An insightful article in the South China Morning Post.
Peng Bingming, Liu Shenqiang , Fu Qiang and Zhang Wenge attend the Guanghua School of Management MBA program at Peking University. Much of the interview concerned business possibilities and problems.
What can other countries learn from China in terms of corporate governance?
Peng: Chinese businesspeople believe harmony brings wealth. In China’s business culture, everybody tries to always address a problem in a friendly way, even though both sides have serious disagreements.
I am engaged in legal consultation and you can see this from the big contrast between the company numbers and the relatively few legal cases. Human relations and kindness are much more important in Oriental companies. Of course when conflict cannot be settled through negotiation, it has to be taken before the law.
It is very rare to see managers resign abruptly in China but you see it very often in foreign companies.
Is an MBA education useful for establishing corporate governance in China?
Liu: It’s extremely useful. Western economic theory is useful but needs time to be adapted to China.
Zhang: The problem with MBA education in China is that many teachers come from overseas and they cannot adapt what they teach to China’s actual situation. They are lacking in business practice. They start to teach MBA students after graduating with a PhD. And they teach bachelors, post-graduate and PhD students. Sometimes it’s hard for them to focus on different topics.
I also think there is some disconnect between MBA education and company management. The education is either ahead of or left behind by company practice. Companies such as Alibaba have abundant experience but they haven’t collected their experience in textbooks. Peng: Perhaps China’s MBA education and corporate governance courses are not very comprehensive but I am very honoured to study at the Guanghua Management Institute of Peking University.
Source: China Europe International School
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