China

Traits of Chinese Entrepreneurs: Many a man has been born with a creative mind that has birthed innovative ideas. But without the right thick-skinned traits, the majority will find it difficult to spin their ideas into a successful business. Still, that hasn’t stopped people from trying. With the world’s many shaky economies and uncertain futures ahead, the 21st century has thus far birthed a plethora of hopeful entrepreneurs eager to take control of their own destinies. This trend can also be observed in China as the country continues its rapid progress towards becoming a global leader in modernization and innovation. However, when compared to entrepreneurs from other countries, there are some interesting differences that come to light when the average Chinese entrepreneur is put under the microscope. Ranging from background, to gender, age, skills and behavior, Chinese entrepreneurs have a clear and distinct profile of their own. The concept of a “Chinese…

Digital Healthcare Patient Experience: The Chinese healthcare system is facing huge challenges with, on one side, a greying population, multiplying chronic diseases and poor health literacy and, on the other side, too few qualified doctors working in overcrowded top tier hospitals, lower tier ones being deserted. Digital Healthcare solutions are today multiplying to address the very obvious needs for higher quality of care and the associated market was recently estimated to reach USD 110 million in 2020 by BCG. In this first article, part of a series analysing the digitalisation of the Chinese healthcare system, I explore the patient experience and the way Chinese start-ups are disrupting it, building China’s next generation of healthcare. By default, the user is healthy. He can, however, still be interested in purchasing health-related products and services, ranging from pure wellness to soft healthcare. Most likely, those persons want to improve the way they live…

China’s Startup Incubators: The business world is notoriously known to be a vicious place. It is a world that is highly competitive, where players can be fiercely protective of their domain and are unafraid to adopt “dog-eat-dog” tactics to survive. In this environment, young startups are usually left to fender the big wolves for themselves or otherwise shrivel up and fade away. Enter business incubators, a concept born in the US in the late 1950s which essentially serves to give smaller newcomers a chance to grow and shine. Ranging from mentorship and investments, to providing primary resources and services for startups, incubators are organizations that seek to help startups attain their initial footing in the business world. Startup incubators have experienced a renaissance of sorts since 2011, with the global trend of entrepreneurship and innovation taking off amidst the sea of failing economies. China too, has seen a dramatic rise in such…

China Innovation: Innovation is everywhere. It is behind every new idea, every solution to a problem, and any person who has dared to be different. But beyond the poetic nature of the term, innovation is also everywhere in the literal sense. The 21st century has seen the term surge in popularity, evolving into a buzzword that is heard daily in the worlds of business and economics. The direct implication of this overusage is the word’s eventual loss of meaning. When everything is innovation, then nothing is really innovation anymore. China’s relationship with the word ‘innovation’ is an interesting one. Only three short decades ago, the country was struggling to make ends meet, with high poverty rates, a tormented national psyche, and widespread famine ravaging the country. But following the country’s massive reconstruction under Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms, China today is virtually unrecognizable from its 20th century past. A world leader in…

China Economic Growth Model: “When the wind of change blows, some build walls while others build windmills.” This classic proverb perhaps best encapsulates China and its evolving philosophy towards dealing with changing times. China of the late imperial era was a classic “wall-builder”, characterized by stubborn nationalistic pride and an oblivious sense of superiority that inevitably brought upon the Opium Wars and a century of humiliation. But ever a nation of the resilient of spirit, China’s traumatic era birthed a new understanding and stark 180 degree change in attitude that taught it to “build windmills” rather than resist the natural flow of times.  Indeed, since the enactment of the Opening-Up Policy in 1978, China has consistently adapted and embraced the changing global patterns to great effect, often even revolutionizing and dictating the trends of the future. It is therefore no surprise that Li Keqiang, China’s State Council Premier, chose to…

China/Israel International Business Relations: Only three short decades ago, China was a country that was largely perceived as being bizarrely foreign, isolated and far too different from our Western world to even try to understand. But as time has passed and reforms swiftly enacted, China has quickly changed before the world’s very eyes, becoming a global superpower and ironically, an impressive leader in capitalistic growth and economic supremacy. Appropriately, these changes in China’s branding and it’s increasingly “Western” appeal have led to an influx of eager businessmen arriving in China with the hopes of enjoying a piece of the “prosperity pie”. Call it the new “American Dream”, if you will. Even little Israel, aka ‘Startup Nation’, has seen its own growth of Israeli entrepreneurs and investors flocking to China in recent years. However, as many of these hopefuls have soon realized, despite its changes, there are still numerous challenges involved…