The Annual Meeting of the New Champions, the 'Summer Davos', at Tianjin, People's Republic of China, focuses on 'Driving Growth through Sustainability.' It discusses how to increase energy efficiency, lower carbon emissions, develop green technology, and rebuild basic infrastructure.
Infosys CEO and Managing Director Kris Gopalakrishnan joins a select group of business leaders from the World Economic Forum's Partner and Member companies as a Mentor. He participates in a televised debate on attracting talent and delivers a mentor session on managing rapid growth.
Television Debate - Attracting the Best and Brightest
Attracting the 'best and brightest' remains one of the biggest challenges for both business and government. How can companies and countries attract the finest minds when money cannot be the driving force?
Mentor Session - Business Scalability: Challenges to Rapid Growth
Kris shares his experience of how Infosys grew from US$ 2 million in 1991 to US$ 4 billion in 2010. He discusses how to scale up systems across a company and manage rapid growth.
Postcards from Summer Davos 2010
Kris Gopalakrishnan
CEO and Managing Director, Infosys Technologies Ltd.
A Champion Leads by Example
My first impression on arriving at Tianjin is of ’magnitude’. The city's administration is one of the four Chinese municipalities that enjoy autonomy. Scale sows seeds of progress. The infrastructure in China is world-class and drives economic development.
During my visits to China in the recent past, I have witnessed a grand display of the scale and efficiency of China's growth. I am impressed by the far-reaching, lasting change as China seeks its rightful place in the world economy. We have lessons to learn from the 'new champion'.
Ashok Vemuri
Senior Vice President and Global Head, Banking and Capital Markets; Strategic Global Sourcing, Infosys Technologies Ltd.
Day 1: Sustainability Lessons from the Game of Chinese Checkers
Business leaders of the Forum of Young Global Leaders applied their minds and discussed sustainability – defining, understanding and analyzing corporate responsibility.
Interesting facts emerged from our discussion: We consume natural resources that need to be replenished by up to 1.4 times. Almost 14% of U.K.’s energy consumption is accounted by washing machines. Contrary to popular belief, China is emerging as the ‘clean tech lab’ of the world. Of the US$ 520 billion invested in global sustainability initiatives, a staggering US$ 200 billion was spent in China!
In my interactions with Chinese policy makers and businesses, I sensed that China is not willing to compromise on the living standards and needs of its people – the community always plays a significant role in decisions at all levels.
The holy grail of sustainability is to reduce the ecological footprint without compromising on human and economic development. The world needs change agents to achieve sustainable growth. Global companies can realize sustainability through effective change management.
Day 2: A Super Power in a Big Hurry
Today's discussions put the spotlight on China's economic power. The country’s growing influence on the world economy is the outcome of leadership and commitment to sustainable development, environmental protection, labor practices, and education policies.
The planned development of the western provinces and investments in Tier 2 cities such as Tianjin are boosting China’s growth. The country is focusing on innovation and the development of infrastructure at a rapid pace. I learn that the Meijiang International Convention and Exhibition Center was built in less than a year!
I attended a session on ‘mixed reality’ by fellow member from the Forum of Young Global Leaders (YGL) Prof. Adrian David Cheok. His introduction to the application of mixed reality in real life has rekindled my interest in artificial intelligence.
I look forward to Day 3 for refreshing insights into the state of the world economy and perspectives on growth.
Day 3: Vertical Nation
The Summer Davos was a roundtable on China. Delegates opined (not surprisingly) that the country will shape and provide direction to the global economy. They also sounded a note of caution about writing off the United States – businesses are sitting on huge amounts of cash, capital expenditure has increased, consumer spending is being boosted by savings, and rehiring is gathering momentum. Unlike the Great Depression or the financial crisis in Latin America and Japan, where policy interventions were slow, policy makers in the U.S. have responded immediately and decisively.
The property bubble in China is a cause for concern. Growth will be dictated by trade between emerging economies. The rebalancing of the global economy will be disruptive, and domestic demand in emerging economies will drive innovation and the next technology breakthrough.
The Shanghai Expo was yet another event that confirmed the size and scale of the Chinese juggernaut. Let me share a statistic that sums up the China story: 10,000 high rises were built in Shanghai in the last 10 years - effectively, 3 structures built and functional, every day!
Rangarajan Vellamore
COO, Infosys China
Day 1: Asia, Take a Bow
The 'Summer Davos' at Tianjin began with sessions focused on the growth story of Asia. The consistent growth of Asian economies in the last decade heralds Asia's century of economic growth. During the global financial crisis, the growth in China and India helped stabilize the global economy. It is indeed a remarkable achievement.
We can expect the Global Competitive Index (GCI) of Asian countries to grow by attracting investments, developing a rich talent pool and driving innovation. I attended an interesting session on building talent pools across Asia and developing Asian leaders to champion growth. The key takeaway was that growth must take place in a sustainable manner so that it does not put a strain on existing resources.
Day 3: A Master Class on Leadership
I attended a couple of sessions on leadership, specifically on building and navigating a company in the global economy.
Jack Ma, founder and CEO, Alibaba.com, spoke about instilling a 'never complain' attitude and a mindset of 'independent thinking' across the company. He said that several multinational companies dump their products and solutions in China. According to him, this approach will not succeed as it does not respect the unique needs of local customers.
Kris focused on the importance of leadership and robust processes to establish scalable companies.