Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business2023-12-05
Looking back at the grand course of reform and opening up for more than 40 years, from the blue thread of the road to the magnificent waves, the most active group of entrepreneurs in the market economy has become an indispensable and important force in creating China's economic miracle by virtue of outstanding imagination, creativity, action and willpower.
In the critical period of economic transformation and growth, promoting Chinese-style modernization, crossing the middle-income trap, and relying more on innovation-driven needs more than ever to have an entrepreneurial spirit, clearly grasp the future trend, and resonate with the times.
Professor Fu Chengyu, the first alumnus of CKGSB CEO and former Chairman of Sinopec, shared his exploration and experience in the innovation management of large state-owned enterprises at the 2023 CKGSB Graduation and Autumn Admission Ceremony, condensing his three-point business insights from leading enterprises for decades. The following is the full text of the speech.
Share |Fu Chengyu.
Fu Chengyu. The first alumnus of Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business CEO.
Former Chairman of Sinopec.
Dear Professors, Teachers, and Students:
It is a great honor to attend the 2023 Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business Graduation and Fall Admission Ceremony. As an early student of the Changjiang CEO Program, I would like to congratulate all of you who graduated this year and joined Changjiang for a better life in the future
My generation is a generation that has grown up with the country and has experienced the hardships of starting a business in the RepublicI have witnessed and participated in the whole process of reform and opening up, and while experiencing the rapid rise of China, I have also seen the price paid by the country in the process of realizing transformation and overcoming challenges.
In this process, we are pleased to see the rapid emergence of a batch of star enterprises, and continue to witness the instant decline of some former star enterprises.
Looking back on my past life, I have three feelings and experiences that I hope to share with my fellow students: one is to grasp the nature of the times, the second is to base on the people's nature, and the third is to adhere to practicality.
First, grasp the nature of the times.
To grasp the nature of the times is to understand the new restrictive environment formed by the changes of the times. An era has a theme of an era, and a generation has a mission and responsibility of a generation. When the times have changed, the theme has changed, and the external constraint environment has also changed, if you still follow the way of thinking, management mode, and business mode formed in the previous era, and continue to forge ahead, you are likely to become an outcast of the times.
Secondly, based on the people's nature.
Both Adam Smith and Hayek believed that people can achieve altruism through self-interest, and later gradually rose from the individual level to the collective level and the social level as the times evolved.
After the 2008 financial crisis, the world's first-class entrepreneurs put forward the "purpose of corporate existence", that is, from the past "to achieve altruism through self-interest" to "provide positive returns for customers, employees and all stakeholders including contractors, businessmen, and shareholders", and then further evolved to not only provide positive returns for these stakeholders, but also to create a better society.
The traditional Chinese culture advocates "self-awareness, self-reliance and altruism", which still seems to have a certain significance for many start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises today, but it is no longer enough for large enterprises.
Large enterprises should not only benefit altruism, but also benefit all beings and society, which is precisely the "more global vision, more long-term thinking, and more social responsibility" proposed by Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business.
We want to build a world-class entrepreneur, not only in the improvement of ability, but also in responsibility and responsibility, and in the contribution to the people of the world. In China's modernization, large enterprises should shoulder great responsibilities and make great contributions. Based on the people's nature, in fact, it requires enterprises to have a big vision, a big mind, a big pattern, and a big responsibility.
The third is to adhere to practicality.
I think there are four most important things in entrepreneurship:
The first is the courage to innovate;
The second is to take risks;
The third is perseverance in the most difficult moments. Successful companies often encounter more than one dark moment, but they are always able to stick to the dark moment after another, which is an important embodiment of entrepreneurship;
Fourth, be willing to share success with the society and live and die with the society.
These precious entrepreneurial spirits are carried by practice, and are sublimated in the process of continuous experimentation, continuous creation, continuous setbacks, and continuous resurgence in practice.
Today, I hope to "grasp the nature of the times, based on the nature of the people, adhere to the practicality" three sentences with you, I wish our entrepreneurs can create new brilliance in the new era, thank you!