March 16, 2019. Shanghai – Shanghai Tower was the venue this afternoon for the launch ceremony for CEIBS Professor of Management Zhu Xiaoming’s latest book, Emerging Champions in the Digital Economy (Springer Edition).

The book was published by Germany-based Springer-Verlag – one of the world’s largest scientific publishers – as part of the “2018 Classic China International Publishing Project.” Over the past 3 years, Springer-Verlag has published English editions of Prof. Zhu’s work, including Business Trends in the Digital Age and China’s Technology Innovators. An Arabic version of China’s Technology Innovators was also published by Wisdom House Cultural Investments Company and as part of the “2016 Silk Road Key Translation Funding Project.”

As business and academic communities worldwide shift their focus to a wider range of Chinese digital startups, China has remained committed to driving the digital economy. Since 2012, Prof. Zhu has lectured a series of courses on the digital economy, including courses on Digital Teaching; Digital Finance; Digital Revolution; Digital Healthcare/Smart Healthcare; and Business Trends, Technological Innovation, and the Digital Economy.

Prof. Zhu, together with his project team composed of PhD candidates, has further developed many enlightening cases providing deep insights into China’s digital economy. Their published work on the digital economy and business trends describe China’s latest achievements in business and technology.

The opening of Emerging Champions in the Digital Economy provides readers with a comprehensive picture of the digital economy from the past to the present. In the introduction, Prof. Zhu combs through industrial policies, creates a theoretical framework, and traces the origins of emerging business models one by one, mapping out a clear path for the evolution of the ever-changing digital industry. Furthermore, his remarkable ability to cut through complexity and put theory into practice owes a great deal to his wealth of hands-on experience.

The book also takes an in-depth look at the digital economy under the innovative “1+10” theoretical framework, covering the data economy, service economy, platform economy, Internet of Things economy, sharing economy, prosumer economy, long-tail economy, inclusive economy, collaborative economy, and smart economy. In addition, 11 cases are presented based on Prof. Zhu’s field studies on 10 companies, including iflytek, JD.com, Shanghai Tower, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Shanghai, 3D Medicines, ppdai.com, IBM, and Amazon. The cases, which combine up-to-date theory with real business practice, will provide readers with great inspiration.

At the launch ceremony, Shanghai Tower General Manager Gu Jianping (CEIBS EMBA1999) delivered a speech on Making Skyscrapers Digital and Smart based on the theme of Prof. Zhu’s book.