkun during a group discussion (from the left)
Another group discussion with Zou
Bo (white shirt), Lü Shaoxin (to the right of Zou) and Yunnan
entrepreneurs