February 26, CEIBS International Relations Office, Barcelona - Three of China's best known and most accomplished businesswomen spoke today in Barcelona, Spain at the Chinese Business Women in Leadership Forum co-organized by CEIBS: TV personality and Sun Media Investment Holdings Chairman Yang Lan, Beijing Illinois Founder and President Shi Xiaoyang, and China Capital Investment Group CEO Zhou Xiaoguang. All three speakers are alumni of CEIBS.
The Chinese Business Women in Leadership Forum was organized by the CEIBS Europe Alumni Chapter
The forum, attended by 400 European business executives and members of the media, was moderated by CEIBS Executive President Professor Pedro Nueno (who also serves as Betran Foundation Chair Professor of Entrepreneurship at IESE business school in Barcelona) and Miguel Angel Belloso, director of Actualidad Economica media group. The forum was sponsored by CEIBS, the IESE Business School, and Spanish media groups Expansion and Actualidad Economica.
In his welcome address, CEIBS Executive President Pedro Nueno told the audience, "Today, we will be hearing from three marvelous ambassadors from China, each of whom was educated a CEIBS. They each learned a lot during their business management studies but above all, they learned the art of teamwork - including cross cultural teamwork -- since CEIBS strongly emphasizes this." He added that the forum itself was an example of cross-cultural teamwork, bringing three top Chinese businesswomen to share their stories and their professional insights with a European audience.
Taking the speaker's podium first was Yang Lan, one of China's best-known and most highly respected broadcast journalists and media entrepreneurs. As co-founder and chairman of Sun Media Investment Holdings, Ms. Yang’s combined media ventures reach 200 million viewers per month.
Ms. Yang began her address by telling the audience, "China going through an unprecedented transformation, and we three Forum speakers are very fortunate to be part of that." She explained how her own career has, in many ways, developed " in parallel" to the economic development of China over the past two decades. Sharing the highlights of her career, Ms. Yang told how her beginnings as a TV personality for CCTV lead her to seek a master's degree from New York's Columbia University, then to return to media as a talk-show host at China's Phoenix TV after graduation. Since then, she has interviewed more than 400 Chinese and international celebrities and business leaders, and also had the opportunity to follow her "dream" of launching her own company in 1999.
Ms. Yang went on to share her first hand experience in discovering that business dreams - especially early ones - do not always come true. Her first business model, which was based on a pay-per-view service, "was a failure," she said, because China was not ready for such a service. "After four years, I had to sell the company I had started. I cried for half a year, thinking: I have 50 employees and I can't let them down."
But failure in business also brings new opportunities, Ms. Yang stressed. "Failure does you a lot of good. Running a business is like a being a butterfly; sometimes you have to go through a process of transformation." After re-vamping the company and breaking it into separate companies - while at the same time attending the CEIBS EMBA programme - Yang eventually revised Sun Media to focus more closely on the needs and interests of Chinese media consumers.
Her new business model, she says, targets specific niche audiences or "communities" of viewers. "In the past, individual media channels were supposed to satisfy the needs of all audiences," she says. Today, viewers have far greater choice in their entertainment and information, and the most successful media groups are those that meet audiences’ new demand for content that specifically caters to their interests.
(From left) Beijing Illinois founder and President Shi Xiaoyang, Sun Media Investment Holdings Co-founder and Chairwoman Yang Lan, China Capital Investment Group CEO Zhou Xiaoguang, and CEIBS Executive President Pedro Nueno during the February 25 Chinese Business Women in Leadership Forum in Barcelona, Spain.
Ms. Yang says this new approach has worked with Chinese consumers. Today, her weekly TV show reaches 8 million viewers per week, her e-magazine receives 3 million downloads per week, and her professional women's site Her Village Daily also receives 600,000 downloads daily.
All told, Sun Media programming is now viewed by 40 million watchers every month. Much of the focus of the company is on catering to the needs of China's professional women, and men. Recent examples of content include the launch of awards for the top 10 businesswomen in different fields, or programming that helps bridge the gender divide in modern China, such as an explanation of the top concerns women have of men on a first date. "It is very important to target different viewing communities," Ms. Yang explained.
Next, panelist Zhou Xiaoguang, founder and chairperson of Neoglory (China) Holdings Group, told how she drove her company to become a key player in the global fashion jewellery industry. Ms. Zhou shared how her humble upbringing pushed her to develop a keen business drive. At the age of 16, faced with severe financial constraints within her family and few opportunities to continue her formal education, she bravely "packed a suitcase and traveled around China." The experience left her determined to start her own company in China.
Ms. Zhou launched Neoglory in 1995 with her husband. By 1997, the company has obtained approval to "go international," Zhou said. Today, the business employs 6000 staff and sells 5000 tons of product - or 300,000 items - per year. Under her direction, in 2007, Neoglory became China's first jewellery enterprise to obtain an inspection-free certificate for exports.
Her current focus is on further internationalizing and expanding sales overseas. "We have distribution network nationally (in China), we are starting distribution operations abroad. We now have customers from more than 70 countries, from Moscow to Madrid. It is my hope that we will be able to build cooperations worldwide."
Zhou went on to explain that she worked to compensate for her initial lack of advanced education by gaining firsthand business experience as well as serving as a representative in the local people's assembly, and taking other roles such as her current position as Vice President of national costume jewellery association. She then went on to attend CEIBS.
Known for her mentoring style and emphasis on CSR work, as well as the successful growth of Neoglory, Ms. Zhou has been named one of China's Top 10 Businesswomen.
Ms. Zhou concluded with a message of optimism for those doing business in China now. "China has an open economy now and it is my hope that it will continue to be so."
The Forum's final speaker, Founder and President of the trend-setting lifestyle retailer Beijing Illinois Ms. Shi Xiaoyang also attributed part of her success to the fact that she launched her company just as China's consumer population was gaining wealth.
She delivered the final speech by introducing her successes in building a hugely successful business by bringing quality home furnishings to Chinese. Ms. Shi showed a video produced by her son, showing the high end retail products that have built Beijing Illinois one of the nation' s most successful retail enterprises.
Beginning 13 years ago as a "small furniture shop mainly for expatriates," Ms. Shi said she built the business by appealing to Chinese consumers and "changing people's lives" by offering high quality, high comfort products. She attributes her company with introducing to China a larger Western standard size of bed, literally adding comfort to the lives of her customers. "My goal was to supply a really good lifestyle to Chinese consumers - that was my dream and that is my philosophy." Today, the company operates 40 shops across China.
Her only regret, she said, is that she has not learned to create work-life balance. Ironically, her work to bring comfort to her customers has left her with a work-a-holic pace of life. "My own lifestyle is not so good," she told audience members during the lively Q&A period. "I would 12 hours days 365 days a year, to make a better life for local Chinese."
For a full account of the Chinese Women Business Leader's Forum, please see the upcoming Spring 2008 edition of THE LINK, CEIBS Alumni Magazine.
CEIBS Executive President Pedro Nueno took photos with accomplished businesswomen
