China’s Next Advantage: Innovation

Speaker Series: Bruce McKern, Visiting Fellow, Stanford Hoover Institution, Former Stanford GSB Professor

Tuesday Evening, 11 August 2015, 18:30-20:15, Ruby Room, JP Morgan

The Third Phase: Innovation as a Tool for Global Demand

Event Details:
The Stanford GSB Chapter of Hong Kong is pleased to invite you to an evening discussion with Dr. Bruce McKern, Visiting Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution and, inter alia, former GSB professor on the topic of China’s Next Advantage: Innovation.  The attached Forbes article provides further background and context on this talk CLICK HERE.

In the space of less than 4 decades, Chinese companies have shifted from imitation (the “shanzhai” or “mountain bandit” phase, copying brand name products and processes), when price was the main consumer priority, to innovation.  In Phase one of innovation, Chinese companies focused on providing products/services with just the attributes consumers were willing to pay, i.e, “good enough”.  In Phase 2, Chinese companies have focused on innovation driven by market necessity.  In Phase 3, they are now looking at using innovation as a tool for global demand.

Chinese innovation does not follow the Western pattern. Chinese companies have learned not only how to innovate more cheaply than their global competitors, but also in collaboration with their customers, often faster than their Western counterparts.  Combined with PRC outward investment, Chinese companies are quickly positioning themselves to challenge established global leaders with disruptive innovation.

Dr. McKern’s talk will focus on the challenges that China’s rise as a global innovator represents both for players in China and across the globe.  We look forward to having you join us.

Speaker’s Bio:

Dr. Bruce McKern is currently Visiting Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution; Visiting Professor of International Business at China Europe International Business School in Shanghai; Visiting Research Fellow at Technology and Management Centre for Development at Oxford University; and Honorary Professor of International Business at the University of Sydney, where he directs the Silicon Valley Module of the MBA/Executive program.

Dr. McKern’s research and advisory work focus on the strategies of international corporations from developing countries; and the innovation strategies of Chinese companies and MNCs, there.  Dr. McKern is also a recognized authority on the int’l minerals and mining industries and has written 8 books on the subject.

Previously, at Stanford, Prof. McKern was a Visiting Professor in Int’l Business at the Stanford GSB from 1989 to 1992, ran the Stanford Executive Program (SEP)  in 1992, and from 2001 to 2007 was Director of the Stanford Sloan Master’s Program.

Dr. McKern has served as dean of two Australian business schools. He was Founding Professor of Management and first Director of Macquarie University’s Graduate School of Management in Sdney, Australia; and President and Dean of the Monash Mt Eliza Business School, Melbourne, later merged with Melbourne Business School. He was Professor of International Business and President of the Carnegie Bosch Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, from 1993 to 1996. Dr McKern has been a Visiting Professor at INSEAD, IMD, other European and U.S. management schools and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He has served as a consultant to the United Nations and OECD, as a board member of the National Gallery Society of Victoria, the Australian Government’s National Multicultural Advisory Council, and a member of the Ministerial Inquiry into Postgraduate Education in the Australian Defence Force. He was a Council Member of the US-Korea Institute