Dean's Message丨Go Global!

Go Global!

向着全球化前进

Dear family and friends of ZIBS community,

Last week I spoke at EqualOcean Summit for Globalization in Shenzhen, China. I accepted the invitation out of my curiosity about the organization (EqualOcean) behind it and to find out what the current prevailing sentiment is about globalization in China, as the words and deeds about deglobalization seem to be reaching new heights every day. To my pleasant surprise, the conference was well organized, and nearly 2000 people were reported to have joined offline alone. More interestingly, most of the participants are young Chinese, and many already have good international exposures and experiences through their study or work overseas.

Globalization is the word used to describe the growing interdependence of the world’s economies, cultures, and populations, brought about by cross-border trade in goods and services, technology, and flows of investment, people, and information. Countries have built economic partnerships to facilitate these movements over many centuries.      

- Peterson Institute For International Economics

Globalization Is Not 

without Controversy

Today it has a mixed reputation to say the least. Its champions highlight its very positive impact on poverty reduction, lower prices, more efficiency, and faster innovation. Critics blame globalization for many of the world’s problems: from illegal immigrants to increasing social inequality, from climate challenge to the COVID-19 crisis... The 2008 financial crisis in the US and Europe was a turning point in the West as movements like Occupy Wall Street woke up main street America and much of the (developed) world, triggering the popular backlash against globalization. Not all countries and all people in the same country have benefited from globalization equally, equitably, or at the same time. That partly explains the driving forces behind the populist movements in the West, from Brexit to America First. The COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine crisis have only reinforced such forces and accentuated the recent trends of de-globalization.

Deglobalization is the process of diminishing interdependence and integration between certain units around the world, typically nation-states. It is widely used to describe the periods of history when economic trade and investment between countries decline. It stands in contrast to globalization, in which units become increasingly integrated over time, and generally spans the time between periods of globalization.   

- Wikipedia

Is Deglobalization New Normal?

Many people have proclaimed that globalization is dead by citing the "demise" of the World Trade Organization. But is it? Despite the challenges, we see the recent signing of various Free Trade Agreements (FTA): The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in 2018 that covers 11 countries from Americas to Asia; African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) that covers almost all countries in Africa in 2018; USMCA (the newer version of North America Free Trade Agreement) in 2020; Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in 2020, the largest FTA in the world that includes ASEAN (Association of Southeastern Asian Nations) , China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, and New Zealand...

These FTAs have had a very positive impact on regional trade and economic integration, especially with the help of digital technologies. ZIBS has partnered with Alibaba in a research project focused on cross-border e-commerce in RCEP, and our RCEP SME B2B Cross-Border E-Commerce Index suggests a robust growth of 30% p.a. in RCEP and 51% p.a. in ASEAN since 1Q2019, despite the pandemic disruptions.

Therefore, our observations and conclusion are that globalization is not dead; it is probably taking on a different shape: regional globalization. In the business world, the global supply chain is being reshaped. Instead of just offshoring or onshoring everything, companies and countries have started practicing "friendshoring" and "nearshoring" to improve the resilience of the global supply chain.

China as a Champion for Globalization:

Belt & Road Initiative 

As a relatively new student of globalization, China has been learning to benefit from and harness globalization. Without doubt, our country has been a beneficiary of and contributor to globalization, with its open-door policy having coincided well with the globalization trend since 1990’s after the Cold War. China’s WTO entry in 2001 was considered a major milestone for China and globalization given the sheer size of China and the substantial subsequent impact on the global economic landscape: China’s share of world GDP has increased to 18% today from a mere 2.1% in 1980.

As support for globalization started retreating since the 2008 financial crisis in the West, China announced in 2013 the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious strategic proposal to embrace globalization, albeit from China’s perspective. BRI is also a warm invitation from China to the world to join hands in building up global connectivity beyond infrastructure and thus helping overall globalization. After 10 years, BRI has been better communicated by China and better understood by the rest of the world.

It is not just nice that China go global; it is strategically imperative that China go global. As an increasingly important country in the world, we must play a bigger role and contribute more to the global community. For many Chinese companies, going global is only natural as domestic markets have steadily saturated and they must develop overseas markets. It is also driven by their strategy to reshape the global supply and sales chain to mitigate the impact of some of the deglobalization forces and geopolitical tensions.

Chinese Multinational Companies

I have had a lot of discussions with many Chinese entrepreneurs who have (the aspiration to) become multinational and international, and nowhere else is such a trend more pronounced among Zheshang (Zhejiang Entrepreneurs in short), who have been best known as naturally outbound. It is safe to say that today, wherever you go in the world, you will always find Zheshang there. My recent international visits to places from Thailand to Zimbabwe have confirmed their global presence and connectivity.

The recent launch of Zhejiang International Chamber of Commerce for The Private Sector (ZICCPS) confirms the official support for Zheshang to go global. It is widely expected that Zheshang will continue to lead the development of Chinese multinational companies. ZIBS is very proud to be a key founding member of ZICCPS, with our colleague Professor Jack Yan acting as its Secretary General. ZIBS has had a short history of solid collaborations with ZICCPS and its predecessor organization, having jointly founded the Center for Chinese Multinationals headed by Professor WAN Feng and Jack Yan as a thinktank and knowledge partner to support Chinese companies as they go global.

ZIBS: Born Global

ZIBS stands for International, first and foremost. From Day 1, we were born international. Today, our ZIBS family members hail from over 60 countries around the world. Chinese and English are the official languages in ZIBS, and many other languages are spoken in the ZIBS community. Today, there are dedicated centers in ZIBS for different regions, such as Latin America and Africa, and various country hubs are being planned, including Italy, to encourage and improve the efficiency and experience of multicultural exchanges in ZIBS. Today, our separate teams are working for ZIBS’ dedicated overseas centers in Singapore, Indonesia, and the UAE.

To all of you, here comes my warm invitation: please join ZIBS on our journey of globalization because we need your contributions. Like every one of us, ZIBS was born global in this incredibly connected digital age. Globalization and digitization are two strategic pillars of ZIBS as we continue to build the technology-focused premier global business school from China.

In 1865, the American author and newspaper editor Horace Greeley urged the young Americans to "Go West, young man" as America was growing westward. Today, as China and the world grow, I want to say to you all: Go Global! I look forward to meeting you all on the journey of globalization!

Warm regards,

Your fellow family member of born-global ZIBS

Editor｜LI Songjiao

Managing Editor｜CHENQI Lisha

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