Hong Kong, May 16, 2008 – 55 top Chinese entrepreneurs came together for class in the first week of May on Hong Kong Island. The four day module kicked off the 2008 Cheung Kong China CEO and Finance CEO programs, and saw synergy created between leaders of fast-growing domestic service industries, financial groups, and world-renowned b-school academics. Cheung Kong CEO modules will continue throughout the year in Paris-Fontainebleau, New York, and London with the concluding module coinciding with the school’s annual Sanya Forum in January 2009.
An executive education course with a strong pedigree, the first year attracting Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Focus Media’s Jason Jiang, Cheung Kong GSB again struck gold, with participants including Bill Cai from Chinese fast food chain, Real Kungfu, Alfred Fan from online travel agent C-trip and Shi Yuzhu, head of multi-player gaming firm Giant Interactive. Enabling these energetic leaders to capitalize on their global intentions is one of the key intentions of the year-long Cheung Kong China CEO course.
Guiding the groups to see the “world from the moon and see China from the world”, Dean Xiang provided the optimism and global vision Chinese enterprises need to develop into mature companies. For this Asian leg of the course, participants heard from Cheung Kong GSB Professor Endo and Cho Dong-Sung, who lectured on the mechanisms behind particular East Asian successes, and the Japanese and Korean business practices Chinese firms need to grapple with when competing for global market space.
Held simultaneously was the first module of the new Finance CEO program. In collaboration with specialist finance institutes, Columbia Business School and London Business School, the new course has attracted two dozen finance leaders from Huatai Securities, Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co., Ltd., Wanda Futures and China Lion Securities among others. United Securities Co. Ltd. President Sheng Xitai said of the program, “In high-end education, Cheung Kong has a unique style, with both Chinese and global features." Matching the high standard of participants, Cheung Kong GSB led with lectures by key faculty, Professors Huang Ming, Qi Daqing and Zhou Qiren. Guest lecturers such as Andy Xie, formerly of Morgan Stanley, presented ways to enhance competitiveness, increase risk resistance capabilities and grasp the future developments of the financial industry.
With an intense schedule over the course of the week, participants such as Zheng Yonggang of Shanshan Group and Shi Yuzhu of Giant Interactive met peers, discussed the issues raised in class and made links with the Hong Kong business establishment in Hong Kong’s financial heartland. The social highlight of the week was a meeting with Asia’s most successful businessman, Li Ka-shing, who, through his charitable foundation, established Cheung Kong GSB in 2002.