On the afternoon of March 29, the symposium on "Sustained Competitive Advantage of Hidden Champions" and the founding ceremony of "International Research Center for Hidden Champions" was successfully held on International Campus, Zhejiang University. The seminar was hosted by the International Campus, and organized by the International Business School (ZIBS) and the National Institute for Innovation Management, Zhejiang University (NIIM). More than 100 experts and scholars from politics, academia and business discussed on multiple dimensions about how to build and maintain the competitive advantages of hidden champions.
Hidden champions, proposed by Prof. Hermann Simon as companies whose market dominance belies their low profiles, are considered as an important issue in both business and academic fields. Their sustainable growth even during the economic crisis shows strong competitive advantages in their value chains or even value network. International Research Center for Hidden Champions is set for the research and development of hidden champions, which is led by Prof. Xiaobo Wu, Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, Zhejiang University. It has gathered a group of domestic and overseas experts from Cambridge University, Duke University, European School of Management and Technology(ESMT), Slovenia IEDC-BLED Business School, Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University. The Center is committed to growing into the world's leading research platform and think tank of the hidden champions.
Prof. HE Lianzhen, Vice President of Zhejiang University, delivered a welcome speech. She said that paying attention to the cultivation and continuous growth of hidden champions in the new era is an important aspect for China's manufacturing industrial structure upgrading, and it is also our common mission.
Mr YUE Yang, Deputy Director of the Economy and Information Technology Department of Zhejiang Province, pointed out in his speech that Zhejiang is a big province for small and medium-sized enterprises as well as manufacturing. Since the launch of the provincial "Hidden Champions" selection in 2016, Zhejiang Province has now identified 206 provincial hidden champions. At the same time, 114 enterprises have been listed as national "single champion" enterprises, and 162 enterprises have been listed as "Specialized and Innovative" enterprises, ranking first among all the provinces in China. He expressed his gratitude to the scholars for ZJU for their insightful suggestions and support in this process, and looked forward to further cooperation with the center.
Prof. Hermann Simon, honorary director of International Research Center for Hidden Champions, and Professor Danica Purg, director of the academic committee of International Research Center for Hidden Champions, dean of Slovenia IEDC-Bled School of Management and president of the International Association for Management Development of Global Emerging Economies (CEEMAN), and other overseas experts also sent congratulations and visions of future development to the Center via online videos.
Prof. OUYANG Hongwei, Executive Dean of International Campus, published the document on the establishment and appointment of the leaders of the Center. Mr QU Xianming, member of the National Manufacturing Strategy Advisory Committee and deputy director of the Intelligent Manufacturing Expert Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China and Mr CHEN Xiaohong, former director of the Enterprise Research Institute of the Development Research Center of the State Council, joined Prof. HE, Prof.WU and Mr YANG Wenhua, the vice mayor of Haining to unveiled the nameplate for the Center.
Then Prof. WU on behalf of the International Research Center for Hidden Champions, presented the report of "Champion enterprises in China ". And Mr GU Jiandang, president of Phoenix Contact (China), delivered a presentation around "How the Hidden Champions Lead the Digital Transformation".
The round table sections focused on the new issues of the cultivation and ecological construction of the hidden champions in the VUCA era. A number of well-known scholars and industry leaders from all over the world shared their insightful view, and contributed to the further development of hidden champions.
Article: TAN Ziyan, LEI Linan
Editor: YANG Yinzhi
Editor in charge: XIA Ping