Economic Observer reporter Chen Bai As the only authoritative institution in the United States to disclose the data of the new crown epidemic, Johns Hopkins University, a low-key global top century-old private school, has become the focus of global vision after the epidemic. The Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business MBA program from China recently released an international cooperation program with the top U.S. university business school.
This is not the first time cheung Kong Graduate School of Business has cooperated with foreign universities to run schools. However, after experiencing the impact of the epidemic in the world, the cooperation between Yangtze River and The Kerry School of Business of Hopkins University has attracted much attention. After all, at a time when the global epidemic situation is still changing, it is not realistic to study at top universities abroad. As a domestic business school, Cheung Kong offers an opportunity to obtain an equivalent degree from an overseas high-quality university.
"The epidemic has made everyone more deeply aware that we are in an era of disruptive and innovative technology outbreaks. In these times, entrepreneurs need to have a bigger vision. In an exclusive interview with the Economic Observer reporter, Li Haitao, professor of finance, outstanding dean chair professor and vice dean of the MBA program at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said.
In his view, the disruption brought about by technological progress is obvious to entrepreneurs - for example, Tesla means a new energy revolution, and the emergence of SPAC means that the rules of securities trading are facing the possibility of restructuring... If it is a change, it is happening on one side of the ocean and on the other side of the ocean.
But Li Haitao believes that entrepreneurs need to see more than this, "For entrepreneurs in this era, many public issues are inseparable from the survival and development of enterprises, such as science and technology, biomedicine, international relations and other fields, and Hopkins University can provide our entrepreneurs with a more comprehensive learning perspective." ”
In addition to the well-known strength of the biomedical discipline, Hopkins is also a global leader in academia in the field of international relations. "Also, Hopkins is very close to Washington, which is his geographical advantage." Li Haitao added.
At the moment of our dialogue, the well-known American fast fashion brand H&M and the BCI organization it joined encountered a strong public backlash in China because of the unreasonable bias boycott of Xinjiang cotton.
At the launch of the two business schools' MBA + Master of Finance International Cooperation Program, Xiang Bing, founding dean of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, said that in the current era of great change, to solve global problems such as income and wealth inequality, declining social mobility and sustainable development, we must rely on our economy to continue to generate commercial disruptive forces. Cultivating this kind of strength is a crucial strategic decision for a country and region to participate in global competition, achieve its own sustainable socio-economic development, and promote social harmony.
At a time when globalization is changing dramatically, companies are often at the forefront of conflict. Li Haitao believes that in this case, for the current Chinese entrepreneurs, whether it is their own business expansion or examining competitors, they must have a global vision and a big picture view, understand what the other party is thinking, stand on the moon and look at the earth, in order to stand in an invincible position in foreign business cooperation.
From going to Yale University in the United States in 1991 to study geophysics, then transferring to the School of Management and studying for a doctorate, and teaching at many Ivy League universities such as Cornell University, Li Haitao finally chose to return to China.
In Li Haitao's view, in fact, there can be more exchanges between China and the United States, "Business school is a good channel." Our entrepreneurs have a platform for communication, everyone does the same thing, and the barrier to communication is less. We hope that through such a platform, we can strengthen communication and cooperation between the academic and business communities between China and the United States. ”
dialogue:
The essence of MBA education
"We cannot blindly oppose the West, just as we cannot oppose gravity because gravity is proposed by foreigners."
The Economic Observer: Why did Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business choose to partner with Johns Hopkins?
Li Haitao: I especially like this school. The first time I went to Hopkins was 30 years ago, and many of their professors were former classmates and colleagues of mine. Of course, in addition to this, Johns Hopkins is also the world's best place for medical innovation research management, Johns Hopkins also has a special cattle international relations, and it is located in the center of power in the United States.
Through this project, we can provide our students with the content of overseas business schools, overseas professors on finance, on the economy, on the international global vision, at the same time we can open our horizons more, from all angles, from international relations, so that we can help students have a broader vision.
The epidemic has made each of us feel that the fate of Chinese, our fate, the fate of our children, and even the fate of the entire Chinese depends on whether we can build this country well, whether we can cross the middle-income trap, whether we can cross the Thucydides trap, and whether Chinese can achieve the great rejuvenation of the nation.
I'm very confident about that. In this process, our projects, everyone, every classmate, and every company can make a little contribution.
The Economic Observer: At this juncture, what kind of MBA education do you think China needs?
Li Haitao: Let's first look at the history of the American MBA. From the 70s and 80s of the last century, MBA became very popular in the United States. This is directly related to the stage of economic development. I think the popularity of MBA is mainly due to the need for such a demand in the business world.
In a mature economy, large business organizations have emerged, and corresponding management talents are needed to design the structure and optimize management for them, which is also the goal of everyone in the United States at that time. According to my observation, at that time, the final goal of everyone reading MBA may be to become a CEO, professional manager, management and so on of a company.
Now, the trend of MBA around the world is also changing dramatically. You will find that those who study MBA, their career goals begin to be more diversified, such as making investments, laying the foundation for their own entrepreneurship, etc., the purpose of MBA is also changing. This has something to do with the disruption we said earlier about technology.
On the other hand, it needs to be noted that in the past few decades, a big idea of global MBA education is to maximize the interests of shareholders, and the other is free market, small government, and low taxes, which is indeed one of the embodiments of the maximization of shareholder interests. But the result of this orientation is that American companies are shut down, companies are opened in developing countries, global capitalists make a lot of money, Wall Street has a financial crisis...
In the wake of the pandemic, there has never been a greater realization that neither business nor business schools can focus solely on business itself. If we simply pursue the maximization of shareholders' interests, and ignore the widening gap between the rich and the poor in society, social turmoil, and unfairness, enterprises cannot continue to do it.
I recently found a problem in my research on family businesses, if you want to be evergreen, your presence must make the lives of the people around you better.
As mentioned earlier, we need to see changes in foreign development trends. On the one hand, scientific and technological innovation and manufacturing upgrading are also a major direction for China's future development, which is of course also a very important direction for us. But on the other hand, paying more attention to social innovation, attaching importance to the role played by enterprises in society, and attaching importance to solving social problems are also aspects that MBA education needs to expand.
The Economic Observer: In recent years in Chinese academia, there have been questions about whether the content of Western business schools can guide the current practice of Chinese companies.
Li Haitao: First of all, I think that because it is Western, it cannot be used in China, just like the periodic table of elements, gravity, etc., these laws are all discovered in the West, but we can't say that we don't use it because of this. This is unscientific.
Business school education is the same, many of the frameworks and theories for thinking about problems are scientifically verified, it is one of the frameworks and tools for us to think about problems, there is no need to oppose it.
Of course, it is undeniable that the practice of Chinese enterprises does have considerable uniqueness, such as considerable differences in history, culture and institutional background, which makes the development process of Chinese business inevitably have its own uniqueness.
We need to respect the differences in Chinese practice, but it does not mean that we completely reject some of the underlying frameworks of business education. It is just that on the basis of Chinese practice, we can summarize some unique methodologies based on Chinese practice to enrich business education.
An era has come to an end
"A number of companies with strong strength have finally folded overseas, which I think means that the era of overseas mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies is over."
The Economic Observer: In the past few years, a number of Chinese companies that have embarked on large-scale mergers and acquisitions around the world have suffered huge setbacks. What do you think?
Li Haitao: We can observe that in the past two years, a number of companies that have made large-scale mergers and acquisitions overseas have ended in bleakness, and of course there are many reasons for this. But it's not just them, including companies like Huawei, who have also suffered major setbacks overseas.
A number of companies with strong strength have finally folded overseas, which I think means that the era of overseas mergers and acquisitions of Chinese companies is over. I have a feeling that in stages, the big cycle of Chinese enterprises going to sea has come to an end for the time being, and this paragraph is a turning point. This is my personal feeling.
The Economic Observer: For Chinese entrepreneurs, where are the opportunities ahead?
Li Haitao: Although we say that we must smooth the domestic and international double cycle, for enterprises, especially private enterprises, the possible space for enterprises to develop in the future lies in the internal cycle.
And a clear trend is that multinational companies like H&M will not be this one company, whether Chinese companies can make up for the business gap left after their withdrawal in the future, domestic brands If you can seize this opportunity, you can build your own brand, which is where many Chinese companies will have opportunities in the future.
The Economic Observer: What qualities should you think of as an entrepreneur?
Li Haitao: Of course, the first thing is to have the will to make the product to the extreme. We see very good entrepreneurs in the history of business, such as Jobs, who have a common feature in their field of products to the extreme.
In addition, it is whether entrepreneurs have more goals than financial pursuits, such as whether enterprises can provide sustainable development for society, can reduce the gap between rich and poor, and can make the bottom society move forward.
In the final analysis, it means that the enterprise exists on what basis, and what do you make money on? It's that you really provide good service, good products, you make this money, and it's long-term money. I hope that our classmates and Chinese entrepreneurs are all doing business.
The world is fair, and you will generally get as much as you give. If you seem to seize the opportunity to take advantage of a loophole to make some money, I believe that this kind of money earned by luck will eventually lose back by strength.
It has only been forty years since the reform and opening up, and Chinese enterprises are still quite far from the centenary. And for Chinese entrepreneurs, in fact, they have not yet gone through a complete cycle, we have passed through an upward cycle, has not yet gone through a downward cycle.
Therefore, we hope that through all aspects, we can let our students see how to make a great enterprise, and update the cognition of our students from all aspects such as spirit, philosophy, etc., which can help everyone think more deeply and go further.
A new worldview
"How we see the world is important, and how the world sees us is also important"
The Economic Observer: What role do business schools play in the business world?
Li Haitao: I think there should be two kinds of people in the business world: one is an entrepreneur, they are activists, and the other is a business school professor, they are thinkers.
Our existence is to think about the problem a little deeper, to abstract the superficial phenomena of the business world into the simplest rules, and then this rule can generally explain what is happening, to provide entrepreneurs with a reference for action, which is the value of the existence of business schools - to tell you what is happening in the world.
I especially agree with Dean Xiang Bing's judgment that business schools in China are divided into three types: the first generation of business schools is to directly copy the things of Western business schools to teach students, the second generation of business schools are able to develop on the basis of the West, can form a systematic business management concept based on Chinese management practices; the third generation of business schools, is able to propose solutions to the global problems we are facing.
We in yangtze river are currently striving to achieve the second generation, but we also hope that in the future, we can complete the leap to the third generation and help solve global development problems.
The Economic Observer: Can the presence of business schools strengthen the conversation in the business world?
Li Haitao: We in the Yangtze River often emphasize a sentence: standing on the moon and looking at the earth.
What do you mean? You have to know what's going on outside of China, you have to know what the world is doing, and that's especially important, that is, you have to know what the biggest trends in the world are, and you can't just close the door and come from hi.
How we see the world is important, and how others see us is also important. Maybe we have good things in mind, such as I build bridges and roads for you, but others may not necessarily think so.
Because for example, after you come, you don't hire local employees, you don't understand the local culture, and so on. Then some people will say, then we will not go out, I will close the door and do it myself; but it is not like this, we feel that Chinese enterprises should have equal influence in the world, should become great enterprises.
So why I emphasize that entrepreneurs need to look outward, is to hope that we can have a global vision, we can know international rules, we can do things according to the rules - of course, it does not mean that we have to follow their rules, but we do it with courtesy, in other words, everything we do is logical and reasonable.
Being able to have a good communication based on mutual understanding can eliminate those potential negative externalities. It's certainly a long process, so let's start now.