Re-thinking Entrepreneurship from a Chinese Perspective

Through an invitation of Prof. LI Honglei 黎红雷 (Zhongshan University, author of Confucian Business Wisdom 儒家商道智慧, People’s Press 2017) I was invited to participate in the Bo’ao Confucian Entrepreneur Summit 2017 博鳌儒商论坛, held this past weekend on Hainan Island. This forum attracted 600 hundred entrepreneurs at its first meeting in 2016, but this time grew to an audience of 1800 entrepreneurs, scholars and politicians.

Under the topic “Speak to the World” 对世界说 leading entrepreneurs such as Liu Chuanzhi 柳传志 of Lenovo, Chen Feng 陈峰 of Hainan Airlines, Ji Keliang 季克良 of Maotai, Mao Zhongqun 茅忠群 of Fotile and many others shared their respective visions of what “New Chinese Entrepreneurship” based on traditional Chinese values could be; how a sustainable form of development of Chinese entrepreneurship can be implemented; and how Chinese entrepreneurs can constructively engage with the world (hopefully without falling into the trap of Sinocentrism).

We'll need the resource of traditional Chinese culture to build a new business civilization (Liu Chuanzhi, Lenovo)?

Since 2013 I have been researching the emerging trend of Confucian Entrepreneurship 儒商 in cooperation with scholars such Tu Wei-ming 杜维明 (Harvard), Zhou Shengchun 周生春 (Zhejiang), Fan Heping 樊和平 (Southeast), Ni Peimin 倪陪民(Beijing Normal), Zhou Li 周立 (CKGSB) and others.

In the past year I have been conducting dozens of in-depth interviews with model entrepreneurs and their employees in China. At Bo’ao I had the privilege of being the only invited Western guest to attend and speak at this occasion.

Understanding the emerging Chinese approaches of how to improve business operations can benefit foreign companies in China.

In this ongoing discourse, Rushang is a still a concept under construction, oscillating between an inward-looking reappraisal of Chinese traditional and cultural norms – often encapsulated by the term guoxue 国学 ("National Studies") – and sincere attempts at developing sustainable models of corporate culture that specifically cater to the needs of Chinese companies (or foreign companies operating China).

At the same time, they aim to develop Chinese approaches to ethical conduct in business which can complement or supplement Western CSR and other concepts.

Stay tuned for more on this topic by the author of this post.