In light of the tectonic changes we are facing— including the widening income and wealth inequality gap within and between nations, the challenges brought by the pandemic to global healthcare systems, the rising inflation and declining economic growth, the diminishing social mobility, the growing de-globalization trend and the myriad of disruptions brought by technology, it is vital for business leaders to understand and tackle uncertainty and find opportunities within it. Business schools have a duty to cultivate global leaders who can successfully navigate such disruptions, while making a positive impact on the world. This webinar will shed light on the responsibility and role of business schools to that end.
Date: September 13th, 20:00 – 21:00 Beijing Time
Platform: Zoom webinar
Dr. Xiang Bing is the Founding Dean and Dean’s Distinguished Chair Professor of China Business and Globalization at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB). Since 2002, he has built CKGSB into one of China’s most influential, and globally recognized business schools.
Widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on Chinese business and economy, Dr. Xiang has been a distinguished recurring keynote speaker at top U.S. university-led China forums for recent years. He has delivered exclusive keynotes at the Penn Wharton China Summit (opening keynotes in 2023 & 2026, and closing keynote in 2024 & 2025), the Harvard College China Forum (opening keynotes in 2018, 2019 & 2023, and closing keynotes in 2017 & 2024), and the Columbia China Forum (closing keynote 2024).
Dr. Xiang has also shared his unique insights with top global corporations and their senior executive leaders, including serving as a special lecturer addressing 200-300 chairmen, board members, and C-suite executives at Malaysia’s Financial Institutions Directors’ Education Forum (FIDE Forum) (January 2026); the only keynote speaker for top executive leaders from 36 major enterprises across Sweden and Finland at the Combient Senior Executive China Deep Dive (November 2025); exclusive speaker for Morgan Stanley Briefing (August 2025); one of the four opening keynote speakers at the Indonesia Economic Summit (February 2025); keynote speaker at the Morgan Stanley Twenty-First Century Asia Pacific Summit (September 2022); and the only closing keynote speaker at the SCMP China Conference: United States, celebrating the 40th anniversary of US-China Relations in New York City (December 2019).
Dr. Xiang is also a prominent participant in high-level global closed-door forums and conferences, including the Twentieth Edition of Roundtable Japan (2025), Ditchley Foundation Annual Forum (2010, 2012, 2018 and 2021-where he served as First Co-Chairman in 2018), Rome Roundtable (2017-2020, 2022, 2024), and the invitation-only Yale CEO Summit in New York City (2016).
Dr. Xiang has served as an independent board member to multiple listed companies, including four Fortune Global 500 companies. He was a member of the Global Board of Trustees for United Way Worldwide (U.S.) (2011-2017) and currently sits on the Advisory Board of Asia House (London) and acts as Counselor for One Young World Summit (Dublin).
Under Dr. Xiang’s leadership, CKGSB has developed a distinctive model of management education that integrates the humanities, philanthropy, and social innovation into its degree and executive programs. Since first incorporating the humanities into its curriculum in 2005, CKGSB has made philanthropy and social innovation central across its programs, launched the Ji’an poverty-alleviation initiative, and received China Philanthropy Times’ “Annual Philanthropic Enterprise” award five times (2017–2020, 2023).
Dr. Xiang’s research focuses on how countries and enterprises navigate periods of profound economic, technological and geopolitical change. His work spans global development models, economic disruption, China-U.S. relations, global trade and investment, and the transformation of Chinese enterprises, with particular attention to scaling, globally relevant business models, and the emergence of “Groundbreaking Innovation.”
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Soumitra Dutta has been Dean of Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford since June 2022. Previously he was the founding Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. He is the President of Portulans Institute, Chair of the Board of the Global Business School Network and member of the Global Board of Dassault Systemes.
Professor Dutta is an authority on innovation in the global knowledge economy. He is the co-editor and founder of the Network Readiness Index, published by Portulans Institute and the Global Innovation Index, published by the WIPO.
Professor Dutta received a B. Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi a MS in both business administration and computer science, and a PhD in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2017 he was awarded the Distinguished Alumnus from his alma mater IIT Delhi.
As CEO of the Global Business School Network, Dan is leading efforts to improve access to quality, locally relevant management and entrepreneurship education for the developing world. He also advises several education startups, including Edorer, Inc. in the US, Nurture Higher Education Group in the UK, and the Positive Impact Rating (PIR) in Switzerland; and serves on the advisory boards of Hanken School of Economics in Finland, Fundação Dom Cabral (FDC) in Brazil, Davis Akilah College in Rwanda, and Centrum PUCP Graduate Business School in Peru.
Prior to GBSN, Dan helped transform AACSB from a US accrediting body to a global thought leader and internationally-respected quality assurance agency. His 19 years at AACSB includes nearly three years as Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer, seven years as Chief Operating Officer, and five years as Chief Knowledge Officer. Dan played the lead role in creating a think-tank joint venture with the European Foundation for Management Development and was recognized for pioneering efforts in the formation of the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education.
Recognized as a thought leader in management education and talent development, Dan is the author of more than 100 research reports, articles, and blogs, and has delivered more than 170 presentations in 30 countries. Before AACSB, Dan was a tenured associate professor and associate dean at The University of Tampa. He earned a PhD from the University of Florida writing on game theory.
Professor of Strategy and Economics and Associate Dean for Europe, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB)
PhD, Princeton University
Areas of Expertise: Economics of Strategy and Organization, China Business and Economy, International Economics
Email：zgtao@ckgsb.edu.cn
Zhigang TAO is Professor of Strategy and Economics at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. He taught at University of Hong Kong from 1998 to 2021, and at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 1992 to 1998. Professor Tao received his B.Sc. in management science from Fudan University in 1986, and PhD in economics from Princeton University in 1992. He has published in various economics and management journals, and his work has been widely cited.
