“Guanxi” (a good personal network), which is known to be one of the secrets of success in life in China, is an important tool for young Chinese entrepreneurs doing business.
Yomiuri Newspaper Aug 21, 2014
“Guanxi” (a good personal network), which is known to be one of the secrets of success in life in China, is an important tool for young Chinese entrepreneurs doing business.
31-year old Wu Yong, who resigned from his former job and sought to start his own business, struggled in building his Guanxi. “What is the best way to create a good personal network?” His answer was to enroll in the MBA program at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) in Beijing China.
Established in 2002 with financial support from the Li Ka Shing Foundation in Hong Kong, CKGSB is considered one of the most prestigious business schools in China, where more than 240 business schools have been founded during the last few decades. Among CKGSB’s 7,000 alumni, three quarters are senior executive directors.
Wu started CKGSB’s 14-month MBA program in September 2013. The total tuition of the program is 398,000 RMB (67,000 USD). Combining scholarships and student loans, he managed to make the payment. It is not an inexpensive investment for him, however, because Wu believes completing this program will make a significant difference in his future career.
Systematically learning the most up-to-date business strategies, as well as building useful Guanxi at CKGSB, are Wu’s key motivations for the investment. At networking functions organized by CKGSB, Wu exchanged business cards with 600 businessmen last year, and registered over 2,000 new contacts in his mobile phone.
26-year old Liu Xin, a CKGSB MBA, is also very impressed by CKGSB’s wide business network. Liu started her English Internet tutoring company in Beijing in December 2013, and provides private English lessons to Chinese students by teachers in the US, via satellite. Liu says, “Supported by a large number of CKGSB alumni, my business marketing is going well so far. CKGSB’s network is a great fortune for me”.
This is a translation of an article in the Japanese newspaper “Yomiuri Shimbun”.
A PDF of the original Japanese article can be found here.
