Boao Forum: Chinese companies expected to lead 'Created in Asia'

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By CGTN's Martina Fuchs

Asian countries are at different stages in terms of the transition from "Made in Asia" to "Created in Asia." Japan and South Korea, for example, are at the front, while India, Vietnam and Indonesia are slightly further behind.

Then who among the competitors is to lead the transition?

Hans-Paul Buerkner, Chairman of Boston Consulting Group, expects Chinese companies to play a leading role.

“Certainly China would make huge efforts and Chinese companies, like Tencent and Alibaba, proved to be very innovative,” said Buerkner.

CFP Photo

To make way for innovation, Buerkner recommended that China deals with two things first — to push on with cutting overcapacity and de-leveraging, and to open up its market for more competition, including for foreign companies, to ensure fierce competition, which will force innovation to come out.

However, as China is heading towards innovation, the workforce in the country might end up jeopardized. Many steel workers and coal miners have been made and are set to be made redundant because of overcapacity cuts, and automation is adding to labor cost as well.

Those problems are manageable according to Buerkner.

“Automation will be an important element to ensure that Chinese companies stay competitive. China has to retrain the workers, so that they can pick up new opportunities that come with automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence,” Buerkner said.