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Africa Calling: How Transsion Rose to Dominate the African Phone Market

December 3, 2018 By Colin Peebles Christensen

To many people in its home market China, Transsion Holdings is a company name they’ve never heard of. But this smartphone maker, based in Shenzhen, taking over 38% market share, is rising to dominate the smartphone market by with its Tecno Mobile, Itel and Infinix. Its success shows what differences can a small company make by truly catering to consumers’ long ignored needs, as said by local tech expert, “Transsion has succeeded because they addressed the problems of the market directly. They make phones with features that are attractive to Africans.”

Filed Under: All Articles, Strategy, Technology Tagged With: Africa, Consumers, Innovation, Smartphone, Tecno, Transsion Holdings

Competing to Innovate in the Pearl River Delta Region

May 7, 2018 By James Lord

Cities across China are making huge investments in order to transform themselves into world-class innovation hubs. So far, the Pearl River Delta Greater region, led by Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, is the most promising area. Connected by high-speed railways and land bridges, barriers between Hong Kong and mainland have been removed. With Hong Kong as the financial hub, Shenzhen as the innovation center and Guangzhou as the long-term trade harbor, China’s “Greater Bay Area” is taking shape. Will the regional integration create a new innovation engine that China urgently needs?

Filed Under: All Articles, China, Chinese Economy, Digital Economy, Innovation, Technology Tagged With: Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Innovation, Local Government Initiatives, Research & Development, Shenzhen

Covestro, China and the Innovation of Future Materials

August 30, 2017 By Tom Nunlist

“China is not known for greenness, but it is moving in that direction,” says Christian Haessler, Head of Innovation for Covestro in the Asia-Pacific region. An offshoot of the German pharmaceuticals and life sciences giant Bayer, Covestro was spun off in 2015 and today produces advanced raw materials for like the environmental friendly coatings and lightweight materials to be used in electric vehicles. In this interview with CKGSB Knowledge, Haessler explains what Covestro’s business is like in China as a behind-the-scenes firm and how it, with material technology, supports China’s sustainable development.

Filed Under: All Articles, China, Conversations, Environment, Innovation, Manufacturing, Q&A, Sustainability Tagged With: chemical materials, Covestro;, Environmental Sustainability, Innovation, Sustainable Development, wind blade;

DJI’s Future Plan: Industrialize and Diversify

July 24, 2017 By Liu Sha

Drone maker DJI made drones, once a high-end toy for rich niche hobbyists, into a mainstream consumer product. Begun 10 years ago in a college dorm room, the company now controls 70% of the consumer drone market. Xu Huabin, Vice President of the Shenzhen-based tech firm, explains how the company’s product-driven philosophy helped the firm grow from a maker of model planes to become the world’s largest commercial unmanned aircraft manufacturer. He also discusses DJI’s future plans for diversification and industrialization—to go beyond only making drones with cameras to developing drones with industry-tailored features for diverse customers including engineers and farmers.

Filed Under: All Articles, C-Suite Interview, Conversations, Technology Tagged With: DJI, drone, Innovation, Technology, unmanned aerial vehicle

Clayton Christensen on Innovation: Finding the Jobs to Be Done

April 26, 2017 By Tom Nunlist

“Innovation” is difficult, yet the word itself is so overly used that the meaning of it has become hollow. Some people consider being “innovative” as being “lucky.” Yet for Clay Christensen, a business professor at Harvard, innovation is about finding the “jobs that need to be done” in our lives. In this interview with CKGSB Knowledge, he argues that companies should not take the task as akin to gambling. Instead, companies should adopt a more focused, process-oriented approach of finding the “jobs” that customers need to do in their lives, and then create products that make those jobs easier.

Filed Under: All Articles, China, Conversations, Innovation, Q&A, The Thinker Interview Tagged With: Consumers, Innovation

Hands Off: Self-Driving Cars in China

November 21, 2016 By Matthew Fulco

China is keen to deploy self-driving cars for the same reasons as everyone else is: Autonomous vehicles may significantly improve traffic and environmental conditions. According to research figures, widespread adoption of automated vehicles could reduce automobiles on city streets by 60%, vehicle emissions by 80% and traffic accidents by 90%. While the West has superior technology, its governments lack the authority to swiftly implement massive infrastructure projects. Some experts believe Beijing’s top-down control capabilities could even give China an edge over the US and Europe in the race to develop self-driving cars.

Filed Under: All Articles, Automobile Industry, Innovation, Technology Tagged With: Innovation, self driving vehicle, Technology

The Way to Win Market Competition Now

July 20, 2016 By Bennett Voyles

In recent years, globalization has lifted billions of people out of poverty and created vast wealth, but has also spawned hyper-competitive markets that make a secure niche ever more difficult to find. Everyone from cabbies to multinational businesses find it’s harder and harder to maintain an edge. Meanwhile, in the world’s younger economies, particularly China, companies face another challenge: unlike Westerners who grew up loyal to particular brands, Chinese consumers did not have that; and as markets consolidate, consumers are selecting a few favorites. So how should companies deal with these new trends?

Filed Under: All Articles, Consumers, Innovation Tagged With: Branding, Competitive Advantage, Innovation, Shine and Rise series

Jeanne Liedtka On How to Think Like a Designer

May 10, 2016 By Bennett Voyles

Once upon a time, designers were considered a fairly rarified breed in the corporate world—people with more interesting hair, eyeglasses and talent than the rest of us, but not a key part of the “real” business. Today, however, that’s changing. As more and more companies face the need for constant innovation, design is earning more respect. In fact, these days, many organizations are training their employees to think like designers. Jeanne Liedtka, a professor of strategy and author of three books on design thinking, argues that learning to approach problems the way designers do can be a useful way to spark innovation in almost every company.

Filed Under: All Articles, Best Practice, Conversations, Management, Q&A Tagged With: Business and Design Series, Design, Design Thinking, Innovation

Design and Business: The Substance of Style

May 3, 2016 By Bennett Voyles

Once upon a time, design was a coat of paint on the locomotive of the real economy. Today, value depends less on oil, steel and sweat, and more on how a product looks, runs and, most importantly, makes the consumer feel. In this series, we look first at the factors that have made design a prime economic force; next, at how executives have learned to create value by training the entire company to think like designers; then at ways in which cities are seeking competitive advantage with design; and finally, at how design itself is changing—and what those changes will mean to the way we work and live.

Filed Under: All Articles, Best Practice, Innovation Tagged With: Business and Design Series, Design Thinking, Innovation, Management

Holacracy, Managerless Offices and The Future of Work

February 1, 2016 By Chris Russell

About 15 years ago, Brian Robertson was feeling frustrated with the management hierarchy traditionally used by companies. He felt it had a tendency to stifle innovation, create inefficiencies and prevent individuals from fulfilling their potential. Robertson channeled that dissatisfaction into the development of one of the best known self-management systems, Holacracy, something that has been adopted by the likes of Tony Hsieh, CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos. In this interview, Robertson, the author of Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World, clears up some of the misconceptions and gives an overview of Holacracy.

Filed Under: All Articles, Conversations, Innovation, Management, Q&A Tagged With: Innovation, Management

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Information, analysis, and interviews about the Chinese economy and doing business in China, from the people who know it best. Presented by the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, China's leading business school.


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