Becoming global leaders: innovation challenges for five large Chinese firms

Abstract

Purpose

In order to be a true global leader, Chinese firms must be able to be trailblazers in both emerging and advanced markets.

Design/methodology/approach

Five major Chinese companies are studied: Each of the five leaders has shown interest in building an organization that can nurture innovation that is more than incremental.

Findings

Each of the five companies needs a clear long-term vision that will guide innovation and point to where these companies should place their slow-to-pay-off R&D bets.

Practical implications

The agility to take advantage quickly as opportunities emerge–by practicing frequent experimentation, promptly divesting failed projects and rapidly scaling up investments in successful ones–has been an important ability that has contributed to the success of the five companies.

Originality/value

Breakthrough product innovation will be an important competence for the future success of these five Chinese companies. Some of the five companies have developed a growing appetite for external collaboration to drive innovation.

Citation

Chakravarthy, B. and Yau, D. (2017), "Becoming global leaders: innovation challenges for five large Chinese firms", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 19-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-02-2017-0014