On April 14th, at the 27th Harvard China Forum, former Chief of Staff of Alibaba Group, Ming Zeng, delivered a keynote speech to students from top global institutions.
During the speech, Zeng reflected on the rapid rise of Chinese enterprises over the past few decades, emphasizing that Chinese companies should not be simply regarded as low-cost competitors, especially in terms of low labor costs.
Zeng stated, "My initial research focused on exploring the competitive relationship between Chinese enterprises and multinational corporations, and how Chinese companies first compete in the domestic market and then expand globally."
He also summarized these research findings in his first published work, with one of the key cases being Huawei.
"In summary, we should no longer simply regard Chinese companies as low-cost competitors, especially in terms of low labor costs," Zeng emphasized.
Zeng believes that Chinese companies possess an innovative strategy, namely cost innovation, which includes two core elements: reducing costs and innovation.
Therefore, this cost innovation provides a competitive advantage for Chinese manufacturing enterprises to become global leaders and has elevated their position in the value chain over the past 20 years.
