Business leaders gather to talk soft power
Print Edition
TOP figures from some of the world’s leading corporations will gather in Shanghai today and brainstorm on how to enhance the city’s competitiveness in soft power.
They will share views and experiences with Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong at the 25th International Business Leaders’ Advisory Council (IBLAC), on the theme “Building up Shanghai’s Soft Power.”
The term soft power, coined by Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye in 1990, refers to the ability to influence behavior through attracting and co-opting, rather than employing coercion, force or giving money as a means of persuasion.
Orit Gadiesh, chairman of management consultants Bain & Company Inc, who is also chairman of this year’s IBLAC meeting, said the theme is extremely relevant to stimulating Shanghai’s development and boosting its attractiveness to residents and to local and foreign companies.
“I look forward to having a rich and thought-provoking discussion at the conference,” Gadiesh said in a welcome note.
“I would like to thank Mayor Yang’s team and the IBLAC secretariat ... for their relentless commitment in turning Shanghai into the dynamic, successful city that Shanghai is today.”
The three “primary currencies” for generating soft power, according the term’s originator Nye, are values, culture and policies.
To have a better understanding of Shanghai’s efforts in building up soft power, IBLAC members visited the Knowledge and Innovation Community in Shanghai’s northeast Yangpu District yesterday.
Founded in 2002, it is a demonstration of Shanghai’s efforts to integrate government, research institutes and business to stimulate innovation.
“This is amazing,” Donald A Guloien, president and CEO of Manulife Financial Corp, said after visiting offices of EMC2, eBao Tech Corp and Palm Landscape Architecture Co Ltd.
“Shanghai has a fantastic infrastructure and the city should continue to build up its soft power through encouraging innovation,” Guloien said.
Severin Schwan, CEO of healthcare giant Roche Group, said innovation ultimately lies in people, and Shanghai should increase its efforts to educate and train talent to build up its soft power.
Around 500 foreign and Chinese delegates will take part in today’s forum, including consul generals, senior government officials, heads of major state-owned companies, as well as top private businesses.
The IBLAC forum was initiated in 1989 by the then Shanghai Mayor Zhu Rongji, who later became China’s premier.
Zhu envisioned it as a platform for the world’s top business leaders to provide strategic advice on Shanghai’s development and the challenges ahead.
The council has grown into an international think-tank for Shanghai’s mayors. Starting with 12 members from seven countries, it has now grown to a membership of more than 50 from 16 nations.
Members come from industries including finance, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and retail.
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