Entrepreneurs, economists and government officials have gathered in Beijing for the China Entrepreneur Summit 2010 - whose theme this year is "New business, new consensus, new impetus".
Although the global economic recovery is slow and future difficulties still loom, China has surpassed Japan to become the world`s second largest economy. And its efforts to shift to a more eco-friendly growth pattern are taking effect.
These and other challenges in the industrial world will no doubt be the focus of the 800 people taking part in the summit, which began on Friday and will end on Sunday. Among the other possible areas of interest:
Overseas M&As
Chinese companies maintained robust growth in their overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A), with carmaker Geely buying Sweden`s Volvo, and Hangzhou`s online trade portal Alibaba, and the textile producer Shandong Ruyi Group moving into the Japanese market.
These M&As, show a more rational, mature approach, with clearer motives than previous ones did. Nonetheless, the path to integration has not always been a smooth one.
Gome fight
The struggle for control of Gome between the founder and managers, the nationwide retail electrical appliance chain, challenged some traditional Chinese rules of the game. It also led to a wide-ranging discussion about how to combine the two to build a long-lasting family-owned brand.
Investment fever
With the anniversary of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange`s growth enterprise market, in October, the public`s taste for stock market investments has been growing.
At the same time, some industrialists, facing pressure to upgrade their operations, have instead downscaled or even quit their operations and have turned to investing in real estate, stocks, or private equity.
Foxconn incident
That jumping out of a Foxconn building was not an isolated incident, and concerns a large group or even an entire generation of workers. So, how does management adjust to the new generation of workers - most of them born in the 1990s? This is a new question for the Chinese business community.
Changing rules
The very public skirmishes between Qihoo, owner of the 360 brand of antivirus software, and Tencent Holdings Ltd, creator of the instant messaging software QQ, reflects a change in the Internet rules of the game, as consumers become a deciding force in the battle between the two sides.
So, now a "consumer-centered" competitive model is replacing the old "enterprise-oriented" one in the new round of Internet company development.
Participants
At the Beijing summit meeting, some of the figures involved in the above events, and other industrial heavyweights share their opinions on overseas acquisitions, the founder-manager relationship, and private equity fever.
These people include Liu Chuanzhi, board chairman of the Lenovo Group; Chairman Ning Gaoning, of COFCO; Alibaba CEO Ma Yun; Chairman of the Geely Holding Group Li Shufu; Chairman of Fosun High Technology (Group) Guo Guangchang; Wang Jianlin, board chairman of the Wanda Group; the chairman of Baosteel, Xu Lejiang; the president of China Merchants Bank, Ma Weihua; Managing Director of JP Morgan Chase Asia-Pacific Gong Fangxiong; Baidu Chairman and CEO Li Yanhong; and the chairman and CEO of Tencent, Ma Huateng.
By discussing this year`s gains and losses, they are looking for ways to improve and bring innovation to the commercial world in the coming decade.
Liu Donghua, head of China Entrepreneur magazine, one of the meeting`s sponsors, predicts that the next decade`s will come up with new business rules on openness, being more people-centered, sustainable development patterns, a new commercial world with corporate-social synergy, mainstreaming emerging industries, and modernizing traditional sectors.
For entrepreneurs
China Entrepreneur celebrated its 25th anniversary this year, a record in the history of Chinese business magazines.
During those two and a half decades, the magazine saw generations of Chinese entrepreneurial growth, from marginalized to mainstream, from unclear corporate ethnics to heightened social responsibility.
The magazine is now recognized as an influential leader in the Chinese financial media and a Chinese publication that has gone international.
In contrast to the US` Fortune magazine, this one aims to speak for entrepreneurs. It focuses on entrepreneurship and ethics in industry and commerce, the role of commerce in social progress, and corporate social responsibility.
In 2007, for one special issue, the editorial board wrote an article titled The Stars of Enterprises Over China, with the following comment, "An enterprise-based China stands a better chance of taking this great nation out of the `Three Gorges` of history."
In 2008, in an issue dedicated to the 30th anniversary of China`s reforms and opening-up, China Entrepreneur looked back at the "relations between politics and commerce over the past 30 years" in an article titled Great Gaming.
For each year, from 1978 to 2008, there was one outstanding person chosen to represent it as a way of marking the evolution of business in China.
Last year, 2009, was the 60th anniversary of the People`s Republic of China. One of the magazine`s issues that year carried a cover story titled The family Tree of Chinese Business, which asked what cycles Chinese business had gone through in the previous 100 years.
At the end of 2009, the China Entrepreneur Summit was held as the global economy was beginning to show signs of a recovery from the financial crisis,
In examining the past, Liu, the magazine`s director, suggested that, before people start asking whether what they did was a success or a failure, they should first ask whether it was right or wrong. That is exactly what the magazine had been pursuing for the previous two decades.
"Because of the rapid growth of Chinese business over the past 30 years, there has been an accumulation of great energy, but there is also a range of pressure from within and without," said Huang Lilu, editor-in-chief of the magazine.
"Against such a backdrop, we have faith in Chinese businesses` innovative future when it will become a global leader."