China Corner Office

This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks to Cheng Li of the Brookings Institute about his recent book Middle Class Shanghai. They discuss the influence of this important gateway to China that anchors the vibrant Yangtze delta economy and is home to one of China’s two stock exchanges. Cheng offers many insights about China’s society and culture — exemplified by Shanghai’s middle class — and how they shape the country’s economics and politics. This includes topics such as the influence of returnees, the vibrant art scene in Shanghai, and the influence of those who have lived and worked in Shanghai on China’s central government. Overall, Cheng advocates that American policymakers should not lose sight of the dynamism in present-day China and that understanding and engaging with the diversity of the Chinese population can contribute to improving U.S. relations with China.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis has an in-depth discussion with Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council about the USCBC’s just-released member survey. They discuss how while U.S.-China tensions are the top concern for American companies, and geopolitical and policy challenges are dampening optimism, virtually all surveyed companies remain profitable in China, and almost half have plans to increase resource commitments in China over the next year. Another important aspect of the discussion was Craig’s detailed portrayal of how the Chinese government continues to skew the playing field to favor Chinese firms in areas such as industrial policy, intellectual property, standards-setting, and government procurement.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks with Jay Foreman, the president and CEO of Basic Fun!, a global toy company based in Florida, and Craig Allen, the president of the US-China Business Council. Basic Fun! has well-known brands, including K’NEX, Playhut, Tonka, and Care Bears, most of which are produced in China. The episode centers on several of the lessons Jay has learned in over 100 trips to visit factory partners in China since 1989. For instance, despite rising labor costs, Jay finds Chinese production to still be quite cost-effective as a result of the flexibility and creativity of Chinese manufacturers. Jay and Craig also reflect on how manufacturing in China has changed in the last 30 years, discuss the importance of intellectual property protections in Chinese supply chains, and provide a number of illustrations of how factory and working conditions in China have improved over time.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks to Jerry Wang, the founder and CEO of Haitou Global, a New York City–based asset allocation platform. Haitou is pioneering a “copy from China” model, taking technology advances in China such as fintech, mobile payments, and ecommerce to emerging markets like Indonesia, Nigeria, Mexico, Pakistan, and other countries. They discuss a number of examples in these countries of how Haitou works in a bottom-up way to tailor the new tech models so they can work well in new cultural and regulatory environments. They also explore the different factors such as large local populations, supporting infrastructure and friendly regulations that make different emerging markets appealing for investment, and how they have conducted due diligence in these diverse locations during the challenging COVID period.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks with Mitchell Spencer, the founder of Indiana-based Polaris Rare Earth Materials, Craig Allen, the president of the US-China Business Council (USCBC), and Colin Renk, executive director of the America China Society of Indiana. They discuss the growth of Mitchell’s businesses focused on manufacturing and supplying rare earths, particularly neodymium magnets to U.S. manufacturers, and why China is so dominant in this industry. The guests also reflect on the different lessons they have learned about doing business in China, such as the importance of flexibility and how to develop successful partnerships. Regarding the current environment, they discuss how the tariffs and global nature of supply chains affect U.S. businesses, especially SMEs.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks with Anna Ashton, the vice president of government affairs at the US-China Business Council, and Jon Gold, the vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. The podcast focuses on details of current and future legislation under discussion in the U.S. Congress and the potential economic consequences, both to China and the United States. In particular, they discuss implications of the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) of 2021, its constituent Endless Frontier and CHIPS for America Acts, and, more generally, the rising focus of state intervention in the U.S. economy.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks to Larry Zhang, the managing partner of Tsing Capital, a pioneering cleantech VC firm in China and around the world. They discuss how cleantech has come to be an active investment segment in China, and is an important focus of entrepreneurs and increasingly the government, as shown by China’s recent commitment to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060. They also explore the importance of government five-year plans to identify investment themes, how the VC investment processes in China have become increasingly formalized, and the benefits of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) measurement and management.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks to Lele Sang, Global Fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania about her recent co-authored book, Winning in China: 8 Stories of Success and Failure in the World's Largest Economy. They discuss the different factors that explain the success (or failure) of foreign companies entering China. Examples discussed in detail include how Amazon’s overreliance on its global model led to problems, how Norwegian Cruise Line misinterpreted what Chinese consumers would want and so ended up leaving the market, and the leadership characteristics and governance structures that led Sequoia Capital and InMobi from India to succeed. Lele also analyzes the complex case of LinkedIn and how, despite being a rare U.S. social media company to operate in China, its success has been limited due to a lack of fit with Chinese culture, and also how Intel has fostered an effective relationship with the Chinese government. 

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks to Craig Allen, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC), and Alexander Wyatt-Mackle, a senior economist at Oxford Economics, about how the costs of foreign economic policies are often not well understood but can have real-world consequences. In particular, they discuss some recent reports that show how and why the China tariffs of the last four years have had mostly negative economic effects across a number of indicators such as employment and stock market valuations and also have led to a decline in global GDP. Also discussed are how the U.S. can better balance economic and national security concerns in its relations with China, the global semiconductor industry, and some of the positive effects of Chinese business and trade on the U.S. economy.

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This week on China Corner Office, Chris Marquis talks with Derek Sandhaus, director of baijiu education and communications for Ming River Sichuan Baijiu, a company that is working to introduce the famous Chinese spirit to consumers outside of China. Derek discusses his own journey to appreciate the different styles and regions of baijiu and how he came to co-found Ming River. Also discussed are how the company works with its Chinese production partner, how Ming River developed a baiju to appeal to the Western palate, and how they continue to educate consumers on this unique cultural product. Stick around to the end for Derek’s recommendations on baijiu cocktails and some of his favorite brands of baijiu!

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