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Shenzhen - Model For China
Shenzhen - Model For China
After arguing a lot for Shanghai over the years I visited Shanghai and Shenzhen
over one extended weekend.
Shanghai seems to have lost some steam. Not much is going on. Foreigners now
tend slowly to leave the city in favour of Hong Kong and Singapore (pollution +
more and more severe internet restrictions) but I had no statistics.
Shenzhen on the other hand is proud to continue to grow and being home for
many Chinese high-tech companies. The city is clean and no house is older than
20 years. Pollution seems to be low, no traffic jams and the shopping areas are
full, but not overfull, with nicely dressed customers.
The proximity to Hong Kong is an asset but I also heard thinly veiled criticism of
Hong Kong and everything Hong Kong represents in China. People in Shenzhen
are fed up being looked upon by Hong Kong sales people as second class citizens.
They now prefer to go shopping in Japan instead. Hong Kong has to face up to
realities was one comment. As Shenzhen today has more than 10 million
inhabitants, compared to Hong Kongs 7, I felt they might be on the look-out for
what will happen 2047 when the SAR model might be scrapped.
I had a long meeting with the leading think tank China Development Institute
(CDI) in order to talk about CSR. This is what came out:
1. CSR was very much on peoples minds 10 years ago and has now been
integrated in the normal thinking. I know that people in China like the most
recent fads and old ideas are not of much interest but this argument was
not to my liking even if I can give it some credit regarding for example the
reporting requirements of the stock exchanges. My counterargument to
this was:
a) Yes if you google CSR + China/Shenzhen/Guangdong or whatever you
come to a lot of papers and events during the years 2005-08. That is a
pity as what is not spoken about is often forgotten. In Sweden we have
CSR events every month and new people turn up to listen and learn.
Also the CSR thinking is developing every year. China has not grasped
this as they do not take part in the international debate.
b) China has mostly seen CSR as a tool to facilitate sales to MNCs. China
has not understood the domestic need to improve. I took examples of
environment and anti-corruption, which cannot be addressed if
companies do not have an advanced CSR strategy, but got the feeling
we were not quite understanding each others.
c) When foreign demand now has decreased China has to send more
companies out to export. The CSR issue is more important than ever. I
am not sure Chinese officials understand how big problems Chinese
companies are meeting abroad.
d) I mentioned SASAC as the leading instrument for state owned
companies in China and their interest in CSR. To my surprise they had
Conclusions.
1. We have overlooked Shenzhen as we dont go there and Shenzhen itself
has a weak external profile as they have limited exposure and few
international contacts. This is after all the 22nd largest financial centre in
the world (Stockholm is 36 according to WEF).
2. It is hard to get meeting with people in Shenzhen, as in other cities in
China. If you are not an organisation that is well known you have to fight
for every contact. This works very much to Shenzhens disadvantage. Hong
Kong is in this case the extreme opposite.
3. To discuss in a way that can yield understanding requires rather long and
deep meetings. Panel debates when you deliver a couple of punch lines are
less efficient. The think tank I visited had few international contacts and
none with Sweden. It is a pity.
4. Needless to say the relations with Hong Kong were rather tense. For a
Shenzhen person Hong Kong is clinging back to old ways of thinking. To a
Hong Kong person Shenzhen people are laid-back and do not work what
amount of hard labor you must put in to be competitive.
Bengt Johansson, New Context AB
November 4, 2015