Boston, USA – At the forum that ended on Sunday, a number of US and Chinese business leaders expressed optimism about the Chinese economy and said that there are plenty of opportunities in the Chinese market.
“I think China’s opportunities will continue to maintain its edge,” said Pitt Walker, a former senior partner at McKinsey & Company, in a group at the Harvard China Forum (HCF).
General Electric CEO Larry Culp also agreed, saying to international companies at the closing ceremony of the forum, “You know that if you are active globally, you need to be in China.”
The spokesperson said that urbanization, innovation and the unique characteristics of the Chinese economy are all conducive to future growth.
“Urbanization has greatly boosted the Chinese economy,” Walker said, noting that when people move from rural areas to urban areas, one’s productivity has increased five to six times.
When talking about the gap between China’s urbanization rate and mature economies such as Japan and Germany, Walker said that “the urbanization process is still greatly improved.”
Speakers also noted China’s emphasis on innovation. Andrew Yan, an experienced venture capitalist, points out that in the past five years, China has eliminated unicorn companies faster than any other country, thanks in part to China’s innovative technology industry.
Walker said: “Although Westerners believe that China is not innovative, they are innovative in different ways, more market-oriented and more application-oriented.”
Walker said that the United States has a historical advantage in formulating innovations that “change the rules of the game,” and that China has developed more adaptive technologies to create an overall business by catering to different consumer groups.
“I think the scale of this innovation is even more than a single breakthrough,” he said.
Han Weiwen, executive partner of the consulting firm Bain’s Greater China office, told Xinhua that the innovation pushed China’s retail industry to the world’s leading position.
“In terms of its ecosystem, technology and business model, China’s retail industry is definitely at the forefront of other countries,” he said.
Han said that the Chinese economy has a series of unique functions that have laid the foundation for the booming retail industry in the Internet era, including a relatively young population eager to embrace a new lifestyle, high smartphone penetration, making e-commerce easier to obtain, high Population density and low logistics costs reduce the cost of shipping for online purchases.
Investor Yan said that in the era of mobile Internet, countries with more populations will have an advantage over countries with smaller populations. He said that young Chinese companies such as the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo and the car company Didi are beneficiaries.
Han warned that not all factors will benefit retailers, and some factors will also present challenges.
Han said that the annual migration of large-scale migrant workers from urban centers to rural areas to celebrate the Lunar New Year is such a challenge.
“This phenomenon has greatly affected the retail industry because it poses a double challenge, how retailers can provide good service to customers in urban centers during normal times, and whether retailers have the necessary network to extend services to farmers in rural areas. The workers returned to the Spring Festival to go home,” Han said.
HCF kicked off on Friday with topics ranging from finance, technology, entrepreneurship, art, culture, entertainment, international relations and development, philanthropy, consumer and retail, music and pharmacy.
