Recruiting in China

China's economy is well positioned to maintain good growth and a number of Chinese companies are becoming ready to be leaders instead of followers in high-tech sectors, a U.S. veteran expert on China's industry and economy said.

Handel Jones, founder, chairman and CEO of US-based International Business Strategies, Inc, made the remarks in an interview with Xinhua.

Moving away from the double-digit growth of the most recent decade, the world's second largest economy has been facing notable downward pressure and has entered a stage known as the new normal, characterized by slow, but higher quality growth.

The economy posted 7.4 percent growth in 2014, its weakest since 1990. The annual growth target was lowered to around 7 percent for 2015, arousing concern over the health and momentum of the economy.

"I'm confident that China, based on how things are going on, what the government is doing and what the companies are doing, is well positioned to have good growth in the next ten years," Jones told Xinhua.

As to the fear-mongers who foresee the collapse of China's economy, Jones said, "the Chinese economy has problems, but if you read the U.S. press, you have the impression that the collapse of the economy is ready to be announced."

"I don't see collapse of the Chinese economy, although it has to be careful about a lukewarm global market, overcapacity or risks arising from expanding local debts," Jones, who is paying his 50th visit to China, said.

The author of the best-selling book Chinamerica, he bases his confidence on the "enormous people assets" and an efficient and visionary government.

"China has a broad base of high quality people assets. There is a strong desire to succeed, and they are very motivated and entrepreneurial," Jones said. It is, however, important that they do not become complacent after initial success. There is a national goal as well as personal goals.

Another guarantee for the success of the Chinese economy is the role of the government in making visionary and grand industrial plans, guiding the industries and building the stage for companies to perform, he said.

"China is excellent at managing big projects and the growth of the electronics industry should be regarded as a big project," he added.

With these advantages, there is a high probability for Chinese companies to become leaders rather than followers in some of the most influential high-tech sectors, including 5G, Internet of things, semiconductors and automobiles, he said.

Taking the telecommunications industry as an example, Jones said, "In 4G, China was behind. But in 5G, China will be the number one due to the well-planned development strategy and companies' commitment as well as the role of government in supporting the corporate sector."

Jones deems the Chinese government's plan to build a 100-billion-USD semi-conductor industry as an excellent example where the government is taking initiative and of where government and industries can cooperate on becoming global leaders.

Jones also authors another best seller China's Globalization: How China Can Become No. 1, which offers insight into how China will drive major changes in the global competitive environment over the next decade. Market forces alone are not sufficient to make the big advances required to be No. 1.

While working with several of China's leading high-tech companies, as well as many foreign companies that are leaders in many market segments, Jones has noticed a change from being followers to becoming innovators and planning to be leaders. "This is a significant change in the mindset in China over the past one to two years," he said.

Jones attributed the change to a sharp increase in R&D investment, a boost in managerial levels and enhancement in entrepreneurial skills as well as confidence in being able to compete in global markets.

Despite the bright future for China's companies, there is still a long way to go before they can become clear leaders and innovators. In Jones' eyes, it might take seven to ten or even 20 years, but "China is on a growth path, and the long-term prospects are positive."

To leap ahead of their counterparts in developed countries, Chinese companies have to first change their mindset and focus on quality and profitability instead of market volume and low cost, Jones said.

Some Chinese companies accept or strive to be low-cost copiers and are satisfied with being No. 2. This has to be changed before China can have its own iphones, he said.

"Long-term strategies for winning have to be well-planned, and close collaboration between corporations and the government is critical," Jones added.

Huawei Technologies Ltd yesterday posted a net profit growth of 33 percent in 2014, thanks to global demand for telecommunications network upgrade to 4G, advanced technologies and booming smartphone sales.

Huawei, the world's No. 2 telecommunications equipment maker, reported a net profit of 27.9 billion yuan (US$4.5 billion). Global revenue rose 21 percent to 288.2 billion yuan in 2014, from 239 billion yuan a year earlier, according to Huawei's audited report by KPMG.

The operator business, Huawei's core business, steadily grew 16.4 percent to 192.1 billion yuan. It has got contracts from overseas markets including Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Huawei has become a core equipment supplier of UK operator EE's 4G network, which will pay 1.5 billion pounds (US$2.3 billion) between now and 2017. It will be the world's fastest 4G network, both sides said.

The booming consumer business, mainly fueled by sales of smartphones like flagship model P7, grew 32.6 percent to 75.1 billion yuan.

The new enterprise business grew 27.3 percent thanks to surging demand of cloud computing and big data. Huawei spent 40.8 billion yuan on research and development in 2014.

Real estate giant SOHO China is likely to join hands with search engine Baidu Inc to sell homes online, two top executives from the companies suggested on Sunday.

It will be the first major tie-up between a landdeveloper and an Internet company if the partnershipis realized.

Attending a panel discussion at the Boao Forum for Asia in South China's Hainan province, Zhang Yaqin, president of Baidu, said he and SOHO Chairman Pan Shiyi was discussing the possibility of a partnership to create a new way to selling apartments inChina.

Details of the discussion was unclear but Zhang said it was in a very early stage.

Pan also showed interest in teaming up with Baidu, the world's largest Chinese-language online search provider.

"China's fortune totaled 180 trillion yuan ($29 trillion) nowadays and half of the sum was contributed by the real estate industry. A cooperation with the booming Internet sector will help the real estate market to create larger value," Pan said.

"Huge potential lies in the integration between the two industries."

SOHO has developed many landmarks in Beijing, including an office-apartment complex in the city's business district and the space-ship like Galaxy SOHO in one of the most ancient areas of the Chinese capital.

China's express delivery sector is growing six times as fast as GDP, according to an industrial index released by the State Post Bureau (SPB) on Thursday.

In terms of industrial expansion, the sector recorded an average 50.3-percent annual growth during the 2010-2014 period, eclipsing annual economic growth, which came in at 7.4 percent for 2014.

Meanwhile, an index assessing delivery firms' development from four perspectives -- scale of industrial development, service quality, coverage, and development trends -- stood at 282.4 in 2014, up 70.8 on 2013.

SPB chief Ma Junsheng said the express delivery sector has maintained robust and healthy development, with services and coverage both improving.

The number of parcels received by express delivery in China last year reached 14 billion, the biggest volume around the world. The sector's market value hit 204 billion yuan (33 billion U.S. dollars) last year, up 42 percent year on year.

Ma promised earlier that China will help domestic express delivery firms expand overseas this year to support booming cross-border online shopping.

Beijing will invite more private funds to invest in major projects in seven fields including metro construction, shanty town reconstruction and environmental protection projects, said a key document released by the municipal government on Tuesday.

The capital government released guidelines to attract private funds to invest in the major fields and listed 136 projects in seven public fields on Tuesday. It is the first time that private funds have been solicited for shanty town reconstruction.

The total investment in these projects is expected to exceed 260 billion yuan, reported Beijing Evening News on Tuesday.

Furthermore, a third company may be set up to manage new metro construction. Currently, the metro system is under the management of two companies. With the quick growth of the metro lines in Beijing, the total mileage is expected to exceed 1,000 kilometers by 2020, one of the longest in the world.

On the condition that the metro system be guaranteed safe and efficient, the municipal government will open the metro system to invite more private parties to invest.

But the opening up to private funds does not mean the government will shoulder fewer responsibilities in supervising these fields, said an anonymous official from the Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform.

The government will play a bigger role in managing the growing funds and facilitate the development of the city, the official said.

U.S. high-tech firm Dow Chemical's CEO on Tuesday advised China to further encourage entrepreneurship and innovation to climb up the global value chain.

Andrew Liveris told Xinhua that China's transition from low-end to medium and high manufacturing was the right strategy, but to this end, China needed to make more efforts.

He said the government should put in place the right policies, regulations and standards to encourage entrepreneurial innovation to invest in technology that will allow China to move up the value chain.

"You can't go from driving a slow car in a slow lane to a fast car in a fast lane without changing lanes," said Liveris, adding that China should go "crawl, walk, run."

Although the transition is a gradual process, the senior executive said China must move fast as the world was changing so rapidly.

In his view, China has plenty of "brains" and it should organize the "ecosystem" to encourage them to be entrepreneurial. He said: "this is China's opportunity."

"To be entrepreneurial, you have to be taught that there is no boundary to taking a risk as long as you are safe and ethical," said Liveris.

Dow Chemical expressed willingness to assist China's transition to an advanced manufacturing economy as it would help its business.

"We are very suited to providing technology answers to environmental protection, food safety, clean water, sustainable urbanization and green technology," said Liveris.

Amid the current economic slowdown, China is turning to mass entrepreneurship and innovation to boost market vitality.

Premier Li Keqiang said earlier this month that the government will continue to "remove roadblocks and pave the way" for entrepreneurship.