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NBER Representatives' Visit to PKU Alumni's Company

Apr 18-2013   



 

by Hillary Wen

 

It is without any doubt that data, model, view and confrontation are the key words of NBER-CCER "China and the World Economy" Annual Meeting. However, as to the word "economy", where does it actually exist? In such a context, visiting the factory and letting the fact speak has become a preserved program of recent years' NBER-CCER annual meeting. Compared with the accomplished and well-known companies in the previous meetings, the 11th annual meeting's company visit is no doubt more special.

Beijing Trimerization New Environmental Protection Material Co., Ltd is the destination this time. As a relatively unknown high-tech small business, it possesses many world-leading environmental protection materials. On July 3rd, 2009, accompanied by Professor Yao Yang, vice-president of National School of Development, Director Liu Qian and students of BiMBA International Programs, professors of NBER Delegation went to Beijing Trimerization New Environmental Protection Material Co., Ltd, which locates at the southwest suburb of Beijing. The company's vice-president Zhang Jie is also one of BiMBA's EMBA08 students.

"Entrepreneurship" is by no means a new word to NBER's economists, as it is such a frequent word in American capitalist culture. However, the curiosity and wonder was still so obvious on their faces during the visit. President Lin Ke and vice-president Zhang Jie's explanation seemed can never satisfy their questing spirit. While standing in the basic labs and wondering among the typical Chinese red-brick factory buildings and workshops, NBER's economists just can not help marveling at the fact that such an ordinary-looking factory actually can produce such advanced environmental protection products that several times better than similar American companies in terms of technical parameters. But they were brewing more than this, what they wanted to know best was the question that what has resulted in the small enterprise's rapid development.

"In the first few years of our entrepreneurship, we put all of the company's revenues once again into R & D, leaving no space for profit distribution." Lin Ke and Zhang Jie's explanation made NBER's economists better understand how the company endured great hardships in the pioneering period. Lin Ke said that R & D has always been the company's top priority of the development process. Even in the future when the company becomes stronger and greater, the absolute focus will still be the R & D part. NBER's all nodding on such a fantastic answer. especially Professor Jonathan Skinner, a public finance expert from Dartmouth College , hit the mark by saying "just like China, a high saving rate".

Professors of NBER Delegation's another core concern is the environmental protection awareness and attitudes of Chinese enterprises and community. During the discussing and exchanging session, Professor Penny Goldberg from Princeton University asked a question which came straight to the point: "At the beginning of the start-up, why did you choose the environmental protection industry which is not so mainstream at that time?" Lin Ke answered his by posing a counter question: "Then who loves environmental protection better, Americans or Chinese?" The answer is very clear; the importance of environmental protection will also be simultaneously emphasized as the level of national wealth continuously improved. "It is precisely we have expected China's huge future demand for environmental protection that Trimerization had the courage to take the first step."

Holding Trimerization Environmental Protection's brochures, Professor Deborah Lucas from Northwestern University Kellogg School was curious about the corporate governance structure, which is quite subtle and detailed, yet different from the U.S. standard. "this is because we have taken both the international standards and innovation elements suitable for our own development," Lin Ke not only introduced Trimerization's efforts in the process if internationalization, but also described the special challenges in China's market environment. Professor Deborah Lucas finally asked: "Then who is the CEO?" "Of course I am", Lin Ke's final answer made all the persons presented applaud happily.

Professors, the company leaders and students all spoke out freely during the one-hour exchange, as if it had become a special academic discussion, whose topics covered many aspects: from the company's previous investment and financing environment to the company's listing consideration in its future development, from the company's core intellectual property protection on its employees to the geographical location principles during its expansion. It was exactly in the process of answering the American professors' questions that a more and more clear image of a Chinese high-tech enterprise was gradually presented before them.

Before the end of the visit, Professor Wei Shangjin told his American NBER colleagues that "This is almost the epitome of all China's successful high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises today, which are young, full of vitality, but also facing lots of challenges". As the team leader of NBER China Research Group, Shang Jin Wei is no stranger to China's three decades of rapid growth.

For more of the American professors who first set foot on Chinese land, Trimerization visit opened them a new window to understand and get closer to China. From T3 terminal's elegance to Grand Hyatt Beijing's magnificence, to Langrun Garden's modern simplicity, none of the professors can not be impressed by China's prosperity today. And the not-so-eye-catching suburb plant made them further realize the accumulation of hard, practical work and hope behind the downtown prosperity.

NBER Representatives' Visit to PKU Alumni's Company

Apr 18-2013   



 

by Hillary Wen

 

It is without any doubt that data, model, view and confrontation are the key words of NBER-CCER "China and the World Economy" Annual Meeting. However, as to the word "economy", where does it actually exist? In such a context, visiting the factory and letting the fact speak has become a preserved program of recent years' NBER-CCER annual meeting. Compared with the accomplished and well-known companies in the previous meetings, the 11th annual meeting's company visit is no doubt more special.

Beijing Trimerization New Environmental Protection Material Co., Ltd is the destination this time. As a relatively unknown high-tech small business, it possesses many world-leading environmental protection materials. On July 3rd, 2009, accompanied by Professor Yao Yang, vice-president of National School of Development, Director Liu Qian and students of BiMBA International Programs, professors of NBER Delegation went to Beijing Trimerization New Environmental Protection Material Co., Ltd, which locates at the southwest suburb of Beijing. The company's vice-president Zhang Jie is also one of BiMBA's EMBA08 students.

"Entrepreneurship" is by no means a new word to NBER's economists, as it is such a frequent word in American capitalist culture. However, the curiosity and wonder was still so obvious on their faces during the visit. President Lin Ke and vice-president Zhang Jie's explanation seemed can never satisfy their questing spirit. While standing in the basic labs and wondering among the typical Chinese red-brick factory buildings and workshops, NBER's economists just can not help marveling at the fact that such an ordinary-looking factory actually can produce such advanced environmental protection products that several times better than similar American companies in terms of technical parameters. But they were brewing more than this, what they wanted to know best was the question that what has resulted in the small enterprise's rapid development.

"In the first few years of our entrepreneurship, we put all of the company's revenues once again into R & D, leaving no space for profit distribution." Lin Ke and Zhang Jie's explanation made NBER's economists better understand how the company endured great hardships in the pioneering period. Lin Ke said that R & D has always been the company's top priority of the development process. Even in the future when the company becomes stronger and greater, the absolute focus will still be the R & D part. NBER's all nodding on such a fantastic answer. especially Professor Jonathan Skinner, a public finance expert from Dartmouth College , hit the mark by saying "just like China, a high saving rate".

Professors of NBER Delegation's another core concern is the environmental protection awareness and attitudes of Chinese enterprises and community. During the discussing and exchanging session, Professor Penny Goldberg from Princeton University asked a question which came straight to the point: "At the beginning of the start-up, why did you choose the environmental protection industry which is not so mainstream at that time?" Lin Ke answered his by posing a counter question: "Then who loves environmental protection better, Americans or Chinese?" The answer is very clear; the importance of environmental protection will also be simultaneously emphasized as the level of national wealth continuously improved. "It is precisely we have expected China's huge future demand for environmental protection that Trimerization had the courage to take the first step."

Holding Trimerization Environmental Protection's brochures, Professor Deborah Lucas from Northwestern University Kellogg School was curious about the corporate governance structure, which is quite subtle and detailed, yet different from the U.S. standard. "this is because we have taken both the international standards and innovation elements suitable for our own development," Lin Ke not only introduced Trimerization's efforts in the process if internationalization, but also described the special challenges in China's market environment. Professor Deborah Lucas finally asked: "Then who is the CEO?" "Of course I am", Lin Ke's final answer made all the persons presented applaud happily.

Professors, the company leaders and students all spoke out freely during the one-hour exchange, as if it had become a special academic discussion, whose topics covered many aspects: from the company's previous investment and financing environment to the company's listing consideration in its future development, from the company's core intellectual property protection on its employees to the geographical location principles during its expansion. It was exactly in the process of answering the American professors' questions that a more and more clear image of a Chinese high-tech enterprise was gradually presented before them.

Before the end of the visit, Professor Wei Shangjin told his American NBER colleagues that "This is almost the epitome of all China's successful high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises today, which are young, full of vitality, but also facing lots of challenges". As the team leader of NBER China Research Group, Shang Jin Wei is no stranger to China's three decades of rapid growth.

For more of the American professors who first set foot on Chinese land, Trimerization visit opened them a new window to understand and get closer to China. From T3 terminal's elegance to Grand Hyatt Beijing's magnificence, to Langrun Garden's modern simplicity, none of the professors can not be impressed by China's prosperity today. And the not-so-eye-catching suburb plant made them further realize the accumulation of hard, practical work and hope behind the downtown prosperity.